In the course of a couple hours, I have turned my very first handspun yarn into a hat.

I decided to call it my Sloppy Hat because it's knitted a bit loose.  I used size 11 needles to knit it up since my wraps per inch tests came out to about ten.  I could have easily knitted this more consistently with a size 9 or 10 needle.

I don't mind.

For the most part it fits and it didn't come apart while knitting it up.

I used the Big Bulky Bucket Hat pattern for this, but instead of crocheting an edge I did a few rows of seed stitch.  I don't have a crochet hook big enough for this yarn.  I had a little bit left of my estimated 80 yards of yarn.

In other news, Jake and I went to the local quilt shop for the first time.  They were having a Fat Quarter Frenzy sale for President's Day.  25 fat quarters for $25 and any more were just a dollar each.  Jake, ever the enabler, helped me pick some out.  I also got a little kit for a future gift.

I ordered a book of fat quarter patterns using the Amazon gift certificate that my uncles gave me for my birthday.  Yay!

Surprise!  We now live in Southern California; the Santa Clarita Valley to be exact.  I love it here so far, except that there are NO knitting shops anywhere.  They've all shut down over the past few years.  The closest one is about half an hour south

Then again, we're not dealing with the snow like Illinois and my home state of Maryland is.  A small price to pay depending on who you ask.

While I'm waiting to be accepted at CSUN, I've been using the free time to catch up on projects and getting re-acquainted with my wheel.  The really neat thing about living in our new place is, I get my own crafting table and space!  I'm working on getting an entire bedroom to myself, but for now the extra space is awesome.  I can leave my sewing machine out...yes I got a sewing machine.

I now own a Bernina Activa 220 and I've already made a small quilt with it.

I pieced it together and sent it away to be quilted.  This turned into a Christmas gift for my parents.

The Paintbox Hat way back in August was frogged because it was too big for Jake.  Instead, he got this.

I call it the Sunset hat, which is really the Pismo Hat.  Jake dyed this yarn back at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival.  He's not into socks, so I decided on this instead.  It's obviously a bit big for me, but it's a nice skullcap for Jake that doesn't keep him too warm.  We're in California now after all.  It's February and sixty degrees out as I write.

The decreases for the top make the hat a bit pointy, but it smooshes out when Jake wears it.

This is for a friend.

It is 50% complete, has cables, and is made with superwash.   That is all I will say about this...for now.

I also spun up some yarn that didn't fall apart...for the first time!

It's about 80 yards of 3-ply.  The white singles are wool and the green is alpaca.  I don't know how many stitches per inch I can get with it, but I'm determined to turn this into something.

I hope it holds up

Lastly, I've started my own Noro striped sock.  Jake picked out the colors.

This is a fun knit to watch because the colors gradually change.  I'll keep the cuff, heel, and toe as one yarn.  It's a little itchy to work with, but I'm certain it'll soften up a bit in the wash.

For those of you out in all of the snow, stay safe!

I'm knitting a hat for Jake, but I wanted to try it on for myself.

It looks like a painting, so Paintbox Hat is an appropriate name.  I'll take this and my sock to Lake of Egypt this weekend.  I'll probably be too busy to work on either, but one should never leave home without any knitting.

SOCK LOVE

When there is downtime at work (and there has been a lot of that over the summer), I am allowed to knit at my desk.  I've been working on my Promise socks mostly and the new lab assistant really liked it. She told me that she does know how to knit, but she just hasn't been interested in socks.

Now she's knitting socks with her daughter.

She told me that she was impressed with my socks and it would be a great project for her daughter to do for an upcoming 4-H competition.  In order to help her daughter, she is working on the same sock pattern ahead of her so she can offer help.

How awesome is that?  Mom and daughter knitting socks and spending time together.  I told her that I would be happy to help with anything they needed.  It makes me feel warm and fuzzy when people tell me that my knitting inspires them to do something creative.  Another good reason to knit in public.

SPINNING

In other news, I'm trying to spin again.  I own an Ashford Traveller and have for about five years.  After several falase starts, I think I'm starting to get it.

This is undyed Romney.  I'm told it's a great beginner fiber.  My single is starting to look more even. When I started, it was much more thick and thin than this.  Maybe after more practice, I'll try out some dyed top I have.

MORE HATS?

Of course!  Jake is sort of a hat fiend.  It makes up for his fear of wearing socks.  I haven't made him one yet this year and I always knit at least one so he has something new to wear to MAGFest.  Here is the latest creation in progress.

We agreed that a plain stockinette hat would be best and would allow the colors to stand out.  I may put some icord on top.  He gets a kick out of that.

Enjoy Nugget...

He loves you!

I received my Loopy Ewe "Don't Be Blue" kit in the mail last Friday and it really made me happy that I at least tried to get in.  Handmaiden dyed a really beautiful yarn just for this kit.  It's so soft too; that bit of cashmere added in really makes a difference.

This past weekend Jake went to Cleveland for a demoscene convention and I had no schoolwork to do.  That equates to a free weekend, so I cleaned up the house Friday night so I could go to Needleworks early to get help with the Rogue pullover.

(On a side note, Jake won all of the music competitions except one and came home with money, books, tshirts, and a top of the line gaming computer.  It was awesome.)

I was ready to seam the shoulder together and pick up stitches to start the hood.  That is, at least I thought I was ready to do that.  Matthew was there on Saturday and was happy to help me out.  He pointed out, to my embarrassment, that I completely forgot to knit 36 more rows after the armhole shaping.  The back was much shorter than it should be.

He said that that particular direction looked like it was snuck in at the end of a paragraph when it probably should have had its own paragraph...like all of the other important instructions.  He undid the bind off for me and set me up to knit those last rows.  Then I'm going to undo the bind off at the front shoulders.  Instead of seaming, I'm going to do a three needle bind off with the front and back shoulders at Matthew's suggestion.

Here is a photo of the back.  The back was about as short as where the two strands of yarn are.  You'd think I'd notice something like that, but I haven't knit anything like this before.

In other news I managed to get a net score of 100.8% on my latest chemistry exam.  I got 100% on the polyatomic ion quiz which is added on to the exam.  So...wow.  As a reward to myself, I'm stalking the Loopy Ewe for their Numma Numma and will get some if I can catch it.