I spin, too.

Spinning yarn is my only other big hobby that takes me away from my knitting.  I started with a drop spindle almost 4 years ago and fiddled around with it for a while.  After trying a spinning wheel, I knew that if I were to become a serious spinner, it would be with a wheel.  I borrowed and rented wheels until I found the one I loved, and I received it for Christmas in 2010.

This sweater was my first big spinning wheel project.  I spun the yarn specifically for it, and considering that it was only the second or third fiber I had ever spun, and I was trying to do it quickly with a rented wheel, it came out nicely.  The fiber itself came from Meridian Jacobs farm near Vacaville.  I like going there for their Shearing Day in the fall or Meet the Lambs in the spring.

This is the Tappan Zee cardigan from knitty.com.  http://knitty.com/ISSUEss10/KSPATTtappanzee.php

I only changed a few things from the way the pattern was written.  I wanted it to button all the way down, so I added buttonholes and buttons.  I also wanted longer sleeves; to be warmer, but also to use up more of my precious handspun. It fit nicely when I was pregnant, and when my baby doesn't spit up every five minutes, I'll start wearing it again.

It would be fun to do a project like this for a customer someday; all the way from the fiber to the finished product.

Holiday knitting

I took a break from dog sweater designing to do all my holiday knitting.  In my mind, I don't really knit holiday gifts, but in reality, I do. I don't really know why I'm in denial about it.   The really funny thing is that the closer the holidays came, the more projects I came up with and just had to knit, so I kept myself busy right up until Christmas Eve.  

For my daughter's preschool teachers, I decided to knit reusable coffee cup cozies, all with my handspun yarn.  I used the pattern from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson (very useful book at this time of year! http://www.amazon.com/Last-Minute-Knitted-Gifts-Joelle-Hoverson/dp/1584798602

Some dear friends are spending a year in Ohio, and perhaps a few more years in cold climates, so I made them an ice scraper mitt.  This pattern is from the book One Skein Wonders, http://www.amazon.com/One-Skein-Wonders-Judith-Durant/dp/1580176453/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325482201&sr=1-1, which is really excellent for small, quick gifts.

And also a hat for each of them.  A nice, thick warm purple slouchy hat.  The pattern is Autumn, by Jane Richmond.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/janerichmond

And a gorgeous pink alpaca beret-type hat.  This pattern is Icing Swirl Hat by Ysolda Teague, from her booklet Whimsical Little Knits 2.  http://ysolda.com/

For my husband, I knit a pair of Spiderman socks (and also gifted him all three Spiderman movies).   These were my super secret knitting and therefore took over a month, as my super secret knitting time is scarce.  The pattern is Even Big Guys Love Spidey Socks, and is available on Ravelry.com.

Another coffee cozy, this one for the friend who also received the purple hat.

Starfish for my kids, from Amigurumi Knits.  http://www.amazon.com/Amigurumi-Knits-Patterns-Cute-Mini/dp/1589234359/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325482339&sr=1-1

My brother visited from Reno at the last minute, and went home with two coffee/beer cozies, in addition to a hat that I whipped up for him at the last minute, but neglected to take a photo of.

After all this merry making, I ended up with a few new ideas, which I hope to get to soon.