Two finished Objects!

These are two versions of the Triangle Man Pillbox Hat by See Jane Knit. I ended up using 92 grams of yarn--a complete ball of Noro Silk Garden plus a little from my scrap bag of stash and then 34 g. of Noro Cash Iroha for the contrasting colors. I really enjoyed knitting this pattern as a brief experiment with color work. I am also happy that I have finally knit this for myself. Mark gave me the yarn 2-3 years ago for Christmas and it has been sitting there, too precious to knit. I decided this year that I WILL knit the beautiful yarns. There will always be more and I should really enjoy what I have. So, the top one is for me, the other one will become a gift for a friend or family member at some point. Yeah for my stash! I figure I have enough stash for years of stash knitting, but I'm taking it one month at a time. For my January goals, I believe I met them all except for making Hailey knucks. I am not sure I have the yarn she wants so I might postpone that project.
February goals:
1. No yarn purchases again this month.
2. Finish as many UFOs as possible. (I have to admit to casting on a project yesterday just so it could be a UFO).
3. Finish the knit a mile challenge by February 19th. (At this point I have knit 1495 yards, so I am very close!)

My first homespun yarn....

As promised, here are pictures of my first homespun yarn--a sample of the finished thing and the work in progress. I am so pleased and excited. After a year of making bad yarn, here is something I could knit with. Now the only dilemma is to knit or to spin right now?

First Finished Object of 2008

Meet the "Knucks". These were fun to knit and I may not be afraid to do gloves after this. Admittedly, fingers are a little tedious, but not all that scary! I used a ball of Anny Blatt in my stash and they'll be given to their recipient today. The blanket underneath the knucks was a gift for me from my friend Chris. I love receiving homemade gifts and I don't receive many of the fiber kind! So, it felt very special to me as well as being very beautiful. Thanks, Chris! On other exciting crafting fronts........

I learned to SPIN yesterday!! Now, I have made bad yarn in the past and I know the principles of spinning, but I have never had full success. Yesterday I decided to visit Carolina Homespun. I thought that perhaps a top whorl spindle with a hook might be easier than the bottom whorl with only a notch in the stick. Carolina Homespun is in the Excelsior in the owner's garage. It is an online store that is open very limited hours to the local public. It is packed with wheels, spindles and fibers. So, when I walked in and another girl did too, the owner invited us to sit down and she showed us how to spin. I've watched others spin, but to have someone watch me spin and guide me through it made all the difference. Morgaine was so helpful and generous with her time that I vow I will buy all my spinning products from her! I'll post pictures of my yarn soon.

By the way, from now on my blog photographer is Noah. He loves his new camera and is happy to shoot pictures for me.

January 2008 knitting goals

Here are some knitting goals for January of 2008:

1. Finish 1 unfinished item. (Maybe socks)
2. Buy no yarn.
3. Make myself a hat.
4. Make Hailey knucks.
5. Finish Caroline's knucks.
6. Knit a mile by February 19th. (1760 yards!) I'd like to spin some of those yards, too.

All but number 6 are very doable goals. The mile might be a bit of a stretch, but it is a challenge off of Ravelry and I thought it could be fun to say I knit a mile in 7 weeks. We'll see how that one goes!

Fabric Stash put to use!

I am pleased with this latest project. It is made from fabric picked up at SCRAP and, with a few modifications, following the directions for the pouch in "Last Minute Fabric Gifts". It took me about 2 hours, start to finish. I really like how it turned out and may make a few more for gifts.

Hexagon Shawl

I almost forgot...I couldn't post this until after Christmas, but I finally finished the hexagon shawl! This one is my own design based on the hexagon shape directions in Unexpected Knitting by Debbie New. It is not as labor intensive as it looks, as I cast each hexagon onto the previously knit one rather than sewing them all together later. I used random balls of mohair and mohair blends that I had lying around and added the lavendar as my sole purchase to tie the other colors together. I crocheted a border at the end and wound up using about 7 balls of yarn, I think. It got shipped off to a friend as a prayer shawl after knitting on it and praying for her throughout the year.

Here I am!

After a busy December, here I am with a couple more things. First, some details on "My So Called Scarf". I found many versions online and pulled out 2-100 gram balls of multi-colored Mondial la lana merino plus 247. It is 52% merino and 48% acrylic, therefore washable. I don't know where I got this and to tell the truth, I thought it looked pretty hideous on the ball (I should've taken a "before" picture of it). It was a quick knit on size 11 needles. The yarn is a worsted weight, but the stitch pattern requires the use of the large needles. This stitch pattern worked wonders for this yarn and I really like this scarf. It is undesignated so far, but is sure to find a home!
The crochet hook was hand carved for me as a Christmas gift by Noah (age 12). It is beautifully smooth and quite a nice gift in my estimation. He has a lot of patience for this kind of work and I'm pretty proud of him!