It's Begging to Feel A Lot Like

spring around here. Seriously, remind me, is Florida in Australia? It's not?!? Then why is it getting hot in December? It's been in the 70's here for most of last week, which is warm even for Florida standards.

The knitting group had a Chili Night/Secret Santa Gift Exchange. It was a blast, even though it was warm enough that chili wasn't strictly necessary. There was a ton of good food, and lots of fun. Jodi was an awesome hostess, and Jen organized the swap online.

I think the swap went really well, considering we know each other so well. Jen was my Santa, and she really came through. First there was a "Red Neck Dye Kit".



The saying on the front is "It's like Skittles, except it's not candy. See the Rainbow!" It's Red Neck because it came in a trash-bag box, which was the only thing that would hold the contents.



Inside is everything needed to dye yarn/roving: gloves, a wide assortment of KoolAid, and vinegar. Very cool, and will go well with



about a pound of roving. Most of it is white, and some of it is this beautiful heathery grey, which will be really neat to dye.

The roving came in this awesome bag that Jen sewed:



Yes, that is pirate themed fabric. It was really well put together, with grommets and a drawstring.

And now I've got to get back to feverishly crafting. Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!

How have I not posted this yet



I got a wheel for my birthday!

It's a Kromski Sonata, that comes with its own backpack



Indy is mistrustful, afraid I'd forsake him for my new toy. He has no need to worry. I've spun less than an ounce on it since I got it in October. Not that I don't want to, but I just haven't had the time, I'm focusing on Christmas knitting.

I did spin this



It's thick and thin like crazy, slubby, and overspun in some parts, and very pretty in its own way. Especially after I dyed it



and knitted it into this



It's part of a pound of plain domestic wool I got from Webs, just to practice. I have a bunch of pretty fiber from plenty of sources, but I feel like I wouldn't do it justice if I spun it now.

I do have some plans though, more spinning to come!

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. I was home for 5 whole days. It was fun, but busy. We had about 30 people for Thanksgiving lunch, and on Saturday, we threw my soon-to-be sister-in-law a bridal shower. She is cute as a button and we're so glad to have her in the family. The shower was a roaring success (or a least a loud din, with 30 ladies talking nonstop), everyone seemed to have a good time.

My mom and sisters did a great job on putting the shower together. There were hand made chocolates (which I had no success at - I kept breaking them), and paper crafts galore. Mom made these cute little boxes for favors.



I've been relatively busy with crafting as well.

This Teddy Hat was made for my cousin's 2 year old



It's some random blue acrylic. I used an invisible cast on and 2x2 ribbing throughout. The ears were crocheted on afterwards, then wet felted by hand in the sink. I pulled apart some pink wool and got it back to close to fiber-like consistency and needle-felted the center of the ears. I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of something similar on Ravelry, but I haven't been able to find it and don't know how it was made.

Then there are these two pillows, made for a gift for my older sister. They are made using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Aslan colorway, and Lion Brand Wool Ease, quite possibly the strangest combination of yarns ever. These were started a few years ago, before I had a good understanding of gauge. It all worked out, though, the sock yarn parts just have a little more white between them.

One has a flower motif on the front, from the crochet motif harmony guide.



The other side was box-stitch.



The second pillow has a granny square on one side



and some double crochet. The tab on the side is worked sideways, which shows the color a little differently.



The other part of Michelle's gift was an Everlasting Bag Stopper.

This is what it looks like empty



and filled



There's just a little bit of stretch. Just a wee bit.

With that said, I have to get back to working on Christmas gifts.