fiber catch up

after all my excitement in finishing my christmas craft, i never posted all my other woolly happenings! here are those sweet snowflakes in my window. i just love them. they just gently swing and i think of sarah each time one catches my eye ;)


i ran into a bit of a snag with my medusa. when i got into the lace portion of the pattern ( after slogging through miles of stockinette stitch) i needed to be mindful of my stitches. so much so, that i would sit alone at the kitchen counter saying the pattern out loud so that i would get it right. then when i got to the last two rows, i doubted myself. the pattern was very clear, i understood what it was asking, but i still needed verification that i was right. thank goodness for tina turner knits. she took one look, had me knit it, and i was on the right path.

watching all the points come off the needles, well, it makes me want to cast another right on!

as much as i want to, i just can't get distracted. i have several things with a firm completion date, so i need to stay on task. because i keep getting distracted.....

yes, those are baby hats. two infant hats with a touch of lace. no reason why these needed to be made. none. i was in the basement, searching for some handspun to give as a gift and found this yarn. it's lamb's pride lanaloft in blueberry patch and before i knew what was happening, it was in my project bag cast on. the first one was so dear, that i knit the second to finish the ball. i'll toss them in the gift box. you never know when you'll need a baby hat for a gift!
i have been spinning. quite a bit actually. my new fiber friend has inspired my to get back to spinning every day. it's amazing how productive you can be when you actually do the work.

these just  need to be plied. BFL roving from amythefibergoddess in shades of blue.

started this on new year's day..... champagne blush from bittersweet yarn. kathy found this first at rhinebeck and there was just one 3.9 oz hank left for me. this is just lovely roving, and such a soft color it will need just the right pattern.
of course, i was distracted again with a new pattern that one of the fiber ladies made. so distracted that i  hunted up some handspun and cast one on. i should have it done soon, and i'll tell all about it.

christmas craft

our final holiday celebration was saturday. my family (sisters, kids, cousins) all gathered here for dinner, games and gifts. the tradition of christmas crafts is so old, that the history is murky. it started with my mom and sisters making (with their own hands) gifts for each other. we continued with that as us 'youngers' grew up and soon we were crafting for a number that was too crazy. we started drawing a name to craft for and soon the rules evolved to include that the item just needed to be hand-crafted... by any ones hands!
names were drawn on december first, and i was crafting for my niece. i had a project already in mind for her, so i just needed to make it happen. she had called me earlier in the month while she was standing in the yarn aisle at acmoore. having just bought a new coat, she was trying to find yarn to have me make a scarf. i will freely admit to being a yarn snob. she was contemplating a skein of generic yarn and i just couldn't let her do it. after telling her to back away, i promised to find just the right fiber for a scarf. so who do i go to? amythefibergoddess! i had three hanks of natural alpaca yarn that i thought would be just perfect. now.... just to match the colors i wanted. hot pink and dark chocolate.

 it doesn't show well, but there are beautiful shades of violet and caramel in the handpaints. she kettle dyed the pink skein and i was good to go.
next was choosing a pattern. i started with the seaside rumpus ( twice) and had no luck negotiating that. as i was just starting to regret the entire project, i remembered the miami beach shawl that i had done for amy.
it was perfect!

i'm contemplating matching fingerless mitts for her january birthday. with this cold snap, i may just cast them on!
what did i get? my cousin has just return from two years in the peace corps, located in the Ukraine. she gave me a hand made basket from her village filled with crocheted snowflakes.

she made each snowflake different. i'm sooooo loving these. my plan is to suspend them in my kitchen windows to see every day. the basket? she told me they fill them with flowers, but i'll be putting needles and notions in mine.