Spinning

Here's a little photo tour through my most recent spinning:

1) First I spun the single ply yarn.

 2) Then, I wound it onto the niddy noddy to see how much I had spun (43 yards).

3) See how charged it is? It is all wound back on itself and kinky.  It needs to plied in the opposite direction as it was spun to even it out.

4) Then I wound it into a center pull ball to get ready to ply it.

 5) Here it is on the bobbin after it has been plied (2 strands twisted together).  In this case, I plied it onto itself.

6) It isn't nearly as charged anymore, but it still needs to relax a little. (now it is 21 yards)

7) This is just a better picture of it at the same stage twisted into a skein.

8) Here it is after being washed with Kookaburra wool wash and hung to dry.  It is all set, soft, and clean now!

9) Final product: 21 yards of double ply 7 wraps/inch natural wool yarn from my first fleece.

Master Charles Hat

Cutest. Hat. Ever.

I saw the pattern for this hat on www.knitpicks.com and couldn't resist.  I mean seriously, just check out the pattern here and look at the kid!  Too cute. So I decided I had to make one for my friend's baby, Cole.  The pattern comes with several sizes and I decided to go with toddler instead of infant so that it wouldn't be too small.  Turns out, that was unnecessary.  So, this red one will go to my sister.  She requested the tie strings, so I added I-cord with puff balls on the end to the ear flaps.  The yarn for this is knitpicks Gloss, which is merino wool and silk.  It is really soft, warm, and has a nice shine.  

Then, I decided to do some charity knitting and made this infant version for a March of Dimes charity auction to raise money for prematurity (which happens to be one of the conditions we research in our lab).  Our lab made a Hawkeye themed basket of baby goods.  The auction was last night and I heard our basket was a hit and went for $150!

Here you can see the size difference:

I LOVED making these hats.  This is probably the most fun I have ever had knitting.  I really like cables and knitting in the round.  They look so difficult, but really aren't.  I learned a lot with this pattern.  You knit the two ear flaps on DPNs and then knit them into the round.  I learned about different decreases that lean different ways to keep everything symmetrical.  Finally, I had to pickup stitches around the bottom to add the ribbed edge.  I'd never done that before either.

Speaking of learning things about knitting and knitpicks, let me just say that I LOVE the knitpicks podcast.  I have been listening to it for the last year (and a lot of ones from previous years) and have learned so much and gotten so many ideas.  I don't know many people (especially near me) that knit, so just listening to someone talk about it introduces me to techniques and terms that I didn't know about before.  I would highly recommend the podcast.  Furthermore, I would highly recommend the entire business.  I was traveling last week and left my pattern from one of their kits on the plane.  I just called them, and they emailed me an electronic copy right away.  I got the feeling that even the people answering the phones were knitters and knew how frustrating a lost pattern could be.

Bridesmaid Jen bag #5 - All Done!

This one is for a junior bridesmaid.  See how it is a little smaller than the others?  I was told she loves pink and butterflies so I put butterflies on the inside.  That way it looks like all of the others from the outside, but has a little surprise on the inside!

What a nice collection of bags!  I hope that the bridesmaids all enjoy them!