A New Addictive Hobby

My sister-in-law got me this amazing gift for Christmas this year - a Drop Spindle and plenty of roving in a gorgeous color!!!

I haven't started using it yet, but I can't wait to! I've looked into spinning my own yarn before, but thought I shouldn't even attempt to convince my husband I need ANOTHER form of wool. Now I have no excuse! I can't wait to see how this colorway works up. It looks like pink and purple cotton candy right now, and is insanely soft.

My Fancy Yarn Box

A good friend of mine's retired father loves woodworking. While I'm over at this friend's house playing D&D, I often bring a crocheting or knitting project along to keep my hands busy. All of the ladies in my friend's family also work with yarn, so the father has been making by hand gorgeous accessories to make life easier for them. He described a yarn box that he was interested in making and a few weeks later showed me this masterpiece and offered me one! It's two different kinds of wood all cut, sanded, and lacquered by hand. It comes in handy to keep the working yarn away from my helper-kitties, that's for sure.

I have a confession to make...

When it comes to Ravelry, I am terribly hypocritical! I easily spend hours each week browsing patterns. When I find one that catches my eye, I start looking through how other people have done the same project. I hate when people don't upload pictures of what they did! Yet I never do that myself. So, I'm confessing this to you so I can change that! My Crafter's Resolution this year is to keep my Ravelry Project Page updated!

Follow me on Twitter ( @DoPinkCowsMoo ) / Ravelry ( http://www.ravelry.com/people/missmatchedcows ) for updates on current projects!

I knit something!

I stepped outside my Crochet-Comfort zone and did something new - 

My first knit scarf!

The yarn was one I was sent from Germany. It changes size throughout as you can see, which I thought would be great for hiding mistakes in my first ever knit project. It's a Wool / Alpaca blend which is why it's slightly hairy. The button is one of my Oma's antique buttons that matched the scarf perfectly.

I love working with the knit. I didn't have to make a buttonhole since the fabric is so stretchy. As you see here the scarf is somewhat rolled around the neck, but it can be opened up to be larger. I used giant needles which felt a little silly and cumbersome at first but I got the hang of it about halfway through. I've attempted to knit before with metal needles and found them terribly slippery, so using these wood needles was perfect. Who knew it could really make that much of a difference?

Yard Sale SCORES!

A few weekends ago I hit absurd pay-dirt at some garage sales. I typically go for Montessori-useful things, but happened to find LOTS of yarn.


First score of the day was this gorgeous yarn:

It is %100 Alpaca. YES! One cake has some minor damage, as if someone cut it with scissors. There was also a Work In Progress on some circular needles included, as well as some random green yarn that feels like wool. This bag of treasure cost me 50 cents!


Thinking it couldn't get any better we continued yard sale-ing and found this mysterious bag:

The packaging is vague and not something I recognized so I asked the person selling if we could look in the sealed bag. I found two awesome yarn balls inside, so I offered 50 cents to start.

 The woman kind of scoffed at me, then said "My son gave me that for Christmas...Oh, sure!" We looked through the bag when I got in the car and noticed it had a pair of giant needles, sewing needles, some patches and a pattern. We looked it up when we got home and found this: http://woolandthegang.com/en/articles/view/490 . Notice the price? I sure did.

As far as plans for each - the Alpaca yarn needs to be washed before I decide what to do with it, it's shedding quite a bit right now. I also need to take that one cake apart and find out how much is lost to the cutting. The Wool and the Gang yarn is so oversized and thick, I'm not sure what I want to do with it. Maybe an awesome double-thick Mobius cowl or something...I'm still tossing ideas around.

HOORAY FOR YARN!

This is a very yarn-filled post. If you hate yarn, turn away from your computer.

I received a wonderful wonderful gift from my good friend Eva - She knit me a wonderful lace shawl - 100% Cashmere! How posh am I? Pictures don't do it any justice at all, but I'll try!

Also, other goodies were included too!

I was told he's a voodoo doll, but he shall be my yarn buddy.

JINGLY PIG! 

I also received a GOOSHY PIG who I love so much, I'm not going to picture him just so internet baddies don't feel the need to break into our place and steal him. 

THANK YOU EEEEEEEEVAAAAAAAAA!

A few months ago, I signed up for a Crochet / Knit internet anonymous exchange, and I just received the package today!

HOORAY FOR YARN!!!!!!!