Merry Christmas!

I've been trying really hard to finish off some WIP and at least knit on some WIP before the new year.  Here are some FO and yarn that I got for Christmas.

Gifts, Test Knit and Finishing Up FO

Needles:  Size 5 dpn

Yarn:  Lily Sugar'n Cream Solids & Denim in Red

Pattern:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kitchen-dishcloth--lattice-stitch-pattern

Needles:  Size 5 dpns

Yarn:   Lily Sugar'n Cream Solids in 1742 Hot blue

Pattern:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kitchen-dishcloth--double-seed-stitch-pattern

These are quick teacher gifts paired with a bottle of soap and some hand made cookies.  Between being sick and having sick ones, I ran out of time to put more time into a gift.  I wanted to weave some hand clothes.  Maybe next year.

I managed to finish this test knit hat over the weekend.  My oldest has been into hats so she liked this one.  It was a pretty quick knit for me.  Details:

Needles:  Size 6 and 8 circular needles

Yarn:  Caron Simply Soft in white and charcoal heather

Pattern:  test knit pattern coming soon


Now I'm trying to finish up some WIP that have been on the needles way too long.  Wish me luck!

Pink!

This is on the wheel right now.  My daughters request for pink fiber.  I got it with my gift certificate from The Fiber Factory.  It's 4oz of Romney.

It's going to be a rough spin though.  This is the VM (vegetative matter) after I pulled a small strip out of 2 oz to spin.  There is a LOT of VM that I'm not use to in my spinning fiber.

Slow Recovery

Still recovering from pneumonia so not much knitting or spinning.  I have been trying really hard to finish some of my WIP.  This bind off took me about 5 months.  I started the bind off in June.  It's just 4 lines but I only bind off 2 stitches each time.  This shawl was started on Aug 3 2013!  I'm glad its done.  It wasn't hard but the lace yarn was a bit hard to work with some of the stitches.  Details:
Needle:  Size 5 circular
Yarn:  Dream in Color Wisp in March '12
Pattern:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vostok

County and State Fair Results

 I got first place at County for this shawl but nothing at state.

I got First place for County and State for these socks.

This Best Spinner award came with a $75 gift certificate!

This is the yarn that won Best Spinner, First Place for County and State!

All the ribbons together for the handspun.

This just won First place at County.

This won first place at County and Third place at State.

Gift Certificate Shopping!

I finally got a chance to head up to Phoenix.  Mesa actually.  I went to the Fiber Factory and got this with my gift certificate plus some cash.  The pink fiber is Romney for my daughter.  She picked it up and said "It's so PINK!!".   The other fiber is 50% silk and 50% merino.  The rainbow color yarn was also picked by my daughter for a hat.  Interesting choice but as long as she wears the hat, I don't mind.  I couldn't pass up the gradient set.  The purple yarn is a hat for the other daughter.

Gift Certificate

I got this in the mail.  It says "Best Weaver" instead of "Best Spinner" because the "Best Spinner" gift certificate is for a store in Prescott which the Best Weaver wanted.  This is fine with me since I've never been to the Fiber Factory.  I can't wait to check it out!