Bear-ly enough yarn!

I made this sweet bear hat while watching a movie with Jim's mom and dad last night. It's a super easy pattern and came out cute, although I felt like I was knitting against the odds because I had only a small amount of this yarn! I skimped a tiny bit on the length of this hat to make sure I had enough for the ears.

I am not a huge fan of this Samoa yarn. It feels soft and looks good, but I have had the hardest time getting my gauge right with this yarn (hence the reason why my toddler stocking hat fits me!). I started with a size 7 needle, then went down to a 6, then went down to a 5 and I still had 4.5 stitches in an inch (it called for 5). It is not thin yarn, so I can't imagine using a size 3 with it...but maybe I need to next time! Oh well, it was a good "movie project" at any rate. And, I learned how to do ears!

I began reading up on intarsia to get ready for my felted bag project. I will need to either cut long lengths of yarn or tie center-pull bobbins so that my yarn doesn't get tangled up. I am looking forward to diving in! I need to run out and get size 13 double pointed needles before I can start.