Greg's hat is finished!!!

I really, really like this pattern. It's a free pattern named Dylan's Beanie on Ravelry. One of the few top-down hat patterns. Easy to knit, and it has pick and choose sizes, 

and the top increases are pretty cool. 

 

Greg bought this pure alpaca hand spun yarn from Tonya's store, and it was a pleasure to work with. So soft and cozy. It'll keep Greg nice and warm next winter. 

It's really a dark grey, not brownish like in the pictures.

And Katie approves :-)

Photos from my camera that I should have posted months ago...Part 3

From Omaha's 2012 Snowpocalypse

Photos from my camera that I should have posted months ago...Part 2

Rabbits are everywhere!! 

I made these for a coworkers' twin girls, 

and now everybody wants one! 

 

The best reward? Pictures of the babies with their bunny :-)

**Not shown are 2 additional pink ones. 

They look exactly like the pink one in the first picture :-)

My spinning obsession

I got a PVC spinning wheel for Yule! There's no way I could justify getting an expensive wooden one for a hobby that I may or may not like, or be able to master. Besides, I have a love of Adult Tinker toys PVC.

My Babe spinning wheel, from Babe's Fiber Garden, ordered through Tonya's Cute by Design

Not being able to wait, I immediately spun this:

Then I got smart and set up a class with Tonya. 

After one class there was quite a bit of improvement:

With a bit of confidence now, I signed up for Tonya's "Spinning Fun Fiber" class.

Left to right: wool, rabbit, silk, rabbit using the long draw method, superwash wool.

And finally, my first complete hank of wool. 148 yards or so, spun, plied, washed, dried, and wound? Niddy noddied? Whatever. 

Here it is...tada!!

There are fat spots, and skinny spots...

But it's not too bad, it's done, and it was fun. So, the spinning wheel was a good thing. Except I'm spending less time knitting now :-(

Photos from my camera that I should have posted months ago...Part 1

Greg's birthday cake from January...my version of the Lumpy Space Princess