I am absolutely, completely smitten with mine (out of my handspun!)

Except…

Can you see my mistake? Yeah, those yarnovers were supposed to be creating wedges…but I created a spine…

But That’s ok! When I realized it, I just started wedging and all is well.

Don’t forget that you can share your progress on Ravelry or Facebook.

Oh, and if you’re still on the fence about getting a Betiko Bundle, here’s your warning: Monday’s the last day to get one! The two-color kits are nearly sold out, so hop on over there.

Even though I’m not one for resolutions, I can always get behind more shawls.

Kitchen Sink Dyeworks yarn, possibly for a shawl?

My explorations started with Romi’s 7 small shawls. While I love everything Rosemary designs, I especially love Celaeno, Maia Shoulderette and Shawl #6 (leave a comment here guessing the name and you may win a shawl pin)

Another source of inspiration is Jessica Rose’s queue + finished projects. I fell completely in love with her Orchid Thief.

At this time, my list of shawls-I’d-actually-knit is:

1. Lee’s crazysmart Betiko. I imagine making 2 or 3 of these (worsted Noro! sock yarn!) and at least one of them is going to be in handspun. I think. (zephyr laceweight, dyed by me, perhaps for Citron?)

2. Citron. I . . . → Read More: 11 shawls in 2011]]> Inspired the Ravelry group, 11 shawls in 2011, I’ve been poring over shawl patterns.

Even though I’m not one for resolutions, I can always get behind more shawls.

Kitchen Sink Dyeworks yarn, possibly for a shawl?

My explorations started with Romi’s 7 small shawls. While I love everything Rosemary designs, I especially love Celaeno, Maia Shoulderette and Shawl #6 (leave a comment here guessing the name and you may win a shawl pin)

Another source of inspiration is Jessica Rose’s queue + finished projects. I fell completely in love with her Orchid Thief.

At this time, my list of shawls-I’d-actually-knit is:

1. Lee’s crazysmart Betiko. I imagine making 2 or 3 of these (worsted Noro! sock yarn!) and at least one of them is going to be in handspun. I think.

(zephyr laceweight, dyed by me, perhaps for Citron?)

2. Citron. I especially like Slipstream’s.

(peacockish yarn for Gail)

3. Gail. It reminds me of peacock feathers, so I’d love to knit it with some gorgeous peacock-ish Kitchen Sink Dyeworks Seacell Merino.

Superwash sock by FibroFibers for Caleano. Maybe.

4. Caleano.

Or maybe this silvery silk for Celano, with clear beads?

5. Echo Flowers.

6. Saroyan. Inspired by one of my favorite shows, Bones! I’d love to do this in a super squishy Organic Merino from Kitchen Sink Dyeworks.

7. Pogona. Inspired by SheepGeek’s version, I’ll probably make this in handspun.

8. Orchid Thief. It reminds me of my Haruni (which I adore), so it may be later in the year that I make this, but how can I pass up that leaf at the top?

Dream in Color Smooshy for Orchid Theif or Maia.

9. Speaking of great beginnings, I can’t stop thinking about the top of the Maia Shoulderette.

While I’ve thought this through (uh, obsessively), I’m still totally open to changing my mind and being won over by a new shawl pattern.

I’m curious

what’s your favorite shawl pattern? Are you challenging yourself to finish a certain number of projects in the new year?

(See pictures of nearly every shawl I linked to or mentioned on my Shawlish pin board.)

I’m not doing any math to see where, exactly, I should be in my knitting-a-sweater-in-one-month challenge, but I think it’s safe to say I’m behind!

If I have 3 balls of yarn and 30 days, I should be going through a ball every 10 days. It’s Day 9 and I am far from the end of the first ball.

The good news is: I have about 6 hours in the car around Thanksgiving and then all the knitting while sitting around with family. So I’m not worried yet.

Remind me I said that when I’m scrambling on Day 29, ok?

I would make yarn, and photograph the process, every single day of the month.

Within just a few days, it turned into a fun (but challenging) group experience on Ravelry.

I wrote about the first Yarn Every Day Month here and this is my favorite bit:

I long to pay attention to the daily. A grumpy day will pass and it’s not until I’m falling asleep that I realize I haven’t touched any fiber all day (this is rare, but when it happens, I feel it in my bones). Many beautiful days pass without me capturing even a moment, with a picture or a small note . . . → Read More: Yarn Every Day Month (2nd annual!)]]> Last April, I had the glimmer of a good idea:

I would make yarn, and photograph the process, every single day of the month.

