Hats! My New Favorite Project!

My first knitting love is socks. They are the perfect project. Small enough to go anywhere, with a vast range of yarns and patterns. Socks can be super easy and mindless, like plain vanilla stockinette, or intricately challenging like lace or colorwork.They can be made in any weight yarn. And as a gift you can't beat socks. No one has too many socks.

But I just finished a hat and it made me fall in love with hats. Almost everything I said about socks goes for hats too. And they have one wonderful advantage over socks: you only have to make one!

Here's a hat I finished today for my friend Tarik. I know he would love the pattern. There's only one small problem with it: somehow it turned into the size that would fit a ten year old boy. Sigh. Sorry, Tarik.

Let There be Yarn!

I spun that blue/purple/lavender/black roving I bought at the Fiber Fest on May 10 and I gave it to my Secret Sister at the Loopy Ladies Secret Sisters' Exchange on May 18. I was shooting for a worsted weight, but I think it was a bit heavier. I did a two ply yarn. It wasn't the easiest stuff to spin. the black kept clumping, so there are some slubs in there. It came out to approximately 180 yards. There should be enough there to make a hat, which is one of the things she loves to knit.

Oh! And we're going to have Fiber Festival right in my backyard! (Figuratively speaking, Bonanzaville is in my backyard) It's going to be on July 26-27. It's going to be called the Bonanzaville First Annual Fiber Arts Festival. That means there may be more each year. I suppose that means I'll be spending money I can't afford on more fiber. :) At least I won't have to rent a car to get there.

Shepherd's Harvest Wool Festival

Wow! What a great weekend. After I got over the idea that I had to rent a car to be able to get there it was really wonderful. It's true that I did have about $70.00 less to spend on yarn, but hey, that's how it goes. Petting the yarn was really nice, but I was focussed mostly on the fleece. I bought 4 ounces of a nice purple/blue/teal roving with sparkly angelina fiber in it. Very soft and nifty. I also bought 5 ounces of a striking purple/blue/lavender/black romney roving. Romney is one of my favorite breeds to spin. The cat really likes to spin it too. See?

I picked up a nice two-toned spindle. It doesn't have as nice a balance as I would like, but it was only $12.50, so I can't really complain. I looked longlingly at the fancy $50.00 ones but decided that I couldn't afford one of those.The most expensive thing I got was a new niddy noddy, in lovely maple wood, which was needed, since I have only a home made PVC one. probably the thing I'm most excited about is the half pound of the cleanest most gorgeous cormo fleece I've ever petted. It's so clean you would think it has already been washed. The crimp is nice and the color is a nice creamy white. I can't wait to spin it. But first I have to spin the the stuff in the pic so I can have yarn to give my secret sister in my local knitting group.

I had a really wonderful time visiting with friends. Me, Giulia, Sete and Giovanna spent most of Saturday either shopping for yarn or knitting. It was a great weekend. I hated to have to miss the event, especially since friends I don't see very often were there, but I had never actually been to a Fiber Fest before. Boy, was it great!

I'm in!

I am so proud and happy to be able to anounce tht i have been accepted to Hogwarts and sorted into House Ravenclaw! This is going to be a WONDERFUL swap!! To find out more, go to Main HSKS Site.

Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap 5

I've signed up to be part of this swap again. I took part in it the first time it was held. That time was a bit confusing. It was the very first swap I had ever taken part in and tho I got my package off in time my partner had been delayed in getting things together and sending my package due to her pregnancy. So at that point I had decided that swaps were not for me. Then a couple months ago I joined the Hogwarts Sock Swap 3, and I got hooked again. I saw that the Sock Kit Swap was still going strong and that now the headmistress was encouraging swap pals to contact each other on a regular basis to prevent anyone not getting a package.

I hope there are spots left. i registered as a new student, since it had been a year since I took part in this swap. Crossing my fingers!

Hogwarts Sock Swap package arrived!

Look at all the great stuff I got as part of the Hogwarts Sock Swap! Not all the stuff is even in the picture, like the strips of film that have images from the movies of Mad Eye Moody and Dumbledore, and the bag of hard candies made from maple syrup. My swap pal is from Canada so I got nummy Canadian candy. I got Soak, the wool wash, and a bar of heavenly scented soap (mango, from the Bosy Shop) and a Hufflepuff lapel pin, a 40" Addi circular needle, a pendant yarn cutter and stitch markers. I am SO looking forward to using all this good stuff.

The socks themselves are marvelous. Bright and bold stripes of yellow and black for Hufflepuff. They are the Back to Basic socks from Knitty.com found here http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall07/PATTbacktobasics.html. It is a Cat Bordhi type architectural sock pattern, where the shaping is at the top of the foot and along the top of the ankle. Have you seen the new Cat Bordhi book called New Pathways for Sock Knitters? The socks are so cool. I've been wanting to try a pattern like that but I'm just plain too intimidated. So now I get to have a pair of these without the work!