Looking forward to Spring and Cria-tion

Three inches of snow today and more expected. I am so looking forward to spring. I put up this picture of Orion and Ariana to add a touch of green, and hope, and creation. We should have 3 spring, alpaca cria and at least 2 BabyDoll sheep (more if they twin).

Etsy Fame

Oh, my, friends, I'm famous! My Etsy friend, Shalana of thefunkyfelter, has published an article in the Etsy Storque. And I'm in it.....a whole paragraph. Go take a look:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/thisHandmadeLife/article/confessions-of-jan-finding-your-way-in-the-middle/1066/
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Some of my readers will recognize the picture of naughty, gray Gunny when he first arrived here. Boris, the other gray, was putting him in place.

Hat Recipe for Peggy

My Kentucky cyber friend, Peggy, asked for the pattern of the hat on my last post. I sort of made it up as I went along. So here it is, Peg. Hope I can make it clear.
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I held two strands of DK to worsted handspun together for the whole hat.
Cast on 105 stitches on US# 4 circular needle. (I always start off with a smaller size needle 'cause I always use my alpaca which doesn't have a lot of memory)
Knit the pattern for an inch or so and change to US#7
Pattern:
Row 1 - Slip 1, Knit 2, Pass Slipped Stitch Over (psso) the 2 knits, Purl 2
Row 2 - K 1, Yarn Over, K 1, P 2
Row 3 - K 3, P 2
Row 4 - K 3, P 2
Knit pattern for about 6 1/2 inches and begin decrease.
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For this decrease, I think I first knitted 2 together to make 104 stitches.
Round 1 - Knit 6, Knit 2 together to end of round
Round 2 - Knit
Round 3 - Knit 5, Knit 2 together
Round 4 - Knit
I continued this to end, somewhere changing to double ended needles.

Glittery Alpaca Hat

This is a little, well, not really little, hat that I just finished. I don't really consider myself a knitter. I'm a Spinner and knit when I need a break from my wheel, or we are going somewhere in the car. Since I'm a restless passenger, knitting makes travel tolerable (nice alliteration, Maple)
This hat was mostly left over yarn. When I 2 ply (put two spindles of singles together going the opposite direction), I will frequently have a little of one spindle left over. Even though I weigh two equal piles of roving, it's almost impossible to have them come out perfectly. So as not to waste those yards of singles, I do one of two things. I might Navaho Ply it which is using the 1 single to get a 3 ply yarn, sort of like finger crocheting. Or I might ply it with some glitter thread that I got from ThreadBear in Lansing. (They are really nice. I just called them and they mailed some to me.)
I used those glittery leftovers and knit them along with a brownish handspun yarn that I spun up quite a while ago. If you click on the picture, you can enlarge it to see the glitter.
The pattern on the bottom is that simple, fake cable stitch. I had intended to knit the pattern to the top, but somewhere made a mistake and just did the ribbing so that the mistake wouldn't show. I can't tear out, unknit, tink, or whatever you guys call it. If I can't find a way to keep going, I have to start all over. Well, at least I think I do.

Jocelyn's Green Alpaca Hat

Jocelyn just listed this darling hat in her newly established Etsy shop. I met Jocelyn last year when she was in Germany and she ordered some yarn from me. I think she does something with law (an attorney, maybe?) for the military. She's now back in the States. Jocelyn is one of those cyber friends that folks feel a special connection with - and she loves her dog so she has to be a terrific person.
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This hat is from yarn from our white alpaca, Pollux, that I hand dyed. So go visit her shop and keep a close eye on it because she is a beautiful knitter.

Girls Go Wild

Yep, we got as wild and crazy as we small town women can get. Saturday knitting and lunch with ourMiddle of the Mitt fiber group. Pam was our instructor for double knitting....you know, like you can end up with a tube, or a pocket, or a pencil holder, or........... well, best not put it in writing but our friend Kathy has made and decorated a few. Too bad that she wasn't there to learn this new technique. Pam is a knitter and pattern designer extraordinare and you can visit her blog here, and her Etsy shop here.

Majacraft Dyeing Magic

I do love spinning on my Majacraft. I started spinning on a Louet and it was very nice, then I just sat down and played on a Majacraft and fell in love. To top that off, the company had just introduced the one with the alpaca carved on it. Well, that was an omen for sure, I ordered one.

She came with the plastic spindles and I was told by several folks that I could dye on them - but haven't found anyone who actually does. I tried it and how fun! (I normally spin with my Woolee Winder).

I mixed a little Periwinkle and Hot Fuschia powder together, poured hot water on it and mixed it up. From past experience I know that the Periwinkle will pop out some pink somehow.

I dumped the dye solution into my dye kettle with some almost boiling water. I eased two spindles of white handspun (that had been soaking in a vinegar/water solution overnight) into the hot water, and let it simmer for about an hour.

In the picture I smooshed some of the blue aside so that you can see the pink underneath. This was all a nice surprise, because I expected the inside to be white. See below for the yarn. ↓