When knitting solves problems

The other day, boyfriend and I took a walk by the river. It being a bit chilly, I wore my Frost Blue Tam (on Ravelry). Still, after a good 30 minutes, my ears were thoroughly chilled and hurting! Now that the weather is getting a bit warmer (though just a very little bit), I had gotten my bike put together a few weeks ago and was feeling ready to start riding again. But the thought of cold, painful ears made me want to hop in the car and turn the heat up....

So I did a little Ravelry research, and found that a few ingenious knitters created ear warmers that are compatible with bicycle helmets. (Thank you, ingenious knitters!) I chose the pattern that most suited my taste in its construction (no seaming and the ear parts are attached to a headband so they won't move around too much) and agreed with my extant stash (leftover Lion Brand Wool from my half-felted bag worked nicely and matches my silver and white helmet).

I cast on some time Saturday, quickly realizing that 1) I only have four (not five) size 7 dpns, and 2) even though I could convert the pattern to work on four, it was really fiddly.

I zipped over to knittinghelp.com and learned the Magic Loop technique. I'd been meaning to do this (it's necessary for the two-at-a-time socks I want to do), but kept putting it off. Definitely worth it.

I knit almost all Saturday with a few breaks thanks to boyfriend (and dinner...and Mario Kart....and a good book) and picked it up again this morning to finish the second ear part before our morning ride along the river.

I had nice, toasty ears, and can bike happily.