January Review

Finished things . . .

There's a beast in my Yarn Bowl!

I kept busy for the month of January and got lots done . . . more than I thought before I gathered pictures of things to blog about.

Wild Thing by Susan Claudino is a pattern for sale on Ravelry. I made one before Christmas in thin sock weight yarn on size 1 needles. 
A couple of weeks ago I decided to make one in thicker yarn on size 3 needles.  CUTE! 
I followed the pattern a little better the 2nd time around. He's the beast from the children's book Where the Wild Things Are.
 
I got LOTS of spinning done - 7 skeins of 3 ply during the month of January!!!

My drum carder got a good workout. 6 of the 7 skeins were fleece I put through the drum carder. The light gray was some I hand carded last fall from the Common Ground Fair.
I got it all washed this morning to "set the twist". 
It's drying on the back of an old easel.

I found a free felted bag pattern with a braided strap that I'm thinking of making with the brown/gray Tom gave me for Christmas.
Except it's only in German! 
Think I got it figured out with the help of a group on Ravelry. Once I studied the numbers and the picture it sort of makes sense even without understanding all the words. 
(That's what she said! We'll see.)

I enjoyed spinning with fiber from my new drum carder better than just about any I've purchased so far.
MUCH EASIER TO SPIN. 
Very happy with the decision to buy one.

It did need a bit of unexpected maintenance. Fibers had built up on the inside axles of the drums.  It started turning harder for a day or two and then it wouldn't turn at all. There is so little space between the frame I had to remove 5 screws  from the side panel in order to get it cleaned out. 
I had remembered seeing the diagram for taking it apart  when I first took it out of the box. 
Hoping not to have to do that too often!

AND. I've KNIT 2 pair socks already!
Okay... Size 5 needles with thicker yarn goes faster than a fancy pattern in size 1's. 
BUT they're from my own early hand spun yarn!
One pair was dyed in Orange, Red and Yellow Kool-Aid. They're a little scratchy but not sure if it's because of beginner spinning or maybe 20 year old fleece?  BOTH!

The market bag is a UFO I dug out of hiding. One of my 2015 goals was to finish things I've gotten bored with and left sitting around. PLUS:
Knit with hand spun.
Finish processing fleece I own ... before buying more.

So far so good!