I walked across that burning bridge

In her song, Anchored Down in Anchorage, Michelle Shocked writes:

I took time out to write to my old friend
I walked across that burning bridge
Mailed my letter off to Dallas
But her reply came from Anchorage, Alaska

While I didn't write to an old friend, I did go through my stash and pick up a project that I started seven years ago. Seven, as in 7. Years ago. It was a hat, in cotton (done flat!) with a kicky little slip stitch pattern. I can't remember why I didn't finish it. Maybe I got bored. Maybe I was intimidated by the psso pattern in the crown. Maybe I had just gotten some wicked pissa cool yarn and wanted to make that first sweater, or something. I dunno. But it has sat languishing in my big box o' yarn for seven years.

So, I have just finished knitting the part that goes around the head. What is that called? I need to start on the crown, but don't have my circulars with me right now. But I will probably finish it sometime this weekend. Then it gets popped in the mail and sent to someplace far away for someone who needs a new hat.

It took me a few minutes of staring at the pattern, staring at the UFO, of staring some more at the pattern, to figure where I was and what I had to do. I can read patterns a lot better now than I could seven years ago. I'm still not a genius with psso, but Miz Lucy told me that I can substitute ssk and that it will look better. Since I trust Miz Lucy implicitely, I shall make the substitution. It is, however, a bit weird to pick up a project from so long ago. I was just a baby knitter back then, and I didn't know a whole lot about it, or why what I was doing looked the way it did. I've got a much better idea of what's going on these days, even if I can't pick up dropped stitches with a crochet hook.

It kind of fun to pick up these old projects and start them again. It's almost like they're new, and I don't have to deal with casting on. I think I'm a lot better at that, too, after seven years practice. I'll post pictures of the hat when it's done. It's kind o' cool.