Remnants

A couple of more puffs - 60 total so far!

What it looked like in the beginning - just needs to be plyed

Hello, Corriedale!  How are you?  Up for a little Tour de Fleece action?

Fiber shot from Ammerican Photography

Hexipuff 58 & 59

Angelo starts his hexipuff addiction early

Hexipuffs from the couch

Hexipuff 54 & 55 or Go Orange!

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.

Hexipuff 43-46 1/2

Current hexipuff addiction: less than 1/2 a puff a day - bordering on recreational user

Hexipuffs 38-42

Current hexipuff habit: a puff and a half a day

Hexipuffs 34- 37 1/2

Lost a half to a kitteh.  Gained a half with the last skein I used.

Current habit: 1/2 a puff a day

Hexipuffs 27 - 33 1/2 and a retreat!

I bring you this blog post to kind of interrupt the hexipuff craziness that has been going on in my life.  Tomorrow morning I will be going to a Winter Fiber Arts Retreat and Market care of the Yarn Cupboard and staying the night into Sunday afternoon.  I am very excited and have packed and repacked about twenty times today.  I will be taking a dyeing class with Jennifer Van Calcar of Holiday Yarns plus oogling her wares at the market along with Melissa Jean Designs, Jill Draper Makes Stuff, Spinner's Hill, Three Irish Girls, and Manos.

What did I pack?  

• my Snap Dragon fiber from Cloverleaf Farms that I have yet to start but I did pre-draft
• mini skeins for my hexipuff addiction
• one of my amigurumi books, Hello My Name is Amineko - The Story of a Crafty Crochet Cat by Nekoyama, cuz I want a kitty in my life again (that doesn't meow or poop outside the box)
• Interweave Knit and Spin 2011 issue
• a notebook and pen
• camera - I hear this location is pretty awesome looking
• clothes and toiletries...booring! (I almost forgot!)
• orange soda (I need to ensure that this future child has red hair like me and the Haze)

Full report sometime next week.  Here's to a fibery, friendly weekend!

Hexipuff 20-26 1/2

Current Hexipuff habit: puff a day

Hexipuff 17-19

Current Hexipuff craving: 1 1/2 puff a day

HEXIPUFF MADNESS

 Warning:  You are about to enter a blog post full of gratuitous shots of hexipuffs.    

I am totally addicted and I cannot stop!  It's a good thing I didn't give up hexipuff making for Lent!

Oh little hexagons of happiness, why must you be so tempting?

Look at you all, acting cute and innocent.  Just hanging out,  flashing your six-sided goodness.

What's the total count you ask?  Currently, I'm almost to twenty.  There are  few puffs missing from the family photos.   Mostly because they weren't born yet.

I just want to squeeze these things when I'm not knitting them!  Is that wrong?

Photos by Ammerican Photography

Hexipuff 13 1/2 -16

Here are my latest hexipuffs.  I surpassed the 5% mark on my Ravelry project page so, that was exciting.  Only a little under 90 left to go to hit my goal of 100 puffs.  Yes, I know, I'm crazy.  But I gotta use all those mini skeins of sock yarn for something!

Current Puff Addiction: 1 1/2 a day

Hexipuff 10, 11, 12 and 1/2

Baby brain stinks.  I realized that even if I don't get two full hexipuffs out of one mini-skein, I can still make a half hexi to smooth out the edges of the future quilt.  DUH!  At least I didn't get too far into messing up my hexipuff mojo!

Current Puff Habit:  1 1/2 a day

Hexipuff 8 & 9

Loved this yarn!  It was Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in the Springtime color way.

Current Hexipuff habit: a puff a day

Hexipuff 5, 6, & 7

Chugging along with my hexipuffs as that seems to be all I have time or interest for.  Funny, even though I'm on winter recess from school, my knitting time has been not as frequent.  I grouped these hexipuffs together because the mini skein I was using for the first two puffs ran out half way through the second so, I used another mini skein in a blue-ish color and continued on.  Then since I had only enough of the second skein to make one full one, the third hexipuff of this post was born.  I'm now on to a nice, pretty green mini skein from Knit Picks named spring.

Current hexipuff habit: one and a half puffs a day