puppets

Finger puppets. I love their hair!!! Here's the pattern for 'em. As you can see, mine didn't really turn out like the picture. But that's okay. Because 1, I couldn't find the fingering yarn so I used 30 cotton instead, and 2, I didn't have similar eyes or noses; I had to embroider (word used loosely) those features. What a trial that was!!! I'm quite pleased that Miz Purlene helped me out with that.
What I'd like to know is, why does the 3rd from the right look so mad? Did it get up on the wrong side of the bed? Does it not like it's hair-do? Lol!!!

dye lots

I started my project, and I bought the yarn. And 1/3 of the way through, as I was changing skeins, I realized that there was a significant color difference. Not a happy moment. But worse was to come. I went to the store searching for that same starting color, but all the skeins I looked at under those store lights looked mostly the same; no wonder my problem arose in the first place. I had an incredibly difficult time, even though I brought samples of what I was searching for. I finally bought a skein, hoping for the best. No luck. Instead of matching the starting color, it matched the newer color. Result: I'll be starting the project again. *resigned sigh*

I think that if the skeins say "no dye lot" then they should all be the same color. Is that too much to ask?

cloche

I tried the homespun again. First couple of efforts left me a little dissatisfied. But I was motivated by this cloche pattern. A freebie from Lionbrand, recommended by those stellar folk over at Crochetville.
Following the pattern's guage and hook size (9mm, then 10mm) as best I could, my finished hat still ended up a bit long in circumference. And even though I only did 8 rows of increasing instead of 9, the hat fits a little loose on my head; I guess my head is smaller than the average bear, er, head. Next time I will only do 7 rows of increases.
The color I definitely like. And this time around the homespun wasn't nearly as aggravating. I think using the larger hook was a boon. Another good thing about this project was that it worked up very quickly. Talk about instant gratification!

But I would be remiss if I didn't say, the homespun used for this hat was part of the gift by the one who has gnawed a space in my dried-out-raisin heart. ...And now that I am understanding about large hooks & this yarn, perhaps I will try socks again with it. Thanks, babe!