Saturday, October 22, 2011

All Aboard!

This ship-load of bunnies is steaming out of port!  The latest batch of 24 has deployed in my final weeks at work before I change assignments.  They are finding themselves into offices bidden or not all over the floor.  Leftovers are assuming posts in nooks and crannies to be discovered in the future.  I just can't help myself. 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Viking Hat #2

You have got to be exceedingly careful when knitting something cool.  It is only a matter of time before everybody wants one.  That's exactly what happened with the viking hat.  I tend to be very strong on my stance of "I can't knit one for everybody" and "I'll gladly teach you how to knit one yourself."  But...  I relented to the entreaties of one coworker due to health and safety concerns.  They're Swedish and planning to go home for Christmas.  The child (3 to 4 years old) resists hats at all costs except for a plastic souvenir viking helmet a relative mailed him for kicks.  This isn't usually a problem in Texas, but it will be a bit nippy in Sweden in December.  This hat is medically necessary.  It is being modeled by my pet sheep Lord Bitey of Cornwall.

On another note, I didn't have to buy back my handcrafted items from the United Way auction this year.  The yarn went for 21$ and the baby blanket for 42$.  I was pleased.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Tiger Coils

While looking for a quasi active spinning group on Ravelry I have fallen in with the Novelty and Art Yarn Spinners.   They're a fun crowd and have lots of ideas for new things to try.  I signed up for a wee mini-swap that includes knitting a hexipuff which incorporates a hand spun art yarn.  The hexipuffs are knit with sock yarn, so I experimented with this teeny tiny coil yarn spun with singles left over from my tiger themed charity skein.  It looks OK, now to do something with it...

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Concordia

This is some fluffy (but a wee bit scratchy) yarn I've been spinning up with roving from Bartlett Yarns.  Their roving is 7.00$ for half a pound, and this stuff is like potato chips so there was stopping with one.  I have 1 pound of wool with equal quantities of Thistle and Mountain Laurel.  The roving smells wonderfully sheepy and has a very short staple.  I was caught by surprise by the latter feature and had little luck with my preferred short draw.   This wool wants to be spun long draw only with no need for rolags.  I strip the roving in half and we are ready to go.  I may have crossed the line to fiber "artist" because I feel like a sculptor who listens to the stone.  So far I have one skein with 170 yards, but have barely made a dent in the massive lumps of wool.