What kind of 1930's spouse are you?

Ok, this was a funny quiz I found on a friend's blog. I was rather shocked to see my score at the end. Apparently as a 1930's wife I'm "Very Superior" hehehe. Ok, just had to share. Take the quiz it's fun!

94 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Free hat pattern!

Well, I've had to improvise a hat pattern because I couldn't find just what I wanted. So I figured since I went to all the trouble of figuring it out I'd share it with you here! :) So here's a FREE pattern! I call it Sweet Pea Ear Flap Hat.

Notes:
This hat is worked flat, and then seamed closed on top.


Sweet Pea Ear Flap Hat

Gague: 32 sts x 33 rows=4" in 2x2 rib
Needles: US 6 / 4.0mm
Yarn: Bernat Baby Coordinates, Strawberry Stripes


CO 82sts
work in k2, p2 rib until hat is 8 1/2" long
slip 41 sts onto 2nd needle, fold hat in half, and using a 3rd needle of same or smaller size bind off hat using 3 needle bind off.


Ties:
cut 3 pieces of yarn 36" long, thread them all through the corner of the hat, fold in half, and braid using 2 strands held together. Tie a knot in the end.

Weave in ends and you're done!

It's DONE!

So WAY back in the middle of June I "met" a lovely person in a chat room who dared me to knit a shawl from laceweight handspun yarn. I thought she was a nut! I'd never spun laceweight yarn, and I'd never knit a shawl. Laceweight yarn is REALLY thin! I wasn't sure I could spin that thin without breaking my yarn constantly in the process. But it did sound like a great challenge. So, while I sure took my sweet time about getting it done (5 months!) I began the journey anyway. I pulled out some tussah silk (lovely stuff!), and merino wool (also VERY lovely stuff!) from my stash, and divided it out, and dyed it in varying shades of blue. I was going for a blue shawl that would get darker as it went down, so I started with a rather light blue, and gradually got darker.Then I carded it up into these batts. I had 5 batts to begin with, but the first yarn ended up too thick, so I didn't use the first skein. This had me worried about whether I'd have enough yardage for my shawl or not. But I figured it would be close, but that I should still have enough yarn with just the 4 batts, so I continued spinning, and spinning, and spinning.
And came up with these 4 lovely balls of laceweight handspun hand dyed yarn. These are pretty true to the actual color :) Then I cast on for a lovely shawl called "Laminaria" that I got from knitty.com. And I knit, and knit, and knit, and just when I thought I would never really have a shawl, I would just be knitting with this yarn forever...
I finished! Yay! I know it looks kinda funny, and not real lacey at all, but this is when I got to have a lesson in blocking. I don't really knit a lot of things that actually NEED to be blocked, but this lace shawl definately needed it! So, I went on a rustproof pin hunt, and found them at JoAnn's. Came home, and blocked my shawl. So now not only am I much less afraid of blocking my knitting, but...
I have this lovely lace shawl! And I had PLENTY of yarn!! I suspect I may have enough left over for another shawl, maybe a much smaller one, but still, that's a lot of leftover yarn considering the fact that I was worried about running out b-4 I finished. Though I'm also thinking maybe the rest will be a scarf, or some sort of other item. Anyhow, I'm so happy with this shawl! And I plan on wearing it out to dinner this Friday for my 10Th wedding anniversary.
If I had to estimate how long this took me to dye, blend, spin and knit I'd have to guess it was somewhere around 102 hours! With 85 of those all being knitting! And I'm not kidding! There are about a zillion stitches in this thing, and some of them are far more complicated than just knitting. But that's why I like knitting it! Never a dull moment! I should've weighed it b-4 posting this. I wonder how much it actually weighs? I'll have to check on that and get back to you. Have a great day! :)

I love this yarn!

Well, I suppose the next most recent thing I finished since the GBFAF (great basin fiber arts fair) was some spinning. I have this colorway that I call "Pink Lemonaid" (I know how to spell lemonade, but I think it's kinda fun spelled "my" way) that was just kinda a color combination that I dreamed up one day, so I dyed up some fiber, and spun it into sock yarn. Well I got some really positive feedback on it, so I decided to make more. I dyed some up on sock yarn, and really wanted to spin some more. So I carded up these batts, and then dyed them because I wanted good strong sock yarn, so my superwash merino needed some nylon in it for strength. So I carded it up real good, and dyed it after carding. I was a little worried about it comming out all matted and not spinnable, but I was surprised by the fact that the fiber was still lovely soft and fluffy once dry. So I spun them right up!
Here's the first bobbin. :)

And bobbin #2

Both bobbins together! Aren't they pretty together?!

