02/21/07: Happy Birthday to Al!

Wonder if we are eating cake or if he is being serenaded by Mickey today? He just absolutely loves it when we embarrass him like that! Anywho Merry Un-Birthday to the rest of you!

02/20/07: Pentagons

Yup it's the cover pattern from the latest vogue knitting. Am really diggin' knittn' this top! I chose to use my fav debbie bliss cashmerino aran yarn, shockingly not in blue. And so far it has been loverly to knit up. I have completed all the pentagons and am on the first sleeve now, woo hoo. Somehow I have committed to this project a little better than others so I might even finish it, which is such an amazing thing. I am a little concerned with the fit, seems highly floppy in this super soft yarn so I am crossing my fingers. Here is a close up of one pentagon.



Was trying to finish this for my vacation. Anywho instead it is just coming along as a vacation knitting project. Yay!

02/19/07: Actually Met a Knitting Goal!

Or Happy Birthday Ms Cranky Monkey Butt!

I said I was hoping to finish the purple handspun socks in February and welp I did it! Amazing isn't it? Anywho, the one sock is still a little smaller than the other but the recipient can at least get her feet into them so we decided they were ok? I hope it doesn't bug her too much. I think I even have enough yarn left to make myself a pair of these socks since I aparently make short socks as well. But I have short calves so maybe that is why they never seemed short to me before?



Hope you are having a fun day Ms C.

02/16/07: Spinning then Knitting a Lot Lately

I am really enjoying spinning with merino fluff at the moment. Have a few projects running at the same time because of it and yup they all seem to be purple. (with the exception of teh candy cane fluff previously posted)

I showed this before fluff pic back in december and now finally here is how it spun up. (no, it is not all done. yes, I started knitting with it anyway.) I thought it was going to be a hat/scarf/glove set and then once I started knitting the hat, and saw how nice and even it was coming along I decided to see if I can squeeze a raglan sweater out of it. So I am knitting in the round and am a good way to the armholes at this point (I am further along than the photo is showing). This is looking all heathery and came out surprisingly even.



Next up is some more merino but in a lighter shade.



This time I decided it must be my hat/scarf/glove set. So far I have the hat done and started a glove. I plan to knit a contrasting garter stitched flower for the hat or something cause I decided I want to pair this yarn with my all time best hand spun yarn ever, the darker purple skein.





Yeah this purple merino is very balances and even in thickness. Some how it just came out very clean so I am knitting a garter stitch scarf out of it. Keeping it simple so the yarn shines through. I am very excited that I am getting better at making useable yarn!

02/15/07: Hairpin Lace Info

Since it was requested. Here are some links to helpful hairpin lace info.

I used this one when making my grandmothers scarf.

And then this link for the joining of the strips.

Here is a page with other helpful links.

All you need is a hairpin and a crochet hook, or you can get one of these like I did. It is lots of fun if I do say so myself!

02/15/07: Gift Spinning

You may recall some spinny gifts I made up for Christmas of 2005. Well I ended up spinning it up myself for one person who doesn't spin so often but at least she will get to knit with it. It was merino fluff from Spunky Eclectic that I kool aid dyed green and then plied it with undyed merino. Looked a lot more contrasty before the spinning, but I knew I had a weak dye bath anyway so kind of expected it. I really love merino fluff so squishy and soft in the end.



I am also working on some of the red I also had from that gift batch saved for meself. It seems to be a little stronger in color. We shall see once I get it all plied how it really looks in the end. I am also trying a new thing where I spun the single, and then spun it again to see if it makes it more sproingy in the end. Definitely time consuming this way though.



Yeah I am still kind of stuck in candy cane colors over here! Yup, candy cane and purple seem to be all over the place here right now. You will be seeing more purple soon.

02/14/07: Happy Hairpin Lace

Here is a little scarf I made my grandmother out of some acrylic mohair I got from france awhile back. It was a fun test of making hairpin lace. Really easy to do and comes out so fancy looking I think. So I am giving it to her for Valentines Day. Of course I won't be seeing her until the weekend but a little late is better than never. Isn't the container cute?

02/13/07: More Magnets

I even did the whole glass marble magnet thing in addition to those peppermint ones. I made some paper designs to glue on as well as use some left over fabric from my grandmothers aprons that she was making us. It was very red and green on my kitchen table for a few days!

02/12/07: The Making of the Peppermint Magnets

This is a follow up to this post from a while back. Since I hadn't gifted it completely I didn't mention what they were back then, but now I can. See all the wrapping madness that went on here back in december?



Here is how I made the magnets.

Supplies:
Crayola Model Magic Clay in White
1/2" round magnets
Scissors
Paintbrushes
Acrylic Paint in Red and Green
Altoid Tins



Step 1:
Roll some dough into a 1/2 inch log.




Step 2:
Cut 1/2 inch pieces from the log.






Step3:
Shape into circles.






Step 4:
Press magnet into the dough. Reshape around the magnet as needed. Let dry as directed on the clay packaging, I left mine overnight.










Step 5:
Paint candy stripes with watered down paint.



Voila!




You can even wrap them in plastic if you want, they will still stick to the fridge!



Now you can place them in an altoid tin and wrap them up!