C is for cookie, H is for hat...

My husband has a thing for Cookie Monster.  Ever since he was a little kid, he always thought Cookie Monster was the funniest thing on Sesame Street.  It's become kind of a joke to our family, and we get Adam little Cookie Monster things every now and then and he thinks it's cool.

On Monday, we were in Safeway and I saw a man walking around in a Cookie Monster beanie.  I told my husband about it, but he never managed to see the guy.  He said, out loud, "I want one!"  And I said, "Reeeeaaaallllllyyyy?"  And he said, "Yes.  I love the idea of a Cookie Monster hat!"

(This, by the way, proves Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's hat chapter from "Knitting Rules!" entirely correct.  She said, under the "Who Wears a Hat: Hat Rules" section, "Most men will wear a fairly wide assortment of hats.  I find this somewhat surprising, as these same men are inflexible in all other aspects of their wardrobe.  It's a happy little quirk that men who look at you like you're trying to get them killed if you suggest a nice green shirt will become attached to odd, distinctive, or unusual hats.  This tendency has not been sufficiently studied by anthropologists."  Get the book.  It rules!  ^_~)

Yesterday was his first day at a brand new job and we're really excited about it.  I wanted to give him something special as a congratulatory present, so I spent all day long yesterday knitting on a hat for him.  I just so happened to have the perfect shade of blue leftover from making Elliott's neckwarmer.  I used my gauge free top-down hat method and made the plain hat, then embellished it with crocheted googly eyes.

I crocheted little white circles and little black ones, Googled their correct position (yes, his eyes are crossed ever so precisely and correctly), and sewed them onto the hat before washing it and drying it and presenting it to him last night as his present.

I had informed him when he showed up at home unexpectedly early that I made him a present and it was done, but not ready (it was in the dryer at the time).  Later, I asked him if he wanted me to put it in a gift bag and make a big presentation and he said no, so he closed his eyes when I brought it out, and when I put it in his hands, he unfolded it, saw the eyes and started laughing.  He said, and I quote, "It's my Cookie Monster hat!  I was hoping that's what it was!"

Magnificent man I have.

Later, on a completely different and somewhat gross note, I rather violently tossed a bunch of fresh guacamole and delicious little chips that I had eaten earlier that afternoon.  He came into the bathroom, holding my hair out of my face like a sweetheart.  Again, he's magnificent.

Later, we were sitting on the couch and he was looking at his hat and suddenly looked over at me and said, "You knit an entire hat in a day?  No wonder you threw up."

Here I was thinking to be more careful in the near future with fresh lime juice, cilantro, avocado, and tomatoes.  But maybe it was the knitting.