Dropping in...

Hey all,

I need to post really badly, but I wanted to do a quick drop-in now that it is officially Worldwide Knit In Public (week?).  June 8-June 16th.

We celebrated with my local knit-night group today (Saturday).  Part of our group knitted in public at a local town square and R and I and a couple other members went to the Memphis Zoo to teach animals to knit... :)

Seriously though --

This is S.  she was often watched work by this curious guy.

We knit near the primates, and near the grizzlies, and finally near the polar bears.

A great time was had by all and I would encourage you to look for meet-ups in your area between now and next weekend!

Knit Happy Everyone!

Exhausted...

Some things just don't work.

Sometimes things just aren't meant to be.

This week has been exhausting.

Our new foster, Juliana, the poor little 10 pound blind foster dog that we rescued from a shelter in south west Arkansas, went in for a spay and dental cleaning last Friday.  The surgery went well and we collected her on Saturday only to find that they had to remove twenty -- that's 20! -- teeth during the dental.  They were nearly all infected and diseased.

The poor thing can't see and eating must have been excruciating for her.

Monday morning, when she still hadn't had a successful BM (TMI no?) I had to take off and get her back to the vet's office where they pronounced her okay -- just in need of a larger food volume.

That night, I had the monthly meeting of my local group in which I was voted in as President back in January.  I was voted in with everyone knowing that I intended to drive up membership through increased activities and advertising (i.e. a fun retreat and posters).  I have worked my tail end off trying to make sure that the planning for these changes was well thought out (read agonized over) and complete so when I had to involve my fellow board members it would cause the least amount of stress and anxiety.

Anyone know where this is going?

The result of nearly any small change has been loud and boisterous, no venomous, animosity on the part of one other board member and her pal who used to be the president of the group years ago.  This has caused an immeasurable amount of stress and anxiety on my part regarding how to phrase things to calm these types of people.  Usually, I would walk away from this immediately.  I mean, who needs this in their life?  There is enough of this in one's life that one cannot walk away from -- at work, in one's family, etc... -- so why put up with it in what is supposed to be your fun activities?  But, I was elected to lead this group and to try to effect positive changes in its existence.  So I stuck with it.  So Monday night when these two members coordinated a venomous nasty attack designed to embarass me and another board member over, let's be honest, trivial things -- I left more than a little irritated.  And, I think, they came off looking as juvenile as they accused my good friend B of being.

I will not stand for that kind of unprofessionalism and passive aggressive animosity.  As I said before, who needs it?  I have made a decision about how to handle it.  That decision will play out today and I will update with it next week.

Anyway, after a meeting from hell.  R and I arrived home to find this poor puppy that should have been fine nearly non-responsive.  She wouldn't come out of her crate, she could barely walk at all, would not eat, and started having trouble breathing.

We forced a pain pill down her throat and finally got her to lick some Karo syrup from our fingers to get her blood sugar back up and watched over her the entire night.  Tuesday morning she went back to the animal hospital and she's still in there.  They determined she was having a reaction to her internal stitches and was swelling.  They've taken care of most of that by now but as of this morning they're still on watch for a successful BM.  It's now been an entire week since she had one.  Poor puppy.

She should be okay, and when they get things 'moving again' she can come back home.  Let's hope that is sooner rather than later.  She'll come through this because it is meant to be.

On the other hand, the group is about to have a rough time because for me, it was apparently not meant to be.

Now, I'm going to let the ball drop on my decision and then I'm walking away from it all and boarding a plane to go and visit my good friend C. (who taught me to knit in the first place) in southern Georgia for the long weekend.

I hope you have all had an easier week than I.

Good luck with your weekend...

Joseph

Fiber Fever Friday #24

Happy Fiber Fever Friday everyone!

As I mentioned in my last post, we have had a lot going on... And it has not stopped.

Tomorrow we travel to Central Arkansas for a lecture by the Yarn Harlot! -- ...and then we pick up 4 rescue schnauzers for transport to Memphis -- one of which we will keep and foster.

