The scarf made from my first hand spun is done. It turned out well, though I went through 8 oz and ended up with only about 55" of scarf, much less than I had anticipated. Of course, I really started getting the hang of the best way to spin this wool at the very end of what I had. Oh well, there is more of another wool, so I'll have plenty of time to keep spinning. :)

Here is a sock called the Button Up sock (from Think Outside the Sox). I just love this book. It only took me about 10 days to finish (which is good for me), but as I was putting on the buttons, I realized that I reversed the cuff on the right sock so the wrong side of the cuff is on the right side of the foot and vice versa. Doh! Looks like I will be frogging that and redoing the foot part of the sock. At least it is only the foot and only one sock. I'm still not looking forward to redoing it.

I'm currently working on some fingerless mittens with a convertible mitten top. I think they will be comfy and warm. :) Then I'll be making some wool socks for my niece and nephew. After that, possibly a scarf for a friend. Then, of course, there is the ever present knitting of the hexipuffs!

I'll be traveling to Russia in December and am trying to think of what to bring with me that will be easy to travel with and small. At this point, I'm thinking I will end up taking the hexipuffs. I figured out how much yarn each one takes and I have some wee needles that I can pull together. It would all be pretty compact and I don't have to stuff them necessarily until I return to the States.

My creativity has taken a nose dive the past few weeks. I actually wandered around two yarn stores this weekend and didn't get excited about anything much. Then, I was watching a TV show and saw a hat that I would like to knit. :) Just have to find the right yarn. I'd like to be more creative in my knitting that scarves, hats, and socks, but I'm also unwaveringly practical. :) BORING!! At least everyone seems to enjoy what I make them. :)

That's all for today. I shall leave you all with a picture of the kiteh "helping" me knit.

Sunshine....on a cloudy day

Ok, got a picture of the bit of sunshine. :) I have enough for another too, so I'm gonna make one for my friend for Solstice. I used Bernat Boa Nouveau in Tweety Bird. It is a fun eyelash yarn that is bright and wonderful.

I used the Crabby McCrabbypants to make some hexipuffs, and following Alisha's new name for the colorway, I'm calling them Cranky McPantsy puffs. :) My cat, Famile, was kind enough to model them. (ok, she was confused as heck, but she stayed still, which was a bonus!)

New WIP and completed projects

So, I've got several WIPs (one that is gonna take a long time.) And now, in not particular order.

This is the beginning of the scarf that I am making for my partner's host in Russia. I'm spinning as I go. It will be very exciting! I'm about a fourth of the way through, but I'm going to take a picture later and post it.

Lovely skullcap made from JaWoll. It is a bit too small. Oh well.

JaWoll socks. I made up the lacy design myself. It is really simple and is supposed to be reminiscent of flowers. It only kinda is. :)

Toe socks made of Mochi yarn by Crystal Palace in Intense Rainbow. They are nice, but a bit big. I washed them carefully for the first time, but I may actually let them felt slightly to get a better fit. We'll see how that goes.
These are for the Beekeeper's Quilt which is super cute and will use up a great deal of my extra sock yarn. :) I'm over a dozen hexagons into it now, but it needs over 300 for the size I want, so this one will take a very long time. The hexagons are stuffed and puffy. I bet it will be a really comfy quilt!

This is a wine glass cozy that I made for my mom. She likes a cube of ice in her white wine and it always drips onto the base of the glass, then off of the base. It was a request and I got to design it. It was fun.

There is also a sunny scarf being crafted out of eyelash yarn. I'll get a picture of that later as well. It reminds me of summer, and in the Pacific NW in the winter, this is a good thing. :)

I've got plans for socks coming up. We'll see how quickly I get things done.

Sheldon is a PIRATE!

Sheldon as a pirate is done!!

Alisha and I are trying to figure out if we should name him Blarfintourtise (after Blarfingaar from the SNL skit that Betty White did, which is spelled phonetically here) or Green Beard.

Here he is!





I got some more sock yarn to makes some Holiday presents. I hope everyone likes it.

I spin me right round...

