Spin spin spin

I haven't spun any yarn in well over a year. I remember hating everything I made and put it to the side. A few days ago I received my Phat Fiber box (the first I've been able to get!) and it was full of all these wonderful fiber samples. Seeing what everyone in the PF Ravelry group had made with theirs made me want to spin again. So that's what I did for almost four hours today. Phfft...to my senior project.
To start with, here's my PF haul:

Thankfully, there's only four things in there that I'm allergic to.
Here's what I've spun up so far. The first picture is hand dyed 100% baby alpaca from TLS. Next is some merino silk roving from Liberty Fibers. I just love the bit of sparkle that came with it.

I got 25 yds. out of both of them with very little waste, and some sparkle left over. It's between fingering and laceweight and is the thinnest yarn that I've ever been able to make.

I also combined two more bunches of samples, but that's still on the bobbin. I'm going to spin up some merino/tencel I bought in Wisconsin a few years ago to ply with it. And I have ideas for the rest. Now I just need to find the time to do it all.

Realist Challange totals

This is for the 'Realist Stash Knit Down Challenge' on Ravelry.

Rules:
*24 projects in 2009. (finishing WIPs and UFOs can count!! )
*12 of the projects must be made from stash (you can make more from stash if you want)
*3 of the projects have a new technique that you haven’t tried before

January '09
Projects: 4
From Old Stash: 1
New Techniques: 0
Yardage: 539

February '09
Projects: 6
From Old Stash: 5
New Techniques: 0
Yardage: 644

March '09
Projects: 6
From Old Stash: 5
New Techniques: 1 (invisible crochet decrease)
Yardage: 503

April & May '09
Projects:
From Old Stash:
New Techniques:
Yardage: 255

2008 wrap-up

12 Must-Knits for '08
Intarsia or fair isle
Hats and scarves for charity
Bags of Home *done but need buttons*
Bad Juju
Calyx Handtote *half done-lost pattern*
Some sort of garment for myself *frogged*
Lace
Log Cabin Blanket *started*
Corn
Single Cable Scarf
Toe-up socks
Design something knit/crochet

Yards used up:
7968 (that's 4+ miles)

NaKnitMo -- Knitting 30,000 stitches in November (trying for half)!
Number of stitches: 18907

Items crossed off of 101 in 1001 list (started in Feb.):
26

**dances**

In your face, old man!!!!










(sorry, I had to get that out)

Leftover yardage list

Acrylic:
Red Heart camo-81
Caron SS bright blue-29
Caron SS grape-3
Caron SS grey-28
Caron SS white-13
Caron SS black-87
Caron SS brown-35
Caron SS hot pink-16
Wintuk jewel tone-9
Bernat Boucle brown-50
Bernat Satin blue-14
Bernat Satin yellow-46

Acrylic Blends:

Cotton:
Lion Cotton poppy-172
Bernat xmas-151
Sugar N Cream lavendar-21
Sugar N Cream yellow-41
Sugar N Cream orange-28
Sugar N Cream orange/yellow/pink-92
Sugar N Cream blue-66
Peaches N Cream yellow-49
Peaches N Cream orange-

Cotton Blends:
Cotton Ease orange-3
Cotton Ease yellow-86
Cotton Ease blue-141

Wool:
Noro #184-46
Knit Picks Swish Superwash yellow-62
Knit Picks Swish Superwash green-4
Knit Picks Swish Superwash purple-42
Knit Front and Back sock yarn Near Dark-133

Wool Blends:
Patons SWS green-66
Wool Ease brown-114

Things I'd Like to Crochet One Day

*Life-sized bicycle (modeled after my yellow '70s Schwinn)
*Potted venus fly trap
*Ribcage (I have already made one out of wood)
*Sloth
*A large banana peel (and maybe a guy slipping on it...)
*A representation of my Etsy store name: Robot Heart Squid
*Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens
*Ben Gibbard for my friend who stalks him

more soon...

Upon learning that crochet has one purpose for me

Stuffies!!! This was my first more or less following of a crochet pattern. More or less meaning that quite a bit of it was winged. I left out a few color changes because I still don't know how to do that. This is for Emma Jean, who was born on May 19th. Her mom is an old family friend. It's a little lopsided, but still adorable. Everyone who's seen it wants one, but I will definitely be changing yarn for future teddies. I need to work on my embroidery though.

The yarn used - Bernat Baby Coordinates was a complete bitch to crochet, and just as bad to unravel.

My flat crochet curls, so I'll be useing it purely for toys and odd little sculptural items, and maybe the occasional hat. Knitting will be used to everything else.