Although early last month I finished those boot socks (Hooray!) and also my first fingering weight two ply yarn (see below), the last two months have been, more or less, knit free.  Seriously.  Since April 7th, I have knit 2.5 rows of a cowl.  That is all.

I have not been spinning either.  I really wish that I had, but... no.

The truth is that I have thrown myself into a new schedule to accommodate daily workouts at the gym before work each day.  So I have been getting up at 5 am, working out until 7:30 and then working until about 4 pm.  By the time I get home, settle the animals down and make dinner, R is home.  We eat, clean up and I have time to do some gym laundry before going to bed at 9 pm.  And then repeat, repeat, repeat...

There are weekends of course, but I can't remember the last one that we had free.  Too many errands, Guild events/work/meetings, house chores, etc...

So I have really only had time to knit at our regular Tuesday night Knit-night.  In the last four of those, I have knit a total of 2.5 rows on a new cowl.  The rest of the time I have been helping other knitters with their knitting issues (2 socks on 2 circs, crazy bad pattern directions, etc...) -- which is fine -- I don't mind doing it -- but it does not make for a productive knit-night for me.

Ugh.

Even when I have a few minutes at home, I find myself filled with a restless energy that will not subside until I go to bed each night.  Although this particular demon sleeps, it does not knit or find knitting soothing.

I don't know where it is, but I have lost my fiber mojo.  If you see it, let me know.


For now, it is Fiber Fever Friday and I want to show you the result of all that hard spinning work I mentioned above:

This is 100% Polwarth fiber dyed by Spirit-trail Fiberworks in the colorway Beach Glass.

As a two ply:

In the end, I got about 440 yards out of the 4 ounces that I spun...  I sent this to my best friend -- the one that taught me to knit and I hope she enjoys knitting with it!

Take it easy people and, as always, Knit Happy!


Joining Linda@Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday and TamisAmis for Finished Object Friday.
Be sure to check them out to see what they have been working on!

Almost, but not quite...

Good Lord.

I cannot believe it has almost been a month since my last post.  It feel like it has barely been a day and somehow at the same time like it has been years.

I promise to do posts on our adventures on most of these things but for my own sanity, I would like to give you all a summary of the past four weeks.

The first week of April my lovely wife, R, and I were on vacation in eastern Tennessee.  The area was beautiful, the cabin remote, the drive up to it terrifying.  We had a blast and, of course, bought yarn and fiber for spinning.

The girls were not happy to see us go:

The next week we worked, knit-nighted, etc...

We attended a Memphis Knitting Guild charity event kickoff which was a lot of fun -- SO MANY SLIPPERS!  And we celebrated, R's birthday.

I finally found a great gym in the area with many of the amenities our last gym offered.  So I have finally gotten myself on a decent workout schedule again.

Then we spent a weekend attending the first annual Gathering of the Guilds event in Jackson, TN.  We met many spinners, knitters, weavers, tatters, quilters, and those who participated in any and all combinations of those activities.  There were people there from Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi.  It was a great social event:

We picked up and delivered 900+ lbs. of fresh from the farm butchered beef that R's parents raised and had butchered this spring.

We also launched the new Memphis Knitting Guild website -- quite a nail biter I can assure you.

Last weekend we took our first MKG field trip down to visit the Coldwater Alpaca Ranch in Coldwater, MS and to witness their spring shearing.  After the ranch, we traveled to Oxford, MS for lunch and to visit the Knit1 Oxford yarn shop which the wonderful owner, Patsy, was willing to open just for us on a Sunday.  It is a very cute shop and I would encourage you to stop if you are ever in town.

That, thankfully, brings us to this week.  Monday we had our monthly MKG meeting and I was sick.  Tuesday we had our weekly knit night at Newk's (we are the Knit S.P.O.T.S. group on Ravelry) and I was sick.  Wednesday I returned to work just in time for our systems to be taken down for maintenance during the rest of this week.

The time came for the Southeastern Men's Knitting Retreat planning committee to begin work on this year's retreat so I have begun work on my tasks.

The MKG retreat that we have been planning is finally coming together.  I have found the resort, set the prices, and opened registration on that as of yesterday!

