Spinning and Knitting Project: First Handspun Cowl

I'm excited to share with you my first completely finished project made with my own handspun yarn - a warm wool cowl.  This project was a long time in the making, which makes the end result that much more satisfying.  Here's the story of how this cowl came to be!

Knitting Projects: Cabled Headband

 With the leftover yarn from the cabled hat I made, I tried out a more complex cable pattern and made this warm headband.  I've enjoyed learning how to make cables - it makes the project more interesting to work on, but it's just knit stitches so it doesn't slow me down too much (as lots of ssk or psso might).  I used this pattern but I wasn't happy with how the edges were curling up, so I used this pattern's edging.  I've gotten so attached to my cabled hat that I'm not sure this headband will get much wear - perhaps I'll give it to a friend?

More photos below.

Knitting Projects: Another Cabled Hat

When I had finished the cabled hat for my sister, I made the mistake (or did I?) of wearing it out a couple times.  It was just so warm, and my husband was just so complimentary of it, that I decided to make one for myself, too.  I didn't finish it until just AFTER my family went back home, so my sis and I never had matching hats during the trip.  It's probably better that way.  Read on for more details and photos.

Knitting Projects: Cabled Hat

This is a much more recent project, a hat made for my sister for Christmas.  We were fortunate to have my family come visit us in France for Christmas - making the holidays away from home not just bearable, but an adventure!  We spent a week in our city of Montpellier, France, then we all traveled together in southern Germany for the second week.  As this Christmas was exceptional (and suitcase space was limited), we decided to keep gift-giving more simple.  Each person bought stocking stuffers for another person in the family, souvenirs and such that we found during our travels.  Great idea!

Knitting Projects: Hat and Legwarmers

Hello from France!  As predicted, a lot of time has passed since my last post.  I've been crafting quite a bit, but have not been focused enough to photograph and document everything.  Now I'm finally getting organized enough to share some things, with hopefully a few regular posts to come.

First of all, here's a project I finished just before coming to France.  With our nephew due to be born a few weeks after we left, I wanted to give him something homemade beforehand.  My next post will be about the blanket I made him.  Not wanting his 2-year-old sister to feel left out, I made her something too - a hat and matching legwarmers.  She was in rare form the night of our good-bye party, and I've never seen her so excited for something I made her.  They fit her really well, and hopefully she's enjoying them in our absence.

The hat and legwarmers are made out of a beautiful single-ply wool yarn, perhaps Noro (the yarn was given to me without the label).  I haven't worked much with variegated yarn, and the colors really made the monotonous legwarmers a lot more fun to make.  I like how they're just a little bit different.

Here are the patterns for both:
Hat pattern
Legwarmer pattern

Knitting Project: Leg Warmers and Headband

Hey Everyone,
So sorry to have been so long in posting!  Indeed I have been very busy crafting - too busy to post!  With the holidays came hand-made gifts for just about everyone in the family.  A crocheted shrug for Mom, felted wool pillow for Dad, sewn linen cowl for my SIL, a paper-to-wood photo for my in-laws, upcycled sweater hat and mittens for my niece, and THESE knitted leg warmers for my sister.  Unfortunately, I missed photographing most of these projects, as they were usually immediately wrapped after I finished them.

I did get a chance to photograph my sister wearing her new leg warmers, as she wore them over to our house the other day!  By Christmas, I only had one done, so she waited patiently until last week for the other one.  To make it up to her, I also made her a warm headband out of the extra wool :-).

Knitting Projects: "Grimace" Cowl

Thanks to my husband for the nickname of this cowl. He says the color reminds him of the McDonald's purple monster character. I guess I see his point...

Knitting and I do not always get along. I find it to be much slower and more repetitive (boring?) than crocheting, but to use new techniques (different stitch patterns, changing colors, etc.) is too intimidating to me. Crocheting just one stitch at a time makes much more sense to me! Also, making a knitting mistake or dropping a stitch stresses me out because I don't know how to fix it.