Cthulhu hat begins

The advantage of knitting a hat top down, is that I don't need to know the gauge at all. I was just doing that way so that I could leave the needles in as place holders for where the scarf and tenticals would join.

( Photo, and pattern thus far. )

I saw another interesting technique at Angel Knits last night. I didn't find out if it had a name, so I'm calling it Cuttlefish edging. Cast on twice as many stitches as you need then decrease to the number you need in about 4 or 5 rows. It leaves a random wavey edge that looks something like a cuttlefish wing. I thinkg that'll look good at the back between the tenticles

So far the techniques I want to use on this are.
Knitting in the round (Hat)
Increases (top down hat)
Decreases (Ribbing wouldn't look right, so I need to tighten the bottom of the hat the hard way)
Reverse Cuttlefish (for the back)
Braids (for the start of the scarf)
icords (for the front tentacles)
Fair Isle (using dark green wool to make patterned eyes)

This is turning into quite a complex little project :)

mp3 player decision

I think I've come to a decision:

Ultimately, the iAudio 7 is a strange mix - a bit like that that mad, slightly unstable uncle you'd rather not be seen in public with but you're fond of anyway...
it isn't the cheapest ... it is still well-priced...
if you accept its faults and embrace its strengths it makes the perfect geek's music player.

From trusted reviews. Which has been a useful site for reviewing what mp3 players are available.

It's tiny, reasonable flash drive, and can bookmark multiple files, as well as resuming.

Thanks to Hugh Anchor for both reccomending the Cowon range (plays OGG files, mounts as hard disk, etc), but for the inspired idea of looking for pdfs of manuals online to compare bookmarking features, which usually don't get reviewed.