Hexipuff 52 & 53 or Going green

current shawl progress

puffing away

Hexipuff #47-51 or Batts to Hats

Batts to hats was so much fun!  The weather was great under our tent and the best part of the day was to just be able to hang out with such awesome people.  The competition kicked off at 1:15pm and the spinners were off.  It took my partner about an hour to spin around two ounces into a thick single for me to crochet.  She stopped halfway through and wound the singles into a ball and then the baton was passed.  I had a pattern in mind when I started but then pressure set in and I lost count.  I feared that my original beanie idea had to go and it turned into a slouchy baby beret instead.

At about three o'clock, I finished my last round of single crochets and was declared the winner!  I was super psyched mostly because I was doing a lot of yarny trash talk before hand and didn't want to seem like I was all talk :-D.  The other three teams did an awesome job too.  They made the pointy elf hat from one of the last minute knitted gifts book.  Everyone's fiber looked great spun up and the color choices were beautiful.

I got to choose my prize and of course, like the addict that I am, I had to scoop up the rainbow pack of mini skeins to take the edge off my hexipuff addiction.  The mini skeins and the fiber that we used to spin and make the hat were from Holiday Yarns.

I also was able to finish up a yellow mini skein (from Holiday Yarns too) and have raised my hexipuff total to 51 puffs.  I am halfway to my goal of 100!

Now, what shall I do with the left over hand spun?  I'm thinking some short but hip wrist warmers or perhaps ear warmers?

Something to talk about..

 My due date is quickly approaching and I feel like my nesting is crossing over into my crafting now.  As I predicted, all those projects I started on a whim seem like they're hanging over my head like, hey, you know you wanna finish me before the baby is born, right?  Anywho, I'm almost done with spinning up my Sunflowers fiber from Clover Leaf Farms.  I have probably an ounce left to spin and then I will 2 ply that puppy... I hope.  Michael really likes how it's spinning up and wants a hat out of it.  I think he likes it because it looks so much like my hair color; he wants to join the redhead club and  I suppose wearing this hat will help him fit in.  Maybe he won't have to worry about possibly being out numbered.  We'll see if baby number two will be a redhead soon enough!

 I got this skein of Holiday Yarn Flock sock yarn at my local yarn store's destash sale.  It was such a brilliant idea.  What you did was bring in anything from your stash that you weren't crazy about anymore and price it to sell.  Whatever sold is kept as store credit to use on future purchases.  Lucky for me, I did pretty well and decided to purchase the skein below with some of my credit.  I'm not sure what to do with these pretty skeins but I'm in love with the base that Jennifer uses.

Currently, I'm working on a shawl for a KAL with my lys, the fiber above, and some fingerless mitts.  The shawl must've been ripped out at least thirty times because my baby brain has been a major road block in my crafting lately.  Last night at knit night, I finally got on track with the help of my wonderful friends and teeny stitch markers.  I'm about ten rows in using the yarn that I dyed at the retreat from March.  As soon as I post this entry, I will finish up the Sunflowers fiber and then wait a few days to ply it.  Lastly, the fingerless mitts were a slow start too but that's only because I had to learn how to do a provisional cast-on and how to pick up stitches oh, and how to use DPNs.  I know I use double pointed needles for my hexipuffs but you only really need two to make the puff magic happen.  I had all five needles out and ready for the mitts and I was impressed that making all those hexipuffs really helped me to be comfortable with the mitts project.  Two projects that are on the back burner are the puffs and an amigurumi project I started a few weeks ago.  I realized, as I was crocheting all the body parts, eww, I have to sew these together and immediately put the project back in its bag and far away from my living room.  I just don't care to assemble anything right now besides I have to make a few more pieces before I can even begin to finish it up.

This weekend, my last fiber hurrah will be taking place at the Yarn Cupboard (duh!).  Me and my partner, Angela, are on a team to make a hat from a batt of fiber.  One person spins fiber and the other knits/crochets up a hat.  The team that finishes or makes the most progress wins a prize.  The weather is supposed to be all right for tomorrow and I'm so excited to craft outside in this perfect temperature.  I'll post details sometime this week, unless baby has other plans.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!  I hope you have some time to craft a little in the beautiful weather.

More Zombies

Ah, it's been a while since I crocheted up a zombie and since one of my students wanted one, I couldn't resist the request.  This is the Cyber Zombie from the Creepy Cute Crochet book.  I used Lion Brand Cotton-ease in taupe and almond.

Currently, I'm spinning up my sunflowers fiber from Clover Leaf Farms.  I'm trying very hard to spin the merino fine as suggested by the Fleece and Fiber Source Book.  So far, so good.  I'm even letting the spindle go for a while without parking it in between my legs.  Hopefully, by the end of this four ounces I can draft and spin at the same time with confidence!

I've been on an amigurumi kick and started making a kitty from the Amineko Amigurumi book that my sister got me for Christmas this past year.  I'm kinda getting annoyed with the pattern and the thought of sewing all the body parts together kicked in just the other night that I decided to just put the project on hold.  Even though I still need to make legs and a tail...

Two other projects that I've gotten together in bags with the yarn, pattern and needles are  some hand warmers and a shawl.  They are ready to be started.  This Thursday for knit night at the Yarn Cupboard, I plan on starting my first ever knitted shawl that I'm convinced won't make me look like an old fogey.  I'll be using the greenish blue sock yarn that I dyed at the retreat back in March and I'm using a skein of Noro that I got for Christmas to make the hand warmers.  I'll be learning a couple things with these projects: provisional cast-on and knitting something besides hexipuffs with double pointed needles!

April Hand Spun Part Deux

 This is the official glam shot of what I spun up last month.  I am very proud of this fibery offering.  This was Blue Faced Leicester roving that I bought at the Yarn Cupboard's Winter Fiber Arts Retreat from Twisted Wool,  a mother-daughter team from Marietta, New York.  I used my Ashford spindle and really packed on the singles and then two plyed it from a center pull ball.  

I was really stubborn with getting all the singles on to my spindle.  I probably shouldn't have been but I'm still a noob at this and will learn eventually to be more consistent and trust my spinning instincts.  There's still a couple of things I'm afraid to do with my spindle that if I had the ovaries, would make my spinning more efficient and speedy.  I still have yet to have my spindle spinning and me drafting at the same time.  I'm stuck in this park-draft mode that is really working for me but I know I can do better.  I, also, am in a two ply kind of rut, so to speak.  When I get my fiber pre-drafted I have intentions of separating the fluff into even amounts so I can at least try to three ply but then I get nervous and just decide to stick with what I'm comfortable with.  I'm getting positive reinforcement from my spinning buddies but I'm still being a whiny, wuss about it.

As for the facts about this lovely yarn that I named, "I'm Only Sleeping," (The Beatles inspire me to name any fiber that comes with no colorway name)  I came up with about 84 yards from 4 ounces of BFL fiber in a worsted weight.  This feels light and bouncy and squishy.  I love it!