Little things...

These two were little yarn scrap eaters. The first is an apple cozy for a friend who thinks they are ingenious. The second is a cute little grim reaper for my son from Creepy Cute Crochet. The grim reaper took an evening and Isaiah was delighted with him.

More catching up...

I love these wristwarmers. The pattern is called "Hand Charmer" and it is a free download on Ravelry. It took just under 50 grams of sock yarn and was knit mostly on airplanes to and from Europe and to and from Minnesota and a little in between the flights as well. I just love the lacy edge. I think I like them best upside down with the trim over the hands and the thumb gusset unused--perhaps peeking out of a jacket this fall?

First Wheel Spun Yarn

Here is 68 grams of my first yarn on the wheel--a bit lumpy and uneven, but real yarn nonetheless. Now, I just need to find the perfect pattern for my lumpy bumpy yarn and see how it works. It is nice and soft. Not sure what kind of wool it is as it came with my wheel.

Catching up...Yarn adventures abroad

First, I will get you caught up on my European yarn adventures...My goal in our trip to London and Paris was to find a yarn shop in each place that stocked unique yarns, things that I could not buy here in the U.S. (or at least not very easily).
In London I visited Prick Your Finger. All of their yarns are produced in the UK by small farmer producers. Some of the yarn had very handmade looking labels and the shop itself had its own line of handspun. I spent a good deal of time there musing over the yarn, looking at the Selvedge magazines, and admiring the art in the shop. They had alot of knitted and crocheted sculpture on display (including the bathroom sink and toilet!) At the end of the day, I took home some Jamieson's Shetland for a shawl.
In Paris, La Droguerie provided my take home souvenir in the form of 50 g. of teal alpaca (my photo color is a bit off here.). In order to procure your yarn at La Droguerie, you select the yarn from a peg in the store. From there, a kind lady (who knew I didn't speak an ounce of French) asks how much yarn you would like, takes it to the back, measures it off and brings it back packaged to the lady at the register. It waits there for you until you are done shopping. Not only does La Droguerie have beautiful yarns and patterns (which I may have purchased if I could read a pattern in French), it also has gorgeous ribbons, fabrics, buttons, beads and trimmings. I was inspired by the beauty of the shop and think that I should take some time to replicate that beauty at home.

A few things...

I haven't posted for a while, but here is a sleeveless cardigan and a couple of washcloths I made before we went to London and Paris. I am not sure about the color of that cardigan for me, but I had the yarn, liked the pattern and the yarn was the right guage. So, in the spirit of using what I have, I thought I'd give it a try. The washcloths were part of a thank you I left with people that we stayed with on our trip. Speaking of our trip, I added 100 g of Jamieson's shetland yarn and 50 g of alpaca from La Droguerie to my stash while I was on our trip. Not too bad, really. Both are lovely yarns.

My new skirt.

I finished this just in time to wear for Mother's Day. Hopefully I can find a shirt that matches so that I can wear it tomorrow. I drafted the pattern myself following the directions in "Sew What! Skirts". The fabric was found at Thrift Town. I am pleased with how it has turned out.

Easy Ripple Blanket

This was a wonderful stash buster--660 grams! I crocheted this and it will be sent to Afghanistan to keep a small child there warm. I hope that that child's mother feels the care and concern for her child and family.