This is my only New Year’s hat this year. I had plans for another one but they got way too complicated to finish it in time, so I will do it in less garish colours at my leisure. Suffice to say it will have at least 7 stitches in it, so the planning takes time.
I wonder if I will still love the word Sesquicentennial after living in the nation’s capital this coming year. Maybe. I still remember the national excitement of the Centennial as a child. Expo 67 and all that. All my childhood I collected Centennial coins like some people collect 4 leaf clovers. Now my aqua fitness classes are mostly held in ageing pools built with Centennial grants 50 years ago. Some of them could use a facelift with Sesquicentennial money. Justin??

For the knitters: I cast on 100 stitches for the rainbow band. I actually screwed it up and had to cast off after the purple because my rainbow was upside down. I picked up from the original cast on edge with the blue and increased to 108 for the patterning, so I had 6 repeats each of “Opening” Double Cable and Slipped Chain Cable, both from pg 113. I ended at the top by decreasing by 4 cables three times (every third cable, then every other cable, then the last 3). I used sl 1, k2tog, psso 3 times in the middle of the cable then p3tog and p2 tog above the cable to get rid of the 9 stitches. I topped it with I cord arches, then curlicues of the complementary colours which I threaded back down the arches and finished with a set of standing up i cord spikes. It was really fun. I personally love this hat, and I don’t say that about every hat I make by any stretch.