Changing Plans

A new addition to the family arrived via my SIL K on the 9th of October. The family and I were supposed to be heading out to the Pacific Northwest to see "Big Z" but the minions caught whatever it is that's going around little man's school at the moment and they've passed it along to me. So, we're sending the hubby and MIL instead. If you'd like to see pictures of the little guy, you can see them here.

Since it's been a little while since I have shown any handmade goodies, I thought I would do a little bit of catching up and show some of the sooper seekret things I was working on.

First up, J (Squibstitcher on Ravelry) and I did another birthday swap this year. I knew I wanted to make her gift out of her own hand dyed yarns and I also knew I didn't have enough of her colorways so I sent out a few messages to some ladies on Ravelry that had completed projects using some of her colorways that I didn't already have, and voila!

A crocheted handbag, complete with lining though I don't have any photos to prove that. Actually I don't have any completed project photos at all, these were taken prior to the addition of the second handle and a wash/block, but that's alright. Here's the other side.
She liked it :)

Here's what I got in MY birthday package :)

I can't tell you how good this soap smells - you'll just have to trust me!

An embroidered dumpling bag complete with hidden treasures...

Some of J's Vamp Club Colorways

Thank you Squib!!!

My spinning has been almost nonexistent lately given my TO DO knitting list, but I couldn't help myself a while back and spun up this little lovely.

It started off as a pencil roving dyed by Gherkin and I must say, though it was my first experience spinning pencil rovings, it will not be my last! I've also made it through 2oz of 4 for a friend of mine so hopefully I'll have pictures of that one soon.

I'm pretty sure I haven't blogged about this next project either.... If I did, you can just look at it again. This was a handspun hand knit cowl for my Mom's birthday (also last August).


I've also succumbed to a new addiction as of late...


Crocheted scrubbies! Love these little things - they take less yarn than my normal garter stitch washcloths and they're quicker to make. Don't get me wrong, I still like my washcloths, but you (and by 'you' I mean family) might be seeing more of these too :)

The last two months or so have been rather busy for me. I took part in an I LOVE the 80's CLUB along with two other dyers (Squibstitcher and Gherkin on Ravelry) and October was my month. I whipped up a few patterns:


Dyed up all the yarn and shipped them out. It's a nice relief to have it all done. I've never done a club or anything this size and it was rather fun!

As we all know, October = SOCKTOBERFEST. I love Socktoberfest. What a perfect excuse to make socks. I finally got around to finishing up my other Hermione's Everyday Socks sock so that pair and my Strut pair will be finding their way over to Aunt M's house shortly - once we're all over this lovely sick crap. I've also got a few other socks going at the moment. I'm not sure how many I'll actually get done before November, but we're going to give it the 'ol college try anyway.

I think I mentioned that little miss picked out some lovely tweed yarn at the LYS a few weeks ago now. She picked the yarn, the colors, AND the hat pattern. We went with the House Hats beret pattern from Alison Hansel's book Charmed Knits. It's a nice quick little project - especially nice when you need an I-want-to-start-and-finish-something-now project. Since little miss was modeling her hat (really it was more playing with the leaves, but you can see the hat so all is well), I took the opportunity to get a few shots of my FIL's Holiday Cousteau Hat. He's already seen it so it's not a surprise for him but he told me that he would act surprised anyway when he opened his gift so that's covered. I've made this hat a few times now and it's a great ribbed hat. My issue with this one was gauge. I really dislike gauge sometimes, you know? I used one of my hand dyed worsted skeins and my gauge was in between. I fought with myself during the CO - if I CO the smaller number of sts it would be too small but if I CO the larger size it would be too big and I really didn't feel like dissecting the pattern right then and there so I went with the larger size. Then I fought with myself as I knit the main ribbing portion contemplating ripping it out and going with the smaller size because I just knew it was going to be too big....

But I kept at it and finally just made him try the damn thing on so I could avoid fighting with myself over the next few months. It fit. It's a tad big but it's wearable so we're leaving it at that!

The hubby and I went to little man's school conference today. He is doing well and excelling in many things. There are a few areas that need a bit of polishing but it sounds like the rest of the class needs a bit of polishing in those areas too so we're right on point.

I'm working on a few projects/patterns at the moment that can't be shown yet, so as always, stay tuned! I'm also dyeing up some Autumn Inspired skeins for the shop which I'll post in a week or two. The Holidays might be semi-homemade this year instead of homemade but we'll see what I can get done. Christmas in April has a nice ring to it!