Homespun Hat

This is the first project I ever knitted with my homespun yarn. I was still taking lessons when these singles were ready to ply. I decided to try Navajo plying...basically turning a single thread into 3 ply by doing chained loops. I ruined half the singles because I began plying on my wheel in the same direction that the singles were spun. I wish I had a picture to show you. I will NEVER do that again. As a result, I only had a small amount of yarn left. I decided to make a hat. I will never be able to give it away because it was the "First".

Skie Bag

A couple of months ago I was searching the internet for a bag pattern when I came across this site. What a great idea. You send them a picture, tell them which bag you'd like to make, and they send you a fabric panel ready to sew. The first thing that crossed my mind was how much my daughter would love a bag like this with her "baby" Skie as the "Cover Girl".





Yep, I was right. She loved it. Makes her smile which makes me smile.

Applique Quilt Block

I ran across the cutest quilt blocks by Amy Bradley. She has quite a few different dog blocks that you can put together to make a really cute quilt. She happens to offer the Schnauzer one free. I don't really consider myself a quilter but I thought I'd give it a try. I'd never really done applique before but geez, how hard can it be. I went to my LQS and purchased a few fat quarters for the project as well as some Heat and Bond. I traced the pattern pieces and attached them to the background fabric and began blanket stitching around the pieces...by hand. I couldn't believe how hard it was to sew through this stuff, especially where there were 3 layers of fabric. How could anyone ever make a whole quilt like this? I pressed on and several bandaids and pin pricked fingers later I was done. Back I went to the quilt store to purchase fabric to make a craft bag using my new quilt block. I explained to the owner how much trouble I had. Oh, she said. The Heat and Bond is for machine appilque. Oh, I said. Anyway, I bought some fabric, quilted it and put together a nice bag for myself. Here it is:

Birthday Gifts (2007)

There is a little group of girls that hang out and craft together. I generally try to make presents for these friends when it's birthday time. Last January (I think) there was a project in Sew News that I really loved. It was a water bottle holder. It had pouches on the side for snacks or whatever, an adjustable strap, a dog clip at the bottom for keys and it was fully lined. Perfect. Strap it on and you are ready for a walk. The project called for pac cloth. What the heck is pac cloth? After looking around I finally found everything I needed at Seattle Fabrics. They had the most wonderful colors in this waterproof fabric. Every holder would be 2 colors. I decided that they all would have black as one color and I would change up the second color. Here is a picture of the one I made for myself.


Lisa had the black/orange combo, Pauline the black/electric pink, Maria the black/very bright blue and Wendy had the black/Arrest Me Red one. Too bad I didn't take pictures. They were a hit. I know I love mine.

Baby M's First Fashion Show

Last December I went to a baby shower for a friend that used to live across the street from me. How nice to know she was having a girl. It makes the whole gift thing so much easier. Anyway, Mia is a crafter and I know how much she loves and appreciates hand made items. I went "shopping" in my stash of handmade baby items and picked out a few nice things for the new baby. Baby M arrived mid January and is starting to fit into some of her new things. I received these pictures today and I can't tell you how happy I was to get them. First up, Baby M in a one skein shrug and hat knit from Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. That sage green color is the natural color of the cotton.



The next picture caused me to laugh out loud. I saw the Baby Brunhilde Hat by Bella Knitting on someone's blog last year and had to make one. Here's Baby M in the one I knitted for her.



Can you stand it? I think I should knit myself some long blonde hair...well, maybe with a little grey in it for authenticity.
More Baby M photos to come.

Pencil Roving

Last year my friend Lisa gave me 8oz of Corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms for my birthday. I did my best to split the roving into 2 4oz piles. My goal was to spin half of it and get enough for a pair of plain toe up socks.
Here is half (I hope) of the roving:



I'm faily new to spinning but thought I should jump right in. I took lessons last year at Spin-A-Bit in Middleboro, Ma. I'd done a lot of practicing and I was ready for a real project. 4oz of pencil roving is a lot of fiber and it took me a long time to get through it. I eventually managed to get a 2 ply yarn that I'm pretty happy with. I haven't figured out the yardage yet but if I run out, there's always more where that came from.
Finished yarn:




More pictures to come when I finally get some on the needles.

Yellow Taxi

Last year (and previous years) Claudia held a raffle for all who donated to her ride for Multiple Sclerosis. I was the lucky winner of 8 oz of handspun that was donated by Chappy's Mom in a yellow taxi colorway. Yes, that's right folks, 8oz. Now, if you get on the scale in the morning to weigh yourself and you discover that you've lost 8 oz, it's a huge disappointment! But 8 oz of fiber is HUGE! Here is what I made with some of it:



These socks are great. They were knitted using the Monkey pattern. My friend Maria is going to make herself a pair of socks with some of what I have left. Who knows what else will show up in a yellow taxi!

More Amy Butler

Here is a bag I made recently from Amy Butler fabric.





The fabric is from her Nigella collection and the pattern is the Simple Bag in
Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. Actually I made two of these bags but forgot to take a picture before giving it away. UGH.