one month later....

in no particular order

a test knit Hot Chilly Hat in Plymouth Encore (left over from the boring blanket). Fun pattern, quick hat. Great for gifts.
a Devious Bunny. He was supposed to be an Angry Bunny as all my embroidered faces look angry, but this guy just looks devious. I guess my skills are improving
an Amigurumi Candy Corn because I had leftovers from the hat below and thought it would be fun to wear 'inside" the hat and pull it out as a suprise. I know I'm weird, but the preschoolers LOVED it
a Candy Corn Hat because it was sold as a kit by Material Whirled and I thought it was way funny. Again with the weird...

a crocheted Ninja. Unfortunately, ninja guy is deceased after a run in with the bad puppy boy. Luckily for puppy boy, the ninja stars came out the next day. So I guess you could say it was *all right in the end* (the sense of humor of a 10 yr old, that's me)a *real* Ninja

and various test knits that I cannot blog yet.

Happy Halloween!

To Pool or Not to Pool. That is the question

When you knit with a hand painted type of yarn do you worry about pooling? I knit this for Schaefer yarn in their new "Nichole" yarn "Aung San Suu Kyi" colorway. The pattern is Marinero Hat (Ravelry link)- a slouchy style newsboy hat.Fun pattern, great yarn cute model (that's NBB, M4's little one). But as you can see, it pooled. I usually don't worry about pooling, I like the effect. BUT it was a no-go for the yarn company. Whoops, my bad.

So. I ripped and re-knit from 2 balls changing yarn every row.The 2nd set of pics are a little blurry- rainy day and wiggly model, but you can see the difference

I can tell you the yarn handled the re-knit well and looked as good as when it was first knit without even blocking.

But what about you? Do you care if a yarn pools? or are you like me and enjoy the designs in the colors as its knit up?

Anyway, the hat looks great and the yarn is delicious. I highly recommend the pattern if you like this style hat.

In other news, took the puppies to get "fixed" today. "Fixed", hehe. as if they are broken. The house is strangely quiet and poor Gunnar does not know what is going on ;(

Well, they come home tomorrow, I'm sure they will make up for all the quiet and then some.

Boo!

Warning- picture heavy post ahead. Mostly due to my inablity to post as I go . Sorry


I was reading email with The Mayor nearby and he saw the pattern for Boo!
Of course he had to have one and what kind of knitter would I be to deny a hand knit request? Knit in Lamb's Pride on US 7's. Safety eyes and poly stuffing. Batty (so named and not by me) has been having a good time I did a hat for myself recently- Alpaca yarn purchases at AC Moore with a coupon. I did a longer top with a tassle and its the warmest hat (next to my Noro hat) that I own. The only problem is that I forgot how much the alpaca will stretch and drape. But still, I think it looks cute.
Deets on my Ravelry page (hopefully)

I finally finsihed the headscarf project I've been toting around for the last few months- the leftover Forest Floor yarn from my Rivendell socks. The scarf is great and worked perfectly for "green day" at preschool! lol The pattern is the Bad Hair Day scarf and I used US 4's. Sorry, it was tough enough getting a pic of me modeling the hat- the ones of the scarf did not work out

I never even posted about my lastest (and prolly last EVER) acquisition.... a Ladybug spinning wheel. I have been kicking myself ever since Maryland Sheep & Wool for not picking one up. Finally I caved and ordered it from The Woolery. I loves it with the heat of a thousand suns. Its just such an awesome wheel, what else can I say?

So far I've spun: 3.4 oz 50% superwash merino, 50% bamboo "Rose Garden" from Butterfly Girl Designs on Etsy (her fibers rock) The yarn came out to be a DK weight and 193 yards.

4oz 100% Alpaca "The New Black" from Spunky Eclectic. I was purposefully going to somehthing thicker and got a heavy worsted yarn, 66 yards. So soft and yummy.

Oh and I finished up the Hemlock Ring blanket expansion- 5 feet was just not enough to wrap around my shoulders. Now its about 6 feet and perfect! Looks the same, just bigger.

OTN, a new muffler for the Mayor, Oma Blu's Christmas socks, a swirl shawl, and about eleventy million other little things- HELP I have startisitus bad!

Hats!

Taking a cue from Noolie, I made a few teeney tiney preemie hats to go to the 4th annual k3tog Preemie Hat Knitting Extravaganza 5 teeny tiny hats- boy did they bring back memories! (maybe more on that later) You can get an idea of their size based on the chair seat and envelope. I used some leftover sock yarn, c/o 40 and 2x2 rib for 3 inches- decreased and pompom. The 2 larger are a baby yarn on 60 stitches, 2x2 rib, decrease and top knot. Anyhoo, they are in the mail!


Then I quickly cast on for the first Chemo hat for Aunt Doris (my fab model Mom-mom pressed into service)- This is the Odessa pattern by Grumperina done on size 4 & 6 circs. I used Karabella Margrite, 80% merino, 20% cashmere and OH BOY is it soft! Plus the pattern is super stretchy so it will fit with hair or without. It really is N.I.C.E.

Saturday my YP Bootie came in the mail-

"Kalamata" 480 yds Superwash Merino. Yum! I really like this colorway and can see socks for me in the near future... muh-haha! I'll be giving up my YP Booty club membership soon and am pretty bummed, but just cannot justify the cost much longer :(

Now I'm just finishing up a Spa Set, unfinished at Christmas and spinning a bit. I did get the jumbo flyer for her and need a bit more practice to get comfortable. yarn pics soon!

Wish me Luck! Tomorrow is The Mayor's 6th Birthday Party #1 (we have 2, one for playgroup another for family friends on the weekend). Its gonna be LOUD.