And then there were mittens!

I finished my second pair of Cloisinee mittens from the yarn harlot. I'm much happier with this pair. I did the clusters much better. That is, I followed the directions properly instead of trying to do my own thing. I don't know why I thought I knew better than the yarn harlot. She's called the yarn harlot for a reason - she knows these things.

I also had another good mail day this week. I stalked this etsy shop - and I mean stalked. I was hitting the F5 (refresh) button every 30 seconds or so. And literally within 2 minutes of posting her update, her shop was empty. Thats how in demand these balls of yarn are. Well, who can blame people for wanting these gorgeous colours? I can't believe I managed to get two of them!!

The green one is called Green a Go Go and the other one is called Kaboom! I love them so much. I love the colours, I love the way they are hand wound, I love the way the stripes are exactly even. I've already cast on for a pair of socks in the Kaboom colourway. They'll be my purse knitting. But I want to knit on them all of the time, the colours are that fun.

And another finished object this week. This time in my handspun! Yay me for keeping my New Year's resolution

The pattern for the cowl can be found here. I did make a few changes to the patterns (mostly due to lack of yarn) but I also left out 3 edging stitches. And to be honest, I'm not sure why there were edging stitches there since this pattern was written and knit in the round. I'm happy with the result too. It might even be a gift for someone. Yes, I'm getting better at sharing the handspun love!

Great Mail Day!!!

I love it when I get parcels in the mail that I'm not expecting. I especially love it when those parcels contain yarn or fiber. Both of these bundles were etsy purchases.

I'm continuing my love affair with Loop bullseye batts.

I have never been so smitten in my life. As soon as a Loop Batt comes into my house I feel that I must spin it up right away. Usually when I buy fiber that I like, it tends to sit in the stash for months - years, even, until the urge strikes me to spin it - or until Tour de Fleece comes and I spin like a crazy lady. But this stuff.....no....I have to spin it straight away. But, I have stuff on all the wheels (and spindles) right now. So, I must finish some things first. And I'm doing a spin along!!

Which brings me to my next happy mail bundle!

Its from etsy seller The Sheep's Company Its my first time buying from this shop and I was very pleased with the service and the product. I love natural fibers and I love it in its natural state.

The spin along is hosted by my favorite video podcasters The Knit Girllls. We are spinning different fibers all year long. Every second month is a different breed of sheep and this months' sheep is Shetland. I'm really looking forward to spinning this stuff up. The roving is so nice to feel. You can feel that some of the sheeps natural oil has been left in and I like that.

Ok, gotta go and spin so I can have some free bobbins!!

Role Call

I'm starting to realize that I have way too many WIPs. Some of them haven't even made it to ravelry. I'm not sure what the reason is, but on every available surface in my house, it seems I've laid a partially done piece of knitting.

Lets count them, shall we?
First up is a blanket that I'm making for Amy. We decided on this when Amy was home for Christmas. I decided that I wanted to make her something of heirloom quality for her graduation. Yes, Amy is graduating from university this year. The pattern is the mitered Crosses Blanket by the Mason Dixon girls.

Next up is my Rocky Coast Cardigan. The pattern is by Hannah Fettig and is from the great book Coastal Knits. I'm loving this knit so much and it totally deserves its own blog post, so more on that later.

Then there are the mittens from the previous blog post. Still plugging away at that.

Next up is the neckwarmer from Ann Hanson's Fall into Full Color Club. I'm not sure why this is languishing. The yarn is great, the pattern is great. I guess I'm just easily distracted.

Also I'm knitting a cowl for a KAL with Dianne of Knitabulls. I'm making another set of silk hankie mittens. There is a pair of vanilla socks that travel back and forth to the arena with me. And I'm knitting a shawl out of a burgandy boucle yarn by Fleece Artist for Mehrnaz.

Too much?

Again with the Mittens

Like I said in the last post - its mitten season. And Amy's birthday is coming up. She specifically asked for mittens for her birthday so here is another pair that I made. The pattern is the Yarn Harlot's and I like them a lot. I had a tough time with the little clusters on the cuff, and you can tell in this pair.

But I think I've mastered it on the second pair. I've not finished them yet, but need to get at it, since I want to give them as a gift on Monday.

I've also been spinning. Here is my latest.

Boy, did this stuff ever plump up when setting the twist. Its navajo plied BFL
combed top from etsy seller Mulberry Fibers. I only spun up half of this bump and I loved how it turned out. I've got a hankering to spin some other things so I wanted to clear up the wheel. The Knit Girllls are doing a spin along featuring different fibers and this month they are spinning Shetland! I've ordered some but haven't gotten it yet. I'll post pictures when I do. The point of the spin along is to sample different fibers. I've spun BFL, polwarth, merino, corriedale, targhee (see last post!) alpaca, and silk blends. This seems to be pretty much common fare in the spinning world. The most different thing I spun was tessewater and I'm thinking I should have done a bit more research to see how this fiber likes to be spun because what I ended up with was like rope.


I also finished up a hat!

Its another Icing Swirl hat by Ysolda. This is such a fast knit and the result is so on trend right now. (Like I know...hahaha) Probably another gift for Amy. I do like to spoil her with handknits. She does appreciate it. Since I've gotten something off the needles, that means I can cast on for something new. In keeping with my resolution it should be in handspun. I'd like to participate in Diane of Knitabulls podcast February KAL that she is hosting. Her viewers are knitting one of three valentine/heart themed knits. I do have some pinkish handspun that would be enough for the La La Love You Cowl. This is a cute cowl that would be a great gift for someone. We'll see!