Here Fishy Fishy

When I need something quick and satisfying to knit, I knit hats. My latest projects have been fish hats sized to fit babies....

This hat is soo cute and fun to make....

I have knit 4 of them in the past month. The first one was a gift for a friend, then several friends from work asked to knit some for friends or new grandchildren of theirs. It was fun to hear the exclamations and giggles when people saw the finished hats!

I have made 2 of the light and dark blue striped fish hats. The above fish was knit with yarn that the person alreeady had. The great thing about it is that you can use any leftover yarn that you have and make the fish look however you want. What a great way to use leftover yarn from your stash! The pattern is The Guppie Hat- you can find it on Ravelry.

Another finished project is the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann.

The yarn I used was Encore Tweed -beige and blue(#4108). I was 2 rows short of finishing and had to buy a second skein of blue - I will have enough now to make a matching hat! I was anxious about knitting this sweater - anyone in their right mind would be when you look at the pictures of how it looks before you sew the shoulder seams. I bought the directions from Schoolhouse Press and knit the jacket with the line by line instructions to make sure it turned out right on my first attempt. I will probably make more of these. I think it is a great present and a fairly quick knit with minimal seaming.

This is also a great project to use leftover yarn from your stash or homespun yarn. You can get creative with the color changes and striping and step out of your comfort zone!

I have also been doing some spinning - This is some brown and pink Blue faced Leicester that would be great for a shawl...now to find a pattern and figure out how much yardage I have!Next off the wheel is this blue wool and alpaca blend. It is about 25% alpaca and is very soft and smooshy. The above is only half of what I spun. There is almost 8 oz. altogether.

On one of my recent yarn store excursions, I purchased some Romney that was hand-dyed by the owner of the store.It isn't the softest fiber, but I love the variation in the colors.

I also purchased some green fiber. The staple length is a bit shorter, but the color sure blends well with the first sample.

I had to comb out a few locks just to play with it. You can see the nice crimp in the middle of the above picture. I can't wait to start spinning that :)