And here's the yarn! :)

And more pictures of the yarn!

And the skein! :) See I really like this yarn! This will go up in my shop with my next update. It's so soft and squishy! :)

My next spinning project was an experiment in bulky singles yarns. This was spun up from some domestic wool roving that I had dyed a while ago. I'm actually pretty pleased with how it turned out. I think there's only about 30ish yards here, so I think I'll use it in either a felted project, or as a stripe in a hat. I love purple! So naturally I love this yarn! The thing I like about bulky singles is their fluffyness. This is certainly a fluffy yarn! :)
Here's a closeup.

And closeup #2.

Up next, Knee Socks!! :)

Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair

Saturday October 4th I attended my first fiber show! :) It was held at Wheeler farm (believe it or not I had never been to Wheeler Farm eber before in my life!) Now to those of you who do not spin, you may not appreciate the excitment of attending a fiber fair, but believe me, it's cool! Unfortunatley it rained all day long, but that didn't keep me from meeting some grear people, and buying some lovely fiber! My funds are rather limited, so I had to choose carefully, and boy were there some lovely fibers there! But I was so in love with this merino/silk blend that it won, and happily followed me home! :) Just look! Doesn't it look so soft, and shiny? Well it is!! I'm currently 1/2 way through spinning it into what I hope to be fingering weight yarn when it's plyed. And it'll make some of the nicest socks I've ever seen (I hope!) :) And it's been a total joy to spin! I LOVE spinning silk/merino!! It's one of my very favorite blends!!

So I had a great day in the cold where I met some lovely people, including my new friend Wendy who convinced me that attending the Wasatch Woolpack spinners guild meetings, and is just all kinds of fun!
And when I got home I had 7 1/2 pounds of corridale fleece waiting for me! :) Woo Hoo!! I was so excited that I started washing it that night! :) Here's the darkest of the fleeces before washing.
And after washing. It's lovely and soft! I haven't spun this color yet, but rest assured when I do I'll be posting about it! I really can't wait to see how it spins up, but I have so many spinning projects planned and started that it'll have to wait.

Then there's grey. This is a lovely color. This is b-4 washing.

And washed.

And the white, before washing.

And washed. Look how lovely it washed up! :) I liked this so much I combed some right up!

This is some of the fluffiest fluff I've ever felt! I couldn't stop petting it for days! LOL!

Then I spun some of it. While this yarn is rather simple in it's natural white color it's so pretty! :) kinda reminds me of snow.

So there ya have it! Now you all know what I bought at the fiber fair, and what fleece looks like b-4 and after washing and spinning. :)

Happy spinning! :)

Next up!

Good thing I take lots of pictures of the things I make because otherwise I would forget what I did after the Ravelympics! So, after the games ended I just didn't want to stop, I was on a roll!! So I was talked into knitting a Viking Bag by the lovely Feliciah! This was a wonderfully fun knit!! And until this bag I wasn't sure I liked knitting cables. I would knit them because I like how they look, but I didn't look forward to reading cable charts. When I finished my bag I realized I'm not especially sure what I should do with it. It's too small for me to use every day, but I think I'd have a hard time parting with it. So, for now it's sitting in a pile of finished knits just waiting for me to decide on the perfect purpose for it. Though I'm leaning towards a sock knitting bag :) wouldn't this make the cutest sock knitting bag?!

I even lined it so things won't slip through the little holes in the knit fabric. I think this matches the ribbon perfectly! :)

Up next was finishing spinning the yarn for the shawl I wanted to do for the Rav games, but just didn't get to (it was a fantasy event for me! hehe). Here's the completed yarn. This is about 5oz of merino/silk that I dyed, blended and spun up as lace weight singles. I fulled the singles to give them strength. :)

And I've cast on the shawl. It's still in the very beginning stages, but I'm so happy with how its coming along that I must show a picture!

