It's snowing hats!

Snow on handspun hat
Looks warm but on the ground is
Not keeping ears warm

This was born in one week! Last sunday I spun the wool, plied it, wound it into a ball, and started knitting from the top down. This sunday I wove in ends!

The wool is 2 ounces of merino that I received as a gift from a birthday exchange (I think it was in 2006). I wasn't so wild about the color unspun, but the color improved with spinning. I spun it fast and dirty, trying to get thick and thin. I knit it on size 3 needles, the nubs stand out well in a tightly knit fabric. I knit from the top down, and used every last inch of the two ply. I then used the navaho/chained singles from the bobbin end to cast off.

And I've been busting stash like nobody's business! It started with this fun scarf that I first saw on Saartje Knits. So simple, 1x1 rib alternating skeins of Noro Kureyon in the same colorway. On the needles (size 8 maybe?) It was about 9 inches wide and not quite long enough. I held it over a tea kettle while I was stretching it, and it blocked to about 6 inches wide and plenty long.



And it continued with crochet hats:


On the top right is all Elsebeth Lavold angora left over from the chukar arm warmers. The top left is that plus Waterlily? merino wool. (I ran out of angora and had to get creative.) Middle two hats are Noro Kureyon that I got in anticipation of knitting Lizard Ridge, which I never started. You know all about the lower right already. Lower left is Mountain Colors with Noro Cash Iroha trim (the uneven edge is very clever ear shaping).

All this in January! Yay! There is plenty more stash to bust, but this is a great leap forward!

The knitted hats are not just about using up accumulated yarn though, I have never been a fan of the hats that I have knitted, and I decided to knit lots of them until I got what I wanted. The green hat is the closest so far.

Solstice Goodie Bags

I'm going to skip my "I hate Christmas" rant, and jump to the good stuff: I get a crafty itch that needs to be scratched. One year I made little books with a fairy tale. The year of the pop-up christmas tree cards was a good one, as was the paper poinsettia year.

2007 was the year of the foundation pieced strip bags:

Stash from a Florence, Oregon quilt store, acquired on a few coastal outings this year.

And a lovely picture (taken by Hans, not me, of course) of the finished product!


We stuffed them with wax paper bags of Nuts'n'Bolts (husband's family chex mix recipe), and of cookies.

I used a variety of fabrics for the backs, but they all had the somewhat metallic red fabric on the front.

And the best part: I had fun giving them out! It's pretty much what rescues that particular holiday for me. Crafts and cooking and sharing them both with friends and family.

Hope yours was good!

Red Koigu arm warmers!

I made a second pair of arm warmers to keep my Mother-in-law's arms and hands warm while she's reading on cold Alaskan nights. You might remember the Chukar arm warmers. They were a big hit!

Koigu is a lovely lovely thing. Merino, tightly spun enough to have a firm hand, and presumably resist pilling, but not at all scratchy against the skin. And the colors, Oh the colors!

I ordered this Koigu in October 2006 from Patternworks. It was on backorder, and I held out because I thought it was the prettiest colorway. I ended up holding out until february, a little late for xmas 2006. So they became a xmas 2007 project.

I wanted a thicker fabric from the koigu, since these are supposed to keep arms warm, not just pretty. I settled on a horizontal rib (4 rows of stockinette, 4 rows of reverse stockinette). This incidentally made the shaping of the arm quite easy, since it was very elastic. I checked to make sure the fabric wouldn't be too stretched out up near the elbow, again referencing the warmth issue.


I then knit up the hands separately and sewed the sections together, letting the cuff roll and sewing it a few rows into the wrist.


I used an I-cord bind off on the fingerless fingers, and LOVED it. Such a neat edge! Sorry the photos don't show it better.

BTW, that is one of our new bathroom countertops! We went shopping at a marble/stone remnant yard, and found this beautiful piece. A little more eco-friendly than buying virgin stone.

Gratuitous poodle shot!

After his latest haircut, he was so cold that he wanted his coat on inside the house.