Whee! I got to go the the Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby, OR. I had wanted to take a class of Fair Isle knitting and one on drop spinning, but, through chance, ended up not doing either. I did end up getting a start up spinning kit with a drop spindle and some free lessons from the local guild! They also provided me with a bunch of resources too! I'm a quick learner when it comes to hand crafts, so I am thinking that I might have ended up bored out of my mind partway into 3 hour class. :) I also then got to use the class money (less than actually) to get some lovely wool to learn on, and another, gorgeous spindle. I'm looking forward to playing!

Here is the new spindle. It is lovely.



Here is the "starter" kit. :) Simple, but lovely.


This wool caught my eye and I just had to grab it. There is a lot of it, so it may end up making a bunch of things. :)


This one I wanted for Alisha. The pictures don't do it any justice, it is so rich and beautiful. The first shows some of the depth of the other colors, and the second shows how dark it really is.




I'll be sure to post pictures of the yarn I make, unless it is really really awful, then maybe I'll wait a bit. :)

Ok, cute cute cute picture of the Buzzy Bee was posted. I do have permission from Mama to post it here. :)



A bit small, but you can see his gorgeous face all wrapped up in the bee goodness I created for him. :)

The buzzy bee was born on August 11th. Where he lives was really hot, so no good cuddly blanket/hat pictures. I am FBed with his momma though so maybe she'll post one I can nab. :) The blanket works perfectly with his nursery though!!

I finished the other baby blanket too. That little one is due any day now. It turned out so well, don't you think?



I also made a belt for Alisha's sweater, it is a bit big...I'll get the hang of sweaters someday. It is half double crochet, 6 across in Gingerbread Dude by Blue Moon Fiber Arts.



I made some lovely socks from JaWoll (gonna have to wait to find out details), but no picture yet. I also made a skullcap of the same yarn (with a bunch left over) for Alisha.



Here is just a cool picture I took while knitting in the dark in our car by the red light of my girl's headlamp. :) I thought it was kinda cool.



More stuff to come soon. I'm working on some socks for myself and have another pair for myself in the queue. Go me!!

Bee babies!

Bee hat done! It is by Nona Davenport and I got it on Knitpicks. I used their Shine worsted cotton yarn, which is soft and a delight to work with. :)



It will probably be a bit big for him as a newborn, unless he has a big head, but he will be able to wear it for a bit. :)

On to the Yggdrasil blanket. I found some really nice yarn. I'm looking forward to making it. :)

I finished the Impressionist blanket too, but still have to block it, so pictures later.

Babies!!!

Ok, so, school is finally out (well until shifts start again next week, but I'll enjoy the weekend) and I just finished the first baby blanket of the summer. I've got one more to go. This has been a baby blanket heavy year!!

This one is for Baby Norton, due in August. He'll look so cute! I'm also planning a bee hat for him.



It only took me 10 days and a few of those were spent studying, so not bad. :) My next blanket project is a beautiful, fancy blanket based on the Nordic tree of life, Yggdrasil. It is going to be a challenge I'm certain, but it is so beautiful!! Also, it is for the Sapp baby and his dad is a big Nortic/Germanic type fan. I should figure out something to do as well along the Mexican lines to represent Mama. :) Hmmm.

The big Impressionist blanket is coming along, over half done. It will be my first blocking experience so it should be interesting.

So much fun and I have a whole summer to knit...in the sun!!!

I was going through my pictures trying to organize them while I was learning about delivering breech babies and I realized I have some sock pictures and a couple of WIPs to load!

Here are the Crabby McCrabbypants socks reborn as flip-flop socks. :) I put a garter stitch heel on them, found at Knitpurl Hunter. It is lovely and cushy and Alisha likes it. It is also really simple to do, which I like. :)




Here is that lovely Mochi yarn being knit into more flip-flop socks. I finished them as well, but have been waiting for the right time to get pictures of them in the sun!! May has been sucking for sun so far. I used the garter stitch heel on these too.

This is the beginning of the Impressionist Afghan from Knit Picks. It is so simple, but insanely fun to knit, even when it gets big and you feel like you are knitting forever in the middle. I'm on the fourth color and nearly to the center of the blanket. Loving it so far.

