So in an effort to embark on a massive catch-up session, here we go.....
Spinning
A while ago I decided I wanted to learn to spin. In July or August I met a woman at the fair who said she'd teach me on her wheel but then we moved to a town about an hour away from where she and her knitting group are and I lost her contact info in the move to boot. Then I started looking around online for local places that taught you how to spin. They were either kind of far away, too expensive, or their class schedules weren't going to work for me.
Then I started poking around on the internet some more. I found some videos on you-tube and some very nicely written tutorials. I didn't have time to play with spinning much due to Christmas knitting deadlines but I did make a drop spindle out of a dowel and a wooden toy wheel. After my spindle languished in my craft closet for a few weeks, I finally revisited it the night before Christmas Eve and tried to spin dryer lint. While I wasn't able to make singles with it, I saw how this spinning thing worked and found some cotton balls to try instead....and it worked! I was making yarn with cotton balls! Well, technically I was making singles, but I was so excited I spun all the cotton balls in the house (which was only maybe 10 or so). The next day I went to Walmart and bought two huge bags of cotton balls, one white and one blue, thinking I could make variegated yarn with the blue and white. For some reason, though, the blue ones don't spin very well. Or maybe they spin just fine, but I can't spin them very well. They made very slubby singles.
So spinning cotton balls was a fun and economical teach-myself-to-spin adventure but now I'm ready to move on to wool. :-) I just need to find a shop that can sell me some wool.
Punk Rock Knitters
Sometime right before Christmas, I inherited moderator responsibilities for the Punk Rock Knitters. We're getting ready to do a Punk Rock Knit-Along. If anyone is interested in KAL'ing or joining the PRK's, contact me through the Punk Rock Knitters site.
Christmas Knitting
Since I can't really show off Christmas knitting before Christmas, I will show you now.
Exhibit A: Christmas Knitting for my Dad
The Hat is the Hot Head Hat from the Original Stitch n' Bitch. The scarf is a simple garter stitch scarf knit longways in the same yarn. I used Lion Brand Thich N Quick in Black and Pine and maybe size 11 needles?Exhibit B: Christmas Knitting for my mom
These are Fetching from Knitty. I used yarn I recycled from one of my grandmother's sweater's (my mom's mom). Since it was super skinny (I think somewhere between cobweb and laceweight), I held 4 strands together and knit them on size 5 DPNs. When I gave them to my mom, she cried. Dan (my step dad) said it was good crying, but I still felt like a total ass because you're not supposed to make your mom cry on Christmas. Ever. I think she likes them or at least I hope she does. I haven't seen her since Christmas, so I'm not sure if she's wearing them but I think my little sister (the 10 year old) will if she doesn't like them.Exhibit C: Hat for My Brother-in-Law
There's no picture for this one because I'm having a hard time getting my sister to send me one (we didn't see them on Christmas or else I would have taken a picture myself). I wanted to take a picture of it on my husband's head as a model, but Joe's head is apparently much larger than Kelly's, so I'm still waiting. Anyway, it's the Half Pipe Hat from the new Debbie Stoller Son of Stitch N' Bitch book made in Lion Brand worsted Wool Ease in black. I made him a hat last year, too, but it was a little too small so he never wore it and my nephew wears it now instead. Cambria says this one fits much better and he likes it.
Exhibit D: Booties for my new baby niece
This is the only decent picture I have of these (and it's from my camera phone, so it's hardly amazing). Hopefully in April, I will have better pictures of them being modeled on tiny baby feet. The yarn is Moda Dea Baby Talk in lilac and the pattern is Dainty Bootees from Knitting for Two by Erika Knight.That's it for Christmas knitting. I was pretty busy this winter so a lot of people got non-knit handmade gifts or store bought gifts this year.
Jack's First Christmas
This year was Jack's first Christmas and he made out like a bandit. He got all kind of treats and toys and clothes. Our house has started to look like doggy toy central. One of his new toys is a log that you put little baby squirrels in and your dog is supposed to take them out. So up and down the hall, we have baby squirrels, a squeaky dog, a gingerbread man and a log. I think we might need to teach Jack how to "clean up" and get him to put all his toys in a basket or something.As far as clothes, he got the red and white collar he's wearing in the picture above (it had bells at one point but I think Jack moves around so much that they fell off) and this awesome hoodie from my sister and her family:
If you can't read it, it says "Punk Rock Pooch." Love it!I haven't taken pictures yet of the things the humans got for Christmas this year, but let's just say that it was a very cupcakey Christmas. :-) That will have to be a post at a later time.
So this post is getting kind of long. We shall end here and when we return, I will tell you about adventures in Oregon with my cousin and his girlfriend, Erin.
