handknit baby hats

nothing makes me happier than making something from hand, and giving it away. when my dear mother in law told me she was knitting for a charity shop, i asked to help. these baby hats were all a quick knit or crochet, a days work for the set of four - they will be going to some very sweet and special babies out there come winter time, i'm certain!

knit with hand spun super bulky three-ply merino wool yarn- i'm in love with million colored plied yarns right now, spinning it takes eons on my mazurka wheel- and i completely don't mind when it ends up looking like this.

double stranded white acrylic and a pastel blend acrylic with a simple 2x2 rib border; hand knit.

this one is chunky bouclé acrylic filled with soft cool blues and purples knit with a lace rib border; hand knit.

double stranded yellow wool blend and a hand-dyed wool skein; hand crocheted party hat design

NEW TOY: handknit mermaid art doll

Madame Mermaid is 100% hand knit and felted wool -
Her hair has been hand dyed and hand spun by me on my spinning wheel.
This doll has a lots of hair - I like being sure every doll I make has tons!

This Mermaid art doll comes with a 100% wool, free form crocheted mermaid tail, a 100% wool skirt to match her hair, glass bead bathing top, and a little seaweed boa.


She also has a hand decorated box she travels in - you can check her out in person at Manchester Hot Glass studio & Gallery starting this weekend - or feel free to email me for more details on the Mermaid, or how to get a doll made of your very own!

spun up unplanned goodness

a little over a week ago, I did a big fiber dyeing day....lots of boiling water, vinegar, colors blending and mixing away...me running from my stove, to kitchen sink, to drying rack - rinse and repeat. fiber dye day is hectic, hot, fast-paced and fun...like kickboxing...fun.

next up, make yarn.
if coloring the fiber is like kickboxing, then spinning yarn is like yoga or meditation. More hands on prepping of fiber - carding, blending and rolling, or pre-drafting to perfect little pencil rovings, ready to be spun up. Every step counts towards the end result. Pedal ready to go...the wheel starts a whirring, and we're off. the methodical sounds and pace really chill me out...focusing on the fiber flowing through both my hands, an attention span is lengthened to new degrees!

i often have ideas as to how the yarns will turn out - i have, after all, picked out the fibers, planned their colorways, drafted and carded the stuff to exactly my desires, and spun to exactly the right tension... but the fiber tells my fingers what to do with it. Thick becomes thin - smooth wants to be funky - the laughable attempt of planning my art births a totally different, more amazing product in the end, every time.

now what to knit?

hat from scratch - from the fiber to your head

This custom handspun lace rib hat was so much fun to make- and it was completely from scratch! Sweet, soft, snug and supercool! So much goes in to making a hand spun hat - I love every single part of the process, each offers me different ways to express my creativity.

Planning a hat from scratch:
I started with three wools - I hand dyed some white wool to teal, raw local unprocessed wool locks dyed to olive- the grey I left natural. I took the three and ran them through my drum carder to blend them up - sort of like making a paint color - the more you blend, the more even your color becomes. I carded(brushed) this batch at least 8 times - I wanted the grey and teal to be very combined, and did not add in the olive locks until the 6th carding or so - to offer some standout between the primary teal grey heathered blend. Once I got that where I wanted it - on to the wheel!

Most fibers that I run through my drum carder are formed into rolags(rolls of fiber) - fun to spin from directly, no other special prepping, which I love. I spun this up quick, I knew I wanted it to be funky - some super thick spots, super thin ones - some nips and noils from the olive wool locks - it needs to have character like its owner :)

Once I had it spun up, I set the yarn's twist in a bath of warm water and lavender, hang out the yarn and let it dry. Time to figure out what I'm knitting with this!

I knew the pattern I wanted to use for the detail edging - a sweet lace rib pattern - practically speaking, it offers give on the head, and if worn as a beret, it holds on. This pattern also offers a feminine detail of a lace pattern between the ribs.
Oh, and double bonus, that hat is completely reversible!

I used big needles to let the yarn show off - each part of the hat has interesting detail, lacy, delicate, but super soft and warm. I wasn't expecting the soft delicate edging that came about, but it is a very pleasant addition, something I plan to recreate very soon for my shop!

NEW snail toy design!

brand spankin new design and pattern! i've been wanting to knit more insect/bug toys, and I'm loving knitting up little worlds for my creatures(see mushroom post, coming soon!) so on that note, take a gander at my brand new knit toy snail!

shes a sweet little slimy one(not REALLY slimy, just softy) super fun, and her hand dyed pink shell can slide right off. There is a leetle hiding spot in her shell for all your treasures!

I'm hoping to create a few more shells, so then every snail can change depending on their mood - there we go, mood shells!

this sweet snaily is natural handspun grey wool, handknit and felted - her shell is hand dyed peruvian wool, handknit and felted.

Currently she is a one of a kind, but if you love her and want a snail of your own, or any toy of mine, email me!

spinning and snow

it is a lovely snowy day here in southern Vermont - spinning some green yarns to remind me of what is under that sweet white wonderland out there.

come to think of it, i think i'm going to spin up some winter white and sparkles in honor of the white magic.

in the meantime, enjoy the greens!

the fruits of my labor...

5 hours, boiling water, dyed hands and whole lot of drying later.....I've got a whole new colorful stash of fiber to card, blend, and spin into yarns! in here we've got one skein of yarn hand painted, wool from two or three different sheep breeds and alpaca.

the double bonus to dyeing animal fibers/wool is that you can also dye SILK to get in on the action.

today it is fiber organization and a little bit of blending/spinning/knitting for j9's knit hat.

oh and finishing that knitting pattern.

thanks for wanting green j9!