Thursday, December 31, 2009

A 3 year old speaks his mind.

I wasn't expecting the conversation this morning that I had with my grandson Aidan. I realize the boy is bright and have been in awe that he has actually memorized some of the songs from his Noggin shows, pretty much word for word. Today was a proud moment for me...he actually pays attention to what I'm doing! Remember the Rainbow Hat for Addy? He was jealous about that hat, and he tries to wear it every chance he gets. We tell him it's a girl's hat, and it's Addy's. I kinda thought it was over the bright colors, and the fact Addy got something and he didn't.
Well, today I learned it goes deeper.
See the copy of Spin Off? This morning he got up and came to sit on my bed where I had just read my magazine. He pointed to the picture and said,"I want that!" I said, "What, you want me to make you some yarn?" He said,"Yes...I want a hat." You know, if he was 4 or 5, I could see him saying something like this. He'll be 3 in a few days. Anyway, I asked him," Are you mad about Addy's hat?" He said,"No,....I just want a hat." "You want me to make you a hat?" He smiled and said,"Please Nana...I want a hat."
Ok, what are you going to do? I went to the stash box and found some yarn I'd already spun up. I showed it to him and said,"I made this yarn...is it ok? " He stroked the yarn, and said,"Yes..I like it." He was all content, smiling and scampered on his way.
It blew my mind! He knew what that spindle was on the cover and knew it was yarn. He knows I make hats with the yarn. Isn't that just clever??? Am I a proud Nana or what? So the variegated blue yarn has been cast on, and I got a few rows done on his hat. He was all smiles when he got to try on the band for sizing. Now Addy is wanting to try on the hat. He told her,"Nooooo, Naddy, that's my hat!" What a smart little boy!! He also potty trained this week too! Hurray!
On the batty side...here's some California Red I carded up and painted with some copper and blue mohair roving. Yep...it's for Aiden some tube socks!
Happy New Years, Ya'll!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Addie's Rainbow Beret

Remember the Rainbow Batt I made a video of me dizzing off the batt from my Fancy Kitty Kitten drumcarder? That batt spun up sweet. I spun it worsted using a long draw on my Fricke spinning wheel, and came up with this fingering wt, 16 WPI navajo plied yarn. 120 yards. I was able to make long color changes, and the whole time I was spinning, I could just see this yarn as a Beret for baby Addie.
I found the pattern from One Skein Wonders by Judith Durant. I had to modify the pattern to make it toddler sized. I used size 5 circs, and cast on 12 stitches between markers instead of 14. I also knit 8 rows after the increase instead of 12, and knit between the decrease rows for 4 rows before I started decreasing on every row.




Now doesn't Addie look cute in her Rainbow Beret! It came out just like I wanted it too and I'm a happy Nana. Aiden on the other hand is not happy. He thinks this should be his hat and keeps trying to take it. I guess my next project will be a hat for him. I have some more spinning to do!