I also went through my stash and found a big ol' stack of yarn I need to use up. So I knit up this sweater for my 3yo. She loves it! :) I want to make another one for my oldest daughter at some point soon. Isn't she so cute in this sweater!? Don't worry about her brother, he's just sad that I asked him to step out of the picture. He loves having his picture taken too!
Then I was just dyeing to spin some angora because I had a few ounces, and it's just the softest stuff I think I've ever felt! Oh yeah and I went to the state fair where the spinning guild had a few samples on display, and the angora was just heavenly! I had to have something made of angora of my very own!! So I spun up 2oz of angora (from a bunny), and plied it with some silk caps singles I had laying around to add strength, and make the angora stretch further. I like how it turned out. It looks rather festive!

Then I knit up this cowl. A cowl is kinda like a short scarf that buttons or slips over your head. It's going to be so nice and soft and warm this winter! :)
And an action shot! :)

I've also attended a fiber fair, and completed some socks since this, but those events are so special they deserve their own posts! hehe. So until next time... Happy knitting! :)

And here's the rest from Ravelympics!

WOW! It's been a while since the Olympics ended, and I totally forgot to post the rest of my Ravelympics FO's (finished objects). So, since I'm so far behind, and have actually completed a few other things since then I suppose I'll share the rest of what I finished during Ravelympics. Then when the mood strikes again I'll tell you all about what I've done since then. :)

So, the next thing I did in my Ravelympics adventure was to have a "Dye day" where I dyed up at least 5 different yarns that I had committed to. Dyeing yarn and fiber is lots of fun! :) This first skein was a rather fun experiment! I first knit up an un-dyed skein of sock yarn with my knitting machine, and painted a picture on it with dye. I'm sure you can tell this should make some rather interesting socks! :) I'm actually nearly done with knitting this into socks now. I'll show and tell you all about them when they're done. I call this yarn "sunny day"

This was another experiment with knitted sock yarn. This was also knit up on my knitting machine and will be unraveled later to knit socks, but the socks from this should just have some funky stripes on them. I call this on, "Crazy stripes."

Then I dyed up one of my favorite colorways, and was rather pleased and excited with the results, so I put it up in my Etsy shop, and it sold the next day. So this picture is all I have left from this particular skein. However, I've actually dyed up more of this colorway since the summer games ended. :) I call this colorway "Pink Lemonaid"

Then I dyed up this sock yarn and called it "Stone" because it looks like rocks! :) This one is currently available in my shop.

Then there was this one. I really like this colorway, I call it "Pink Licorice" and it's also currently available in my shop.

Then I had some dye left over, and some merino I really wanted to dye up, so I tossed these in there! This one I call "Gripe Vine", and sold shortly after listing.

This one still doesn't have a name. But it looks rather happy to me with the blue and yellow. It's still available. :)

And last but not least I dyed this on. I call it "Raspberry Grape" And I think it's quite lovely. It's also currently in the shop.

Then I knit another tiny baby hat. :)

And a washcloth. This one is really soft on the solid pink fuzzy side, and just "normal" on the other side. I imagine this will be great to wash my face with. Haven't been able to bring myself to use it yet though. What if using it makes it ugly? hehe

Then I knit another washcloth! I committed to a LOT of washcloths! LOL!

Then one day I knit 5 hats on my knitting machine. I think they turned out rather nice! They're supposed to be donated, but I have a fear of someone hating them, and so I have yet to deliver them. I'd better hurry up!

Then I knit a hat that I designed, and knit from my own hand dyed, hand spun wool yarn, then I felted it. My pattern was way off though, so it turned out way too big! I'm not really sure what I did wrong. I swatched, felted my swatch, and measured, hmmmm..... well anyway it didn't work as planned. Luckily felted knitting is very forgiving!! So I trimmed out the part that was too big, and stitched up a small seam. So I still ended up with a functional hat that I think looks pretty cool if you like purple and black/gray.

Then I spun another yarn. This one however is quite different than what I usually spin. There's 2 plies here, one is superwash merino, the other one is all firestar, which is a sparkly nylon fiber. I don't remember how many yards are in this yarn, but this could make a really fun accent in a knitted piece. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to put this one in the shop or not.

Then I knit, you guessed it! Another washcloth! But look how cute this one is! There's a butterfly on it and everything!! I love butterflies!

*PHEW!* After all that I was tired! And my fingers were sore! So I actually took a break from knitting to um... gather up everything I knit/spun/dyed in the 17days, and took a group picture. This picture however is incomplete. The Pink Lemonaid sock yarn is missing. Oh well. Here's a picture of almost everything I got done during the games. I get tired just looking at it all LOL!!
Until next time! :) Happy knitting!