That's all for today. Gotta get back to the drudgery of school. :)

PS. This wee baby hat found a head to go on at the birth I attended Wednesday night. :) Maybe the mama will let me take a picture of it on the baby at the one week visit and post it. I'll ask.

WIP

Here are some of my works in progress(wip)/things I will be working on soon.

I made these socks for Alisha already, but they turned out to be larger than I expected, this was a new type of yarn for me (Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie Socks That Rock - part silk part wool), and she really wanted the flip-flop toes. So, I frogged them and am about halfway through their second knitting. I'm including a picture of their first incarnation.

These are called Union Jack Argyle from Think Outside the Sox(no specific recommendations for Amazon here). I am using Stroll Tonal (Springtime and Deep Waters) from Knit Picks. I have had to rip them back once and may have to do so again because they are getting tight. I think I'm being too tight in my knitting. I've set them aside for now.

This is the Impressionist Afghan, also from Knit Picks. I saw it, fell in love, and bought the kit. It may end up being a home project because it will ultimately get pretty big. Another reason to like socks, so portable.

This will become toe socks for Alisha. I love this yarn, even if it has to be hand washed. It is soft and warm and the colors are alway so rich. It is Mini Mochi, though I can't recall the color right now.

So, I'll keep posting pictures as these get finished and as I come up with more stuff to knit!

Non Sock Projects

While my passion lately has been socks, there have been other things going on too! Mainly baby blankets (what is up with everyone having babies all at once?) and a couple of stuffed animals. I'm also including old projects on this post that I just have never posted about.

Here are some Long Thick scarves I made for Alisha and myself a few years ago. Each is about six feet long and you can see in the picture how wonderfully wide they are. They are warm and will be so nice to have when we are both in Russia this next winter!

A few baby hats. Sorry, I don't recall the yarn used. My kitteh particularly loved modeling, as you can tell by the ecstatic look on her face...





These are a couple of narrower, slightly shorter scarves I made for Alisha and I for spring and fall in Portland. I am not actually done with the blue one.



This is Starghan, a pattern I found on Ravelry. It came out much more lumpy than I hoped, but wonder if I used a non acrylic if it would be nicer. I think I will try it again in the future, but change the yarn a bit. I used JoAnn's Sensations Cuddle Yarn.

I got a MacBook Air, 11" and discovered that they didn't have a good cover for it (most are for 13" computers and my poor computer would end up flopping around it them. So, I decided to make my own from some extra yarn I had (Knit Picks Swish DK). I even put my initials on it. I have gotten more complements on this than anything else I have ever knit! I basically knit a long, wide sock with a flap at the top. I love it.

This yarn was so yummy that I had to make something from it, and thought a hat would be perfect! It is Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran that I picked up at the Yarn Garden in Portland, OR. It is pretty warm, though I really wish that I could figure out how to put a lining inside.
More fingerless gloves.


A crocheted water bottle holder. It has a really long strap so it can be worn across the body more easily.

A blanket for Sheldon the Turtle! It is his little home. This is for the new baby that one of my oldest (known the longest) friends is expecting. :)

Here he is outside the blanket.

Modified dollsized version of the Sheldon Blanket (without a pocket). It is for the big sister of the baby who is getting the full sized Sheldon Blanket version!

SUPER SHELDON!!! This costume is also on the Knit Picks site.



This is Sully Shellworth, or the alter ego of Super Sheldon. He is actually the second Sheldon I made, though the differences are very subtle.

A lovely skullcap I made for Alisha.

That's it for the non sock projects thus far.

I have plans for a throw blanket, a pirate Sheldon and possibly some gloves. When I put it all down like this it seems like much less than when I just think about it all. :) There are a few other projects that I didn't get a chance to take pictures of, so they aren't on here. Most of this was done in the last four or so years.

I'd like to get into lace making and have my eye on several scarves/wraps/shawls. I am also considering taking all my extra sock yarn and making a blanket. I'm trying to keep myself busy without buying a lot more yarn. Being a student certainly lowers my budget for that sort of thing. I also may take some of the yarn to make some baby hats. I'd like to start a collection that I can sell/give as gifts to new little ones when I start my practice.

I'll post one more post about wip then I will be done for now. :)