So much has gone on -- and now that I see it all in writing it does not look as exhausting as it was... Or maybe it does, I really cannot tell anymore. :-)

Did I knit? A little bit -- the socks are done and will be appearing next week for Ta-Da! Tuesday.  Spin?  Yes a little bit of that too.  I finally finished a present for a friend and she loved it!

I hope you have had a relaxing April and that much knitting has happened!

Knit Happy Everyone!

P.S. - The girls sure are happy to have us home...

Quiet

Hello All,

It has been a quiet week here on the blog but not at home.  We had family in for a long weekend and I have been feeling rather poorly of late with the spike in allergens -- all of which adds up to very little knitting time.

R and I leave town this Easter Sunday for a week long Smoky Mountain cabin vacation.  It should be a great time.  We have both been burning the candle at both ends for quite a while and are looking forward to some quiet down time.  I will post about it after we return -- with pictures, I promise.

In the meantime, have a great Good Friday and a wonderful Easter weekend!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

WIP Wednesday #24

Lots of company this past week....      Stop.

No time to knit...    Stop.

Same old socks on the needles -- though nearly done....      Stop.

Second single spun on the wheel completed...     Stop.

Ready to ply this afternoon....     Stop.

Wishing you all a Knit-Happy Wednesday.... 

Stop.

:-)




Joining Ginny@SmallThings and TamisAmis for Yarnalong and WIP Wednesday!

Fiber Fever Friday #23

Happy Fiber Fever Friday Everyone!

I am still spinning the Falkland singles from this week's WIP Wednesday.  I am 3/4 done with the total fiber weight.  I should be able to ply finish the yarn just as soon as my wheel's new bobbins come in...

However, I would like to show you some beautiful fiber I purchased from a Ravelry de-stash:

This is Hobbledehoy's 50/50 blend of merino and yak.  The colorway is called 'Pineapple'.  It is the softest fiber I have ever held and so it naturally holds a place in my core fiber stash.

It serves as an inspiration braid and it will continue to do so until I one day reach the pinnacle of my spinning career and become "good enough" to justify spinning this fiber.    ;-)

I hear this is a common problem for new spinners -- but be assured that I am not skimping out on the good stuff.  My lineup of fibers to be spun is a beautiful mixture of rare breed fibers and blends comprised of merino, falklands, wensleydale, and corriedale wools along with alpaca, camel, and silk.

So far it all still fits in a treasure chest, but I think I may exceed those confines today.  Time to find a bigger treasure chest!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Joining Linda@Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday and TamisAmis for Finished Object Friday.
Be sure to check them out to see what they have been working on!

Project Lexicon : Whirling

This week's word was Whirling.

Joining the Mayberry Home Journal in the Lexicon Project.

Ta-Da! Tuesday and WIP Wednesday # 23

Hello all!

Well, we sprung forward last weekend.  Yes, it is the time of year again when we change our time to "save" daylight.  I do not mind falling backwards but springing forward always throws me off my game for a week or two.  It is hard to sleep, and my internal clock is all wonky -- leaving me rather.... disagreeable.

However, I have had time to complete the Stained Glass Seaglass Cowl - a pattern recently released by Linda Dawkins aka Mamma4Earth on Ravelry.  It is a wonderful knit, was a great test-knitting experience, and I hope you will take a look at it...

That would be this week's Ta-Da!

I am now back on the boot socks.  They are, as I noted before, nearly completed.  At about 80%, I think they can be completed soon.

I am still spinning the fiber from last week.  I have spun up 50% of it already and I cannot wait to ply it!

Let me know what you are currently working on!

Happy WIP Wednesday Everyone!

Joining Steph@Woolythyme, Ginny@SmallThings, Linda@NaturalSuburbia, and TamisAmis for Yarnalong and WIP Wednesday!

Oh yeah!  I would like to introduce you to Cash, our latest Foster Schnauzer:

Fiber Fever Friday #22

Happy Friday Everyone!

All day long yesterday I thought it was Wednesday.  What a great surprise at the end of the day to find that today was going to be Friday!

