Sage Advice

 

I Love Rabbits and Mail!

This is my pure angora yarn cowl/collar.  This is the yarn that Girl Far From Home bought me at the Blue Ridge Life Folk Festival last fall.  It's pure angora from a rabbit named Wizard, hand spun and in it's natural color.  The label says it's from "Handspun for Ewe" but I can't find that sold anywhere so I suspect it's just a farmer who showed up at that festival and sold handspun.  It's just dreamy.  The yarn is dreamy and was a joy to knit.  The neckwarmer is dreamy and is a joy to wear.  It's so soft it is absolutely unreal and it's warm around your neck - pure luxury.  I had to find the perfect thing to knit it into and never could so I just made up my own thing.

This is a yarn bell that came in the mail on Monday.  It's big - that's a 500 yard ball inside it - about 6" in diameter.  I love that it has a plate under it to protect your yarn from a dirty floor.  I think it would be nice in the car on the long ride to Florida - protect my yarn from under dirt and keep it from bouncing out of a bowl.

This yarn bell was made by Laura Murphy who runs the Wildthyme Art Etsy store.  She has some really lovely yarn bells and even lovelier hand dyed and hand spun yarn.

This is Desert Denizen Sock yarn - it came with the yarn bell.  It came from Wild Thyme Art shop on Etsy.  It's lovely - the picture just doesn't do it justice.

This came in the mail today but I'm not allowed to do more than take a picture of it right now.

That means you aren't allowed to see more than the picture right now.

Crazy Hats!!!

 Crazy Hats! 

Of course these are for the theater department . . . 

 First, Mr. Matternot's hat.  This is from the Anna Zilboorg book 45 Fine and Fanciful Hats.  This is Egyptian number 4, but I changed the top of the hat - designed my own swirl using one of the toque tops as a base.

And this crazy hat is Angela number 4 but I used Angela 1 (I think) for the arms.  I love, love, love this hat.  It's warm and it fits great.  I love the colors and the feel of it.  

Remember I told you Girl Far From Home had designed an Itty Bitty Fish for me?  Well, now she's added a second pattern for an Itty Bitty Dolphin.  Aren't they cute?  She's such a clever girl.  She's going to write up the patterns and sell them on Ravelry!

Odds and Ends or Odd Hats?

This is the beginning of the first of several hats I'm knitting for the theater department.  The play this season is Still Life for Iris.  I'm not familiar with this particular play and I like to keep it that way until I actually get to see the play, so I can't tell you much about it.  This hat is for a character named Mr. Matternot.

I used two patterns from Anna Zilboorg's 45 Fine and Fanciful Hats - a book that I bought used, long after it was out of print, and paid extra for with great joy.  Anna's patterns are amazing and wonderful.  I now have several of her books (Knitting for Anarchists, Magnificent Mittens and Socks, Socks for Sandals and Clogs) and would love to have more!  (If you have any you'd like to part with, please let me know.)

 For the top of this hat, I used the pattern from one of the Toques - #5, I think.  I used the Egyptian pattern though and the Toque hats have smaller tops.  I just redesigned it in my Intwined software and went with it.  Both yarns used in the top are my own hand dyed yarns - the orange is koolaid dyes that I did with the girls quite a while ago.  The idea is to show just a little color on this character before he reveals his true self at the end of the play.

The sides are straight off one of the Egyptian hats - I don't recall which.  They are gray and black because the character is colorless until he remembers who he really is at the end.

The hat is charming on and I should be able to get a picture of the actor in costume on Monday or Tuesday.

 This cute little mouse is called Moses and the pattern was sold on Etsy (and I think on Ravelry too).  The end result is cute, but there are some serious mistakes in the pattern and that spoiled the fun of knitting it.  I was going to buy a copy of the pattern for Girl Far From Home, but the mistakes raise the difficulty rating and apparently won't be corrected so this pattern just goes in the I'm Done With It file.

On to some Gifts!

First, this is a Heart Scarf that Girl Far From Home made for me quite a while ago.  It needs to be blocked, and I plan to do that this afternoon while I block the hat, but I just had to show it off first.  I absolutely love it.  She made it at least a year ago but didn't feel like it was finished then.  She gave it to me when she was home last weekend because she found it while cleaning out her yarn and projects.  I am not sure what the gift was originally for, but since both my Birthday and Valentines Day are coming up, it's fine for either of those.  I'm going to wear it to knitting class on Monday! 

These are two gifts.  The pig on the left is one that Girl Far From Home knit at a knitting class she went to and brought home as a gift to me.  She's been knitting these little pigs like crazy - just loves the pattern.  I found the pattern and made a handful of little piggies for her too!  

The fish is more than just something she knit for me.  Actually, I knit it while I was on Skype with her.  She designed the fish and created the pattern herself!  It's amazingly cute and a quick and easy knit.  I've suggested that she publish the pattern - she can sell it on Ravelry.  

And I leave you with one more picture of Totoro and the Minion hanging out together . . . cuz they are cute!

Don't Ask

I have a headache.

More Travel Knitting

Girl Far From Home kept herself busy in the car on the way back to far
away . . .

And aren't these handmade dolls just delightful? I fell in love with
them!