Warmer Winters

Well, although you've already seen this red hat when it was first finished I was delinquent about everything else I made for Warmer Winters this year...

When my mother started this program in our area she had some yarn that had been given to her to be used, so I snagged three skeins for me to use. I figured Christmas knitting was done and I could whip some stuff up...

There was this hat and cowl


...and this hat and cowl...


...this yarn I had got for 'Lily' to make something - instead she asked me to make something with it to donate - but not a cowl... she doesn't like those... so I made a small pocket scarf!



(graciously modeled by my friend's daughter, as mine are both giants) This picture was taken at our local library, which has a weekly knitting group we've been going to. It is held right after our ice skating class, and is during the day, so it's all homeschoolers or older adults, which has just been lovely. The girls knit for a bit and then find their books for the week and talk with their friends while I get to (usually) sit and knit and talk since Mr Little Tomato likes to be awake during skating and sleep for most of the library time. While I really enjoyed other groups I've been to this one really seems to suit my life and schedule!

I also made this little hat out of leftovers.


oh, and I also really have another skein - 'Curly' took it and is knitting a simple hat (round and round) with it. As Warmer Winters will take items year-round I'm patiently waiting for her to finish it.


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Back before Christmas (just after sending the package off to Missouri with some family presents) I started a hat for a friend. We had decided to barter (my knitting skills for her photography skills... now that everyone's almost well I'll have to schedule that with her soon). She chose this hat off of ravelry and I (very willingly) ordered some Japanese craft books. Details are on ravelry, but it was rather fun actually decoding the directions... especially as I hadn't ever crocheted from a chart before.

Reactions were good and I think she liked it.


I've also finished spinninng this yarn (shots of pretty yarn later) and have already started knitting with it.


I realized I like to have two or three projects going at once and while at the moment my slippers aren't completely done, the knitting of them is. The only other project I had going (before starting this new lace) was the stripey socks - and although there are two of them, each a big project, it's not quite the same as having a variety of things to work on...

Hats, Skirt, and Sheep

Quick blog note: I recently went though and listed the finished projects of 2007 on the side bar, linking to posts containing pictures (and hopefully some information) on those projects.




A couple of weeks ago, at my monthly craft night, I took 3 skeins of knit picks sock yarn that my husband had gotten for himself and then decided he didn't like, and I carefully put all three together, and used a US 10 (I think) and made these three hats. Two are baby sized, one is more toddler sized. I thought that'd be great to bring to the Yarn Harlot event at Webs soon. I'm thinking of making a couple more of these for Dulaan before I close and ship the box(es) - which will be after my brother's graduation (as my mom plans to knit during events until then and will probably have a couple more projects to squeeze in)





Last week at Webs, they had the fiber fair going on in the parking lot, and I picked up a big bag of alpaca. I washed a couple handfuls and teased and carded it, and then spun it up on my lace drop spindle. After making it into a 3 ply, I knit this Barbie skirt.

I ended up putting a big hook/eye in the back. I think it came out pretty cute, that theory was supported by the fact that my girls were (slightly) arguing over who was going to be the owner of the skirt when it was done (while I was sewing on the hook/eye). We decided that it will belong to the older daughter, but she will have to share.


On Saturday we went to the MA sheep and wool fair. It was our first time, and I brought my sweet husband and the two girls and my mom - who had not been to it before either. The girls were great and we lasted for 3-4 hours of looking and sheep...


and goats....


walking around and watching sheep get sheared....


...and touching soft fiber and yarns (and occasionally buying some)


(pictures of the contents of these bags to come in a couple of days, along with more highlights of the day)

I think we all had fun. The girls kept wanting to go back to the barns and see the sheep, until they were done and then they just wanted to keep me moving in the direction of the car. Unfortunately I didn't make it to see any of the contests etc, since by the time I was ready to look, they were ready to go. We did make it to a couple of booths that had angora bunnies. One of which was allowing them to be held, so everyone got a turn holding a bunny. It was fun to see Jenny in person again, and meet her friend. It was also nice to connect a face and voice with a couple of names from the spindlers list (Sheila and Jackie) My mom walked away with both a rakestraw and a plying paddle... I'll have to visit her house to explore those sometime soon.

On the recent socks, thanks for the compliments, and thank you Dot for your comment (and thank you Jenny for gushing about them on Saturday!). It is so nice to have the feedback.

In the US today is Memorial Day. It is nice to have it 'off' and get some spring/summer stuff done around the house, but it is important to remember why we do. Thank you to all those we honor today!

Progress!

Progress is being made on the new baby blanket. It has a three row pattern and I am going to be rotating through 4 colors.



The cast on edge looks nice, and there is a good three stitch border on each side, so when I am finished with the length I will be done with the whole blanket. I knew I wanted to do a knit ripple, and looked for a pattern online for a while before I found one that wasn't done in strips - this is one from Project Linus which means that I will probably do something for them later in order to feel like I paid it back.


I got a prize today! I had sent off some muppet hats and won a random prize.



It's a good sized bag by knitted bits. It will definately fit a small project, and perhaps will fit my spindle stuff instead. How cool :) Thanks Kate for letting us help and then rewarding us for it!


tammy said:
...I love your handspun, and I noticed that you have a Spindolyn. Do you like it? I haven't been able to get the hang of drop spindles. I keep dropping them or various other bad things!

Yes, I love my spindolyn. I did some coral yarn on it, and I have some plain wool on it right now...sitting there, but plan to get back to it soon, as it is very comfortable to spin in my big comfy chair with it. Drop spindles are a bit to learn all at once, my tip would be to draft some fiber, wrap it up loosely and put that in a project bag on your wrist, and then just practice moving the twist into the fiber - usually people have a hard time moving the fiber faster than the twist and you end up with thick heavily twisted yarn that eventually snaps when you finally hit a thin spot. It's all an issue of combining fiber and twist in the right amounts - and having a light weight spindle helps, as then your new yarn doesn't have to support much!