happy 2008!

I hope you all are enjoying the last day of the year. I've been enjoying reading "end of the year" knitting and crafting reviews on blogs such as Lolly knitting around and ZebraKnits. While on a day-to-day basis I can sometimes feel pretty unproductive, it was fun and shocking to see how much crafty goodness I've been up to in the past year. In the past 365 days I made a raglan and a yoke sweater for the first time, designed a sweater, learned how to spin, earned a spinning wheel with knitting, met some bloggers who were more fun than I would have guessed, went to a fiber festival, went to a knitting group, got better at finishing, tried intarsia, learned some very basic crochet and tried to keep the stash to a minimum. I just pretend that the yarn store is my stash - it doesn't need to all be in my living room.

I'm not sure what the crafty plan is for 2008. I'd like to get better at spinning and I'll be teaching some basic knitting classes at WEBS starting in February. I'll be sure to keep you all posted. Have a fun and safe and super crafty New Years!

off to michigan

It sure has been a busy week over here. Generally my workload slows down in December but for whatever reason, work has been steady in showing up at my desk. This is really cutting into my fun crafting time! But it's all good. On a up note all of my small amount of Christmas knitting is finished and some of it even delivered and can now be revealed in blogland.



Here is a pair of thrummed mittens for my friend Alicia. These crack me up every time I look at them. They are huge plumpy full of soft and squichy wool thrums - see?



I didn't quite mean for them to look like christmas trees with lights, but I had some green peace fleece wool in the stash that I thought would be perfect, and I added some cascade 220 and cashmerino cuffs so would be soft and voila!



specs:
pattern: thrummed mittens by Yarn Forward
yarn: Peace Fleece worsted weight - color 7470; I think this is Shaba
and some Cascade 220 and Cashmerino Aran for the cuffs
needles: 6's and 8's magic loop
thrums: from Hello Yarn

I also spun up some BFL wool for my friend Tomoko. I'm not sure my spinning is good enough to present as a gift, but she graciously received it.



specs:
yardage: 270 yards of sportish weight
roving: Spunky Eclectic BFL wool in Autumn Girls colorway

More gifts to be revealed soon! Elliott and I are off to Michigan to visit my family for the holidays. Catch you in the new year if not sooner and have a wonderful celebration yourself!

homestretch

We are snowed in today with a lovely mixture of snow, freezing rain and ice. And I'm happy as a clam to be inside the house of yarn with all outdoor plans canceled. I'm almost done with holiday knitting and soon I can show you the results once everything is gifted.

But in the meanwhile I finished a store sample for WEBS in record time. Here she is:










got your specs right here:
pattern - Henley Perfected by Connie Chang Chinchio from Interweave Knits winter 07
yarn - Blue Sky Alpaca Silk color 139 peacock
needles - 2's and 3's
size - 35" bust
notes - No changes to the pattern. It needed one heck of a blocking with the lace work on the top, but then it sewed up quite nicely. It still needs some buttons, but I'll grab some at the store. The alpaca silk is draping quite nicely and is really a perfect fit for this sweater.

More to come soon! I've got a busy week ahead before Elliott and I head to Michigan for Christmas.

oh december, more crafting than blogging...

It's that crazy fun time of year that I like to refer to as the elven workshop over here at chez yarnbee. Lots of gifts getting made:



New magnolia blockprint cards available at my etsy store.

And gifts received as well:



I won this cute handmade knitting project bag in a contest over at paperclips. What a nice surprise to get in the mail.



And my friend came over yesterday with this strange and fun bag of assorted candy from China.

Happy crafting all - more to show soon!