Within just a few days, it turned into a fun (but challenging) group experience on Ravelry.

I wrote about the first Yarn Every Day Month here and this is my favorite bit:

I long to pay attention to the daily. A grumpy day will pass and it’s not until I’m falling asleep that I realize I haven’t touched any fiber all day (this is rare, but when it happens, I feel it in my bones). Many beautiful days pass without me capturing even a moment, with a picture or a small note in my journal.

Bringing some awareness to these moments and ensuring I get a little fiber time every day would surely remind me to enjoy the daily.

This year, although much is changed, I’m ready to do it again.

Last year, my days were spent at the dayjob, my nights + weekends were packed with growing Blonde Chicken Boutique.

This year, my days are spent sharing, teaching and making yarn for A Novel Yarn, my nights + weekends are packed with writing, knitting samples and more yarn-making.

Last year, I didn’t have time to shoot a photograph until after 5pm everyday. Because of my limit, I was on-top-of-my-camera.

This year, I could snap photos all day (during customers + classes) and yet…I don’t. I think it’s the lack of pressure?

Last year, my goal was to try new things (like tea dyeing!)  and to turn inspiration into yarn.

This year, my goal is to get reacquanted with my camera and the outdoors and to take new risks with color and texture.

If you want to challenge yourself to reconnect with yarn + camera, join me on the Ravelry group or on Twitter by using the tag #yarneveryday.

I love Crochet By Faye‘s idea for celebrating National Craft Month – adopt a designer!

You can read all the details in her post. The general idea is to pick a designer every day for the rest of the month and do something to help them succeed: blog about them, recommend them, buy a pattern!

I love this idea and will be incorporating here my already-planned National Craft Month blogging. I’m also going to spend the month looking for more designers to feature in my bricks+mortar shop, A Novel Yarn.

If you know of a designer (especially one that works with handspun or handdyed yarn), let me know in the comments!

It’s in her 2nd post in a super helpful series on knitting hats.

approximate hat heights

0-6 mo. – 5 in. (12.7 cm) 6-18 mo. – 6.25 in. (15.9 cm) 18 mo.-4 yr. – 7.25 in. (18.4 cm) 4 yr.-adult s – 8.25 in. (21 cm) adult m-l – 9 in. (22.9 cm)

Read her whole post here.

If you’ve wanted to start teaching your craft, listen to the conversation here.

Diane mentions that my Learn to Knit kit taught her to knit (squee!), you can find the kits here. Even if you know how to knit, these kits are a great way to teach a family member and avoid frustration that comes from not knowing how to describe when-the-loop-does-this-you-do-this.

Have you taught your craft? Anything you’d add to our conversation?

The following knitters each made a fantastic hat-ness from a single skein of handspun.

Hat + Scarf by the darling Marian Firke

Drew’s Hat by AtomKitty

Game Hat by the wonderfully silly Kim Werker.

Remember how last week I got a bit crochet-obsessed?

Yeah, that didn’t fade away.

I’m crocheting a bunch of these hexagons to make a blanket for my bedroom (lots and lots and lots of green scrap yarn).

I start with cute little circles, crochet as many of those as I feel like and then I move onto,

adding the second round. I usually do one round of that and jump right to the last round:

And at this point, I stop and move onto the next hex. Because though it’s not a full hexagon left, I want to join them together as I add the last brown, hex-making round.

Every circle is going to be hex-ed with the same brown yarn (I think it’s an alpaca/wool blend, but a big bag was given to me un-labeled, so I’m just guessing.

Since I want to join . . . → Read More: Hex-Love]]>

Remember how last week I got a bit crochet-obsessed?

Yeah, that didn’t fade away.

I’m crocheting a bunch of these hexagons to make a blanket for my bedroom (lots and lots and lots of green scrap yarn).

I start with cute little circles, crochet as many of those as I feel like and then I move onto,

adding the second round. I usually do one round of that and jump right to the last round:

And at this point, I stop and move onto the next hex. Because though it’s not a full hexagon left, I want to join them together as I add the last brown, hex-making round.

Every circle is going to be hex-ed with the same brown yarn (I think it’s an alpaca/wool blend, but a big bag was given to me un-labeled, so I’m just guessing.

Since I want to join them as I make the last round, I’m waiting until I’ve made a LOT of circles, because I’m afraid that if I join them as I go, the colors will be clumped together and we can’t have any color-clumping!

They make me happy!

PS. Also making me happy? The Month of Love Contest entries. Have you entered yet?