Productive Holidays

Over the holidays I accomplished a lot even breaking my personal best record of sock knitting. (As an aside I don't like the way blogger no longer allows me to write text between photos so I have to describe all in one spot). I did my first Navajo plying project! It's like learning how to spin again. It was hard to mainatin an evenness throughout the yarn. I found that when I was at the end of the litle loop that you let go, I would lose tension and that small section always looked pretty crappy. I figured out how to alleviate this at the very end of the bobbin! Oh well. It's a nice three ply and the color patterns are interesting. I had a pair of socks in mind but after starting one and seeing how thick the sock was going to be I decided to knit a hat instead. If I want to do three ply socks I will need a very thin single! I am in the process of "engineering" a lamb that will give me fleece that will be conducive to spinning such a yarn. I have this type of fleece in black but I need it in white! C'mon sheep, please cooperate this lambing season! The three ply is my 2nd attempt at rainbow dyed roving. It turned out much better this time with no felting at all. I used a turkey roaster and stuck it in the oven for a half hour. I'd like to do a few ounces using a sky blue, navy blue and maybe teal color combo sometime.

My nephew tried on his brother's mittens. They were a little snug but he wanted to wear them and they seemed comfortable enough even tho' he's making afunny face. This is the first time I've actually seen my gifts on the person they were knit for (well in this case a brother of the gift recipient). Don't you wish that once in awhile someone would take a photo of themselves or their child wearing the item you made? At least you know they wore it once! My nephew's hands were kept warm on a blustery, sunless day in Newport Rhode Island on the mansion cliff walk...so they work.