Easter knitting is coming along great!

I have a duckling and a bunny made for my own kids. I'm getting started on a set for my niece and nephew. If there's time I'll just keep knitting and send these out to friends. I really love how they are turning out. Knit some for yourself with the pattern from Kat Knits.

(Please note the adorable tails on the bunnies.)

red red red!

New scarf! I knit this with some sumptuous yarn I bought months ago. It's merino & silk and the deepest prettiest red. They only had one skein so I knew it would be a short scarf. This yarn intimidated me. It took me a long time to finally get knitting.

The pattern is from turvid's blog. Very easy and quick to knit!

Fuzzy Yarn!

So, as I told you, I caved and bought new yarn for the ducklings. Look how fuzzy and cute they turned out! I've made two so far. I'm going to also make some bunnies and a cat.

These are really fun to make and I love their look.

Milestone time!

BEHOLD! 590 yards of 2-ply sport weight (I think - I haven't calculated the wpi yet) hand dyed, hand spun yarn.

The colors aren't quite right. I tried photographing this yarn twice and just couldn't pick up the depth of color. No matter.

There's a lot of variation in this yarn. From the color to the size. I still think it'll knit up great into a scarf. I'm casting on today!

This yarn took me 6 weekends to make. I don't have a whole lot of free time but I squeeze it in when I can. I think this yarn represents about 25 hours of my life. Time well spent, I say!

Some extra crafting time

I've had some extra crafting time these past couple days. It's been so fun! I started working on ducklings for Easter presents. The one above was made with wool. I liked how he turned out but I wanted something a little softer and maybe a little more fluffy.

So I tried some cotton boucle. Poor duckling. He doesn't look so good.

But this pattern on Kat Knits' blog is so fun! She has directions for making bunnies, too. I'm already trying to figure out how to make cats. And with just a few changes I think I'd have a really pretty pear. It only takes maybe an hour to knit.

I've been on a yarn fast thinking that I should just knit down my stash before embarking on anything else. But the duckling was so cute and I really wanted the right yarn! So I hit Michael's today looking for something fuzzy. I'll post my attempts with that yarn as soon as the duckie is finished.

My other craft project today was making reusable snack bags. I hated how much tupperware we were using (the top rack of the dishwasher is always full with lots extra to hand wash) and I didn't want to use disposable plastic bags to hold snacks. Enter the snack baggie! I used fabric from my stash and some new iron-on velcro.

They are yet to be tested but I predict they will work well and I'll be making more.

A month without blogging

It's been a month since I blogged here. That doesn't mean it's been a month without crafting! I've been doing lots of things but just haven't been posting them. I finished the scarf for my mother-in-law. It turned out beautifully (especially after blocking it). And I finished it just a couple days before she came for a visit so I got to give it to her in person.

I've been whittling away at these woven squares. I love doing this weaving. In fact, I ordered two more looms from Hazel Rose! They should be coming in the mail soon. One is 7" and the other is 12".

I've been weaving some of my handspun into these little 4" squares. Once I have enough (and some sort of plan) I'm going to turn them into a blanket (probably a small throw). I have a lot of handspun in quantities too small to knit so I'm turning them into a blanket so I can stare at all the beautiful yarn.

I've also finished my orange mittens. But I'm going to rip them out and start over. I found some pretty brown handspun in my stash and now I need orange and brown striped mittens. :)

Pussy Willows

I knit pussy willows! I love them so much. I used some handspun yarn and targhee roving to make these (and some pipe cleaners to make the stems stand up). The yarn was hand carded from undyed romney fleece. The white tufts are undyed targhee.

I thought to make them because we got that pretty vase for Christmas and it needed to be filled. I had seen the pussy willows that year of the goat sells and decided to make some for myself.

Yarn making with kids

Little kids love spinning wheels. Generally I take the drive band off and just let them treadle. It's pretty satisfying even without the flyer whirring and yarn pulling in. They also like it when I tie some pre-made yarn to the bobbin and they pretend to be drafting and letting it feed onto the bobbin. (In that case, the drive band and brake are on so the whole thing is moving.)

Well, this is what happens when you give a 4-year-old some pink fiber, hook everything up, and let her spin. She loved it! And she was really proud of her yarn.