decisions decisions

I'm having a hard tim deciding what my next knitting project will be.  I want to do another shawl but all the shawl patterns I have call for size 6 and I only have a size 5.  Usually my guage comes up right at size 5 but I don't want another Azzu incident and run out of yarn.  I only have one skein each of about a dozen different sock yarns and they're all different yardeages.

Maybe I should get back to holiday knitting.  I need to do some more fingerless gloves and figure out something to do for the boys.  I like the turn a square hat pattern but i'm such a loose knitter it came out too big.

Azzu shawl

When I went to the spinning class I picked up some Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn in a very interesting color way.  I decided to do the Azzu Shawl pattern on Ravelry.com.  Here is the finished product.
It's not exactly a shawl per say but more like a neck wrap.  I had to stop 5 rows short because I was running out of yarn.  I want to do this again with the right size needles and the right ammount of yarn.  not exactly thrilled with it but it could be worse.

Picture after blocking. 

Valentines Day Frog was nice enough to model for me.



Adventures in Spinning

I went to a spinning class yesterday.  I was the only one to show up to the class so it was like a private lesson.  A friend of mine gave me a drop spindle a couple months ago and I've been spinning some on that.  I bought a book and some roving and it's taken me to while to get the hang of it. So I decided to take a spinning class at Yarnhouse in Charlotte.  The teacher was really nice and had a lot of good tips.  She helped me with my hand placement and pre drafting.  It took a while for me to get the hang of treadling with two feet but it was so much fun!  Here are some pictures of what I did.

Corriedale I spun and plied on a drop spindle

Single Ply I spun on an Ashford Kiwi



happiness is

Happiness is finding silly bands in the shape of my favorite childhood toy.

Happiness is an orange alpaca blend goodwill sweater that frogs beautifully.

Happiness is a new Enquirer. (it's my only vice, don't judge.)

Happiness is dumpling bags that actually look like dumplings.

Happiness is finding a Halloween flag with a witch on it that looks like my little sister when she dressed up like "Hocus Pocus".

Happiness is.

I have to learn how to find joy in the little things.

knitting gone green?

I made a little trip to our local Goodwill and picked up a few sweaters I plan to recycle.  I have felted some men's sweaters before but this time I want to frog the sweaters and use the yarn.  I picked one that was a lovely orange alpaca and another that was polyester blend.  I wouldn't normally pick a polyester yarn but it already looked kinda hand knit, it may be the easiest to pull apart.  I immediatly put them in the wash and I'm going to cut the seams once they're dry.


Also I've been told you can find hand knit and hand crochet afghans at Goodwill but I didn't find any today.  I would love to find a granny quare afghan because I can't crochet.  I've tried and I'm horrible at it.  I can do a chain for edges but that's about it.  I have sworn off any knitting with crocheted edges.

felted objects

Here are some of the finished felted pretties my family will be receiving for Christmas. I had a great idea to put a bunch of knitted things in a box and let them choose what they want. I have to figure out some more things for the boys, like beanies or something.

FRENCH PRESS FELTED SLIPPERS
for the ladies

FELT CLOGS

for the menfolk

GREEN DUMPLING BAG

BLUE DUMPLING BAG

The dumpling bags are kinda plain, I'm not very good at embroidery so I left that part off.  I'm going to try and jazz them up with some sparkly charms or something.

felt, felt and more felt

Finished the felt clogs today. I will post pics once they're blocked and dried. I used Fishermans wool and I'm not happy with the outcome. Its so fuzzy and not very sturdy even though I held two together. Boyfriend will be happy because he is usually the recipient of my knitting gone wrong. They were meant to be a Christmas present for my dad but theyre kinda floppy and my dad will never wear them anyway. He's not the "house sheos" wearing type guy.

Started another pair of the twin leave fingerless gloves this time I'm using Kroy socks. I've never used that yarn before, so far its ok but I won't be using it again.

Next on the list is the dumpling bags. I'm going to use Debbie Stoller's Full oSsheep. Hopefully it will felt better than classic merino or fishermans wool. Looks like I'm going to be going back to lamb's pride worsted. That is the best felting yarn I've found so far. Question is two skeins of worsted held double or one skein of bulky held single.