batts to hats

saturday = guild day. the best day of the week! i was especially excited because we had a fun program planned for today and i was going to get to spin. (lately when i go to meetings, i talk..... clean up..... talk...... problem solve.....but don't get to spin)
the program was 'batts to hats' the concept was simple..... take roving, spin roving, knit a hat.... in less than two hours.
i love a challenge. i'm the first in line. often i forget to even ask what the project is. so this was up my alley. the dilemma arrived late yesterday afternoon when my partner (and fiber provider) was unable to participate. hmmmmm, what to do? i already had my pattern in mind, utensils packed, so i scurried around and found some wool. i had a ball of cottswold in blue jeans, and a ball of leister longwool in white. i decided that if i spun these together it would make a thick, bulky single that i could easily and quickly knit. now i just needed to coerce find someone to play with. arriving at the meeting i smiled sweetly at my friend joan, then became quite sober telling her my plight. her first reponse was, 'well'  then she relented and jumped in.
at the signal to start, we were off, spinning like we'd never spun before.

termed, 'artic ice' we filled those bobbins with chunky singles and soon i was knitting away. we were heckled by the team across from us and soon trash talking intimidation techniques were employed. all in good nature, we shot back responses, adding some ribbing of our own. soon the first team was finished, after a brief 45 minutes with an adult hat, including sparkles. now the bar was raised and i could feel that joan was in it to win it! we worked in tandem, almost thinking for each other, her hands reaching for things as i moved onto other parts. as the last knot was tied, i triumphantly threw the hat up! we did it. coming in second. wow.
the competition continued until the timer rang. seven hats, seven. each uniquely different and wonderful in what they represented. working with a partner, getting the job done.

here they are (artic ice is hat #2). prizes were distributed and laughter ensued. what a day!