giveaway!

Everyone should go and enter this.  It's being hosted by The Mad Crafter and Spooky Pooky Creations, whom are both extremely talented!  It's Yeti themed, there is some super cute stuff involved and entering is very easy!  Click the button and do it!

frustrated.

On Monday I drove to Lancaster to pick up this little gem:

I was so excited!  I drove to Flying Fibers directly from work to get there before they closed at 7.  Jerri, the owner, had put the wheel together for me and oiled everything up so it was ready to go.  I loaded it in the car, drove back home, brought it in the house and....I'm HORRIBLE at it.  Seriously.  I'm not sure which part of the concept is escaping my brain but I simply cannot do it.  I can treadle the wheel in both directions, I can stop the wheel with the treadle.  I know what everything is, but when I spin, the yarn is not pulled through the orfice and wound onto the bobbin which results in a lot of overspin.  I've tried loosening the tension, tightening the tension, treadling fast, slow, EVERYTHING and nothing works. 

I've Google'd the hell out of this and most websites say treadle slower, tighten the tension a teeny bit.  I'm going to give this a week of effort.  If I haven't figured it out by next week, I'm calling the fiber shop. 

1/11 hats in 2011!

I finished my first of 11 hats for the Ravelry group 11 Hats in 2011! 

I LOVE this pattern.  It's so quick and easy but it turns out looking anything but simple.  I did make a mistake on the third row of eyelets because I was on the phone, but it's so hard to tell when the hat is on, that I'm not stressed about it.

The yarn was Debbie Stoller's Alpaca Love and I will for sure be using it again, I loved it!  I haven't decided on the next hat, I'm going to wait and see what the February KAL/CAL are.  Which means I'll be spending my week making hexagons (I'm at 40 total), possibly starting some granny cushions for my mom and watching Boardwalk Empire, my new television obsession!

hermione hat!

I've gotten a little bored of making hexagons so I took a break and casted on the Hermione Cable and Eyelet hat that I linked in my New Year's post.  This hat is the first thing I've knit in probably 3 or four years but after a quick flip through Stitch n' Bitch, I remembered everything.  The yarn is Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation Alpaca Love.  I really love this yarn, I'm glad I chose it!

This hat is the January KAL for 11 hats in 2011!  It'll be my 1 of 11.  

Here's a little unfinished hoop I stitched up a few months ago and haven't gotten around to finishing.  Having a full time job is making me extremely lazy!

And now, I feel awful.  I felt awful last night, I felt pretty awful today at work and I feel bad now.  So I'll spend my weekend making my hat and watching this little gem that my Mom got me for Christmas:

Happy weekend!

lil flower afghan.

My step sister is having a baby sometime in the next several months so Mom asked me to make her a blanket in the colors Meghan picked out for the baby's room.  I didn't want to make another star afghan so I thought I'd try out granny squares.  This is the first project that I've actually fully completed, joined the squares and added a border.  I'm impressed hah.

The squares without flowers are from the Happy Hooker's Lil Monkey Afghan.  The squares with flowers are my edited version of motif #114 in Beyond The Square.  It turned out pretty great and I'm very happy with it.  Yarn info and all that jazz are on Ravelry.  Here are some pics...

I'm still working on hexagons for my stashbuster!  I am almost halfway done.  I took a break this weekend and joined a row together instead of making more.  Here's a little teaser picture of what is going on so far:

Hopefully in another month or so it'll be done.  It is going to be MASSIVE and awesome.  I'm excited.  Anyways, happy week everyone!

spinning.

I have two finished skeins and one partially finished skein of yarn and am happy to say they will be my last done on a drop spindle!  I ordered my wheel and it should be here in another week or so.  After doing a bunch of research, I ordered an Ashford Kiwi from Flying Fibers.

Anyways, here are the finished (or semi-finished) skeins...

66yrds/wool:

72yds/wool:

115yds/wool (slightly unfinished but is now hanging up to dry):

All of these were hand dyed by me.  I'm not so crazy about the green or the yellow, they were mostly failed experiments.  All three came from the pound of roving my Mom got me for Christmas.  I have the rest of that pound and some Blue Faced Leicester already dyed and waiting for my wheel!  So excited...

new years things.

Here are some crafty things I would like to achieve in 2011 (yeah I had to edit that, I'm smart!).

First up are some new skills i would like to work on:

• Obtain a sewing machine and begin learning quilting
• Use said sewing machine and being improving dress/purse/skirt/etc making.
• Get my spinning wheel and improve spinning, spin art yarns
• Begin creating more of my own crochet patterns

And some patterns I'm dying to try (after I finish my new hexagon stashbuster)

• Hermione's Cable and Eyelet Hat
• Captain Hat
• Christmas Earrings
• Granny Circle Cushion

I'm sure I'll find more than that, but right off the top of my head, that's all I've got.  Hope everyone had a safe and happy new years!