FO Fridays: Skid

Skid has been done for awhile but laziness (and lack of decent light for photos) kept it from the blog last week, so without further delay...my second finished knitting project for 2013!

Pattern:  Skid by Stephen West
Yarn:  Madelinetosh Vintage in Composition Book Gray and Butter
Needles:  US size 6 and 7
Size: Large
Ravelry Project Page

Not too much to say about this one.  It was pretty easy and fast.  The pattern is somewhat confusing about moving the start of round stitch marker--never really tells you how to work in your color changes.  I tried a few rounds of moving the color change with the marker but that looked like crap so I gave up and changed colors at the same stitch every round.  I eventually stopped moving the stitch marker altogether because I couldn't see the point.  I'm sure I'm missing something totally obvious, but whatever, it looks fine.  And it is, as advertised, totally reversible.

Thank you helpful balloon model

It's a little roomy so I might chuck the whole reversibility thing by sewing in some fleece lining to make the hat warmer, but that is still to be decided.  Most likely it will be spring before I get to the fabric store, and I'll have plenty of time to decide.

Thank you all for your support (and encouragement) of the Stephen West addiction that I wrote about when I started the hat.  Sounds like I'm good company!  I expect Chadwick will hit the needles pretty soon!

Visit Tami's for more FO Friday!

February Project-of-the-Month: Hootenanny!

Hootenanny has to be one of my favorite words.  And really who ever gets a chance to use it?  Unless of course you're quoting an old Buffy the Vampire episode ("chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny").  Sorry, inner nerd showing again.  Moving on quickly to my February project-of-the-month: Hootenanny!

I changed my mind 12 different times (okay, maybe more like 3) about what should be this month's project.  In the end, Hootenanny won out because it's been sitting in my queue for over 2 years with yarn at the ready, and I'm finally determined to get moving on a few of these poor projects that I've always passed over or put off because I'm too busy trying to finish other WIPs. Hootenanny was first mainly because the yarn was already wound, and I was in the mood for a sock and some stranded knitting.  Not to mention, the owls are just plain cute (matching owl project bag a nice bonus).

Who can resist cute owls?  Or the word "hootenanny"?  Not me. Another favorite word: "shenanigans". Definitely going to try to figure out ways to work "hootenanny" and "shenanigans" into more blog posts.

Now go check out Tami's for more WIP Wednesday!

January Spinning

So once a month, I've decided I'm going to get over my whole "finished-spins-aren't-really-finished-objects" hangup and post my spinning for the previous month.  If you came to see a finished knitted, crocheted, or woven item, I'm sorry to disappoint.  Today is about spinning.  Here's why:

Another of my many fiber-related 2013 resolutions is to put a significant dent in the spinning fiber stash. Somewhere between the goal of spinning down the stash and finding the 13 in 2013 group on Ravelry, I completely lost my mind.

That would be 13 pounds of fiber in 2013.  Seriously, 13 pounds. You'd think I'd want to start out with an easier goal, like say, 13 braids, 13 spinning projects.  Something, anything, more manageable than 13 pounds.  Nope, some part of me said "hey, that sounds fun, I'm totally going to try to do that".  To add to the ridiculousness of this goal, even though I may think my stash is getting too big, relative to most spinners in the group, it's tiny.  Barely visible.  I don't even currently own 13 pounds of fiber. Details, people, details.  I'm going for it.

January spinning got me off to a pretty decent start.

4 oz Bee Mice Elf Merino Silk in Warm Welcome, 300 yards, singles, 11-12 wpi
8 oz alpaca from Nobella Alpacas, approx 175 yards, 2-ply, 6-7 wpi
4 oz Misty Mountain Farm BFL in Victorian Rose, 155 yards, 2-ply, 10 wpi (for the epic afghan)

Add to that pound, another 2 ounces of fiber that I spun up while practicing learning to draft long-draw, and I'm at 18 ounces for January.  Plus I've got a nice head start for February.  Right on track for 13 pounds.  We are not going to discuss that those are all pretty easy, fast spins and that once I want to get back to thinner yarn, I'm totally screwed.  Hopefully posting my spinning here monthly will help keep me motivated.

Visit Tami's for more FO Fridays (and probably, like, actual FOs)!