a home for a rasta hat

Over a year ago I completed a "bad dreds day sampler hat" using bits of yarn I had received from a Phat Fiber box. Alone, the poor hat languished, not unloved but never really worn either. Today that changed - a head (home) was found! I should have known from the beginning that even though it looked awful on me, it would look awesome on my sister-in-law!

Here are a few pics from right after the cast off. I can remember this day! It was nearing 100 outside and I was making a wool hat! (maybe you can tell from the shiny face! LOL) I'm also pretty sure I was knitting while wearing a bathing suit LOL

Merry Ramen to all and to all a good sauce!

My super secret holiday gift project was ....

The Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Made with love for my wonderful friend, Carol. I gave it to her at knit night on Monday, finally! Now I can stop being so hush-hush about it :)

Here is another shot, with a few other homemade ornaments, AND an official White House Christmas ornament from 2009.

A wider view, taken by my 3 1/2 year old. Obviously, right? :p

His Noodliness was created with white yarn that will felt, 2 googly eyes, 2 styrofoam balls, tempera paint, craft glue, and a few cleverly placed toothpicks.

The tentacles were made with Patons Classic Wool in white on size 13 straights. I cast on as many stitches as I wanted the leg to be, then cast off all but one stitch, leaving the last one on the needle. Then, I cast on another row of stitches, then cast them off. Keep doing this until you have as many tentacles as you like. Using waste yarn, I picked up loose stitches between all the legs to make them more secure, then tossed it in my front loading washer for a half hour using warm water. Front loaders don't felt as severely as a top loader so, I wasn't worried about losing length.

This was the only holiday project I worked on... and I had such high hopes for gifting knitted items to a few folks I love so much. In the end, sometimes it just works out better this way. I had so much fun making FSM, and got so many giggles out of seeing him in our tree here at home, I'm about to make another for our family!

Have a wonderful holiday, whatever celebration you and your loved ones enjoy!

another cast on!

I'm feeling especially wintery this week.... for obvious reasons :) The prospects of living in Anchorage in a few months, and Santa slipping thru the lock on our door later this week, have my insides all flitty and cozy. (Or is that nausea, because there's no pressure involved with either of those, right? LOL)

I don't have a large stash, especially when you compare it to some of my friends and their collections. Mostly I buy only what I "need", unless something jumps out at me, and implores me to take it home. My system works for me, but sometimes what I have on hand just won't do for the projects I have in mind.

Last night I took some well-deserved time off at Fibre Space, my favorite LYS in the area here, and did a little shopping for me! I'm one of those shoppers that normally escapes with a total bill under $30... but believe me, before I've left the store, I was sure to fondle every expensive and luscious hank in there! Thanks to a wonderful friend, last night was funded by a gift certificate. (Thank you, Carol!)

So...my latest project is the Guernsey Wrap by Jared Flood. The sample at Fibre Space was knit up in a yummy gray Shelter, and was uber gorgeous! However, I was drawn to a cozy "wild berries" colored worsted yarn by Stonehedge Shepherd's Wool and picked up 3 hanks for the project.

photo borrowed from Brooklyn Tweed

round & round

Ohh, its late and I should be in bed but, I'm caught up roaming the interwebs oogling over spinning wheels. My favorite spinning wheel pr0n site? The Woolery They have a great selection of wheels all in one place, with info about the workings of each.

I've really had the spinning bug recently... but there is a cure! :) Hopefully I can help myself to the relief tomorrow!

Yep, there will be pics!

Renaming my blog?

It just occurred to me that maaaybe I should rename my blog "Lazy ass knit blogger" :) Its not that I don't have news that I might like to share but, then I have to actually sit and type about it - by the time I get the chance, the moment is sometimes lost.

I have a solution, however ... I have resolved to correct the err of my ways and get back to blogging regularly. I do this sometimes ... neglect my blog, that is.

So... on to a WIP update!

I recently started a great shawl! The Snow Drops and Snap Peas Shawl by Kristen Kapur. I was going to cast on Citron but the idea of more stockinette made me cringe just thinking about it! (I'm still mid-way thru a sweater and its the stockinette that has me slowing down on that WIP!) Anyway... my "electric peas", as I like to call it, is already shaping up beautifully!

Talk about instant gratification! The Snow Drops and Snap Peas begins to pay off immediately, as it's patterned throughout. I'd recommend it if the project you're working on has you snoozing ;)

In other news ... my hubby has informed me that as of May, we will be Alaskan residents. He's in the army and well, Uncle Sam decided his services are needed up there. I'm still a bit shocked, reeling from all the ideas I have ever had about "the last frontier", and then there's the idea of actually packing up everything and getting to Anchorage. Now that thought can almost send me into a panic attack LOL At least its always "knitting weather" up there :)

That's all for now, folks. I am going to go back to my Mushi-shi (anime) marathon, and reading up on successfully spinning singles. I'll be blogging on that soon, I'm sure!

xoxo