And if it is Friday, then it must be Fiber Fever Friday!

Today's fiber came to us from Spirit-Trail.net .  R and I indulged ourselves to double portions of the yarn and fiber clubs this year.  This is February's shipment.  The yarn is Lina -- a Corriedale and Nylon blend (75%/25%) and the Fiber is 100% Corriedale.

This is some seriously beautiful yarn to work with.  As usual, Spirit-Trail comes through 100%  for me in terms of fiber and color.

If you would like to get your hands on some Spirit-Trail yarn or fiber, please visit their page here.

I hope you all are planning a relaxing, full fiber weekend -- I know I am!

Knit Happy Everyone!

Joining Linda@Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday and TamisAmis for Finished Object Friday.  Be sure to check them out to see what they have been working on!

WIP Wednesday #22

Happy WIP Wednesday Everyone!

What is it about March?  In particular, what is it about March 7th?  In my own inner circle of friends and family members (which is a small group I can assure you) there are three people who were all born on March 7th.

Are there that many people born on March 7th?  Is there a special mid-summer day of amore that I have not yet been married long enough to know about that is producing an odd number of March 7th babies?  Is roughly 30% of the population really born on this day?

I am telling you now, if the zombie apocalypse ever begins -- it will happen on March 7th.  Reader beware...

...

So I am busy like a beaver trying to get birthdays handled and celebrated -- so my two WIPs are on a short hold.  I am about 75% done with the re-knit of last week's cowl and I am also 75% done with those grey and brown boot socks.  I am working to finish both of those this week / weekend.

In the meantime, I have been spoiling myself on the spinning wheel.  I have been working my way through Spinning Dyed Fibers with Felicia Lo on the Craftsy site.  It is a wonderful class and she is a very fine teacher.  I am learning a lot and practicing those techniques in my spare moments at home.

This is where today's WIP comes from:

This is me spinning a Falklands Combed Top hand dyed for me by the infinitely talented owner and operator of Spirit Trail Fiberworks.

I am really enjoying spinning.  It is so unbelievably gratifying to make my very own yarn.  My only regret is that I did not get started doing this sooner.

All things in their own time I guess... Apparently my right time was not until now.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday and that your WIPs are flying off the needles at rates unprecedented!  I am sending you all good knitting vibes today!

Happy Knitting Everyone!

P.S. -- Be sure to read my special guest post from yesterday's Ta-Da! Tuesday...

Joining Steph@Woolythyme, Ginny@SmallThings, and TamisAmis for Yarnalong and WIP Wednesday!

Ta-Da! Tuesday #22

Good Morning and Happy Ta-Da! Tuesday Everyone!

Today is Ta-Da! Tuesday and there is definitely a Ta-Da!, but we are going to change it up a bit this week.  For those of you new to the blog, I am a knitter, crocheter, and -- recently -- a spinner.  What you may not know, however, is that I am married to a wonderful woman who -- in order to spend more quality time with me -- decided last spring to take a class and learn to knit.

R has been knitting now for about 10 months and is a natural.  She has fearlessly tackled cables, lace, and the altering of patterns to suit her own personal style.

This morning R will be guest blogging about her most recent FO.  It is a beautiful piece and I know you will all enjoy her way with yarn as well as her way with words.

Please welcome my better half, R...

Thanks! It's true--I used to be the one who was the oft-spotted "yarn spouse", standing around aimlessly, staring at all the colors and types of fiber and waiting impatiently for J to hurry the heck up. Then I started paying attention to all the pretty colors. Then I started feeling all the wonderful soft and squishy balls of alpaca, the sturdy balls of cotton, and the sleek and shiny hanks of lace. Slowly, I started sneaking a couple of skeins into his shopping cart after securing a promise to make me this or that. After a while though, it dawned on me that if I was ever going to get those things which never made it to the top of his queue, I'd better figure out how to do it myself. Of course, learning to knit was also a self-defense mechanism, seeing as pretty much all of our retirement savings are invested in stash and we needed something new to work on together. :)

Now, to my Ta-Da! I'm fascinated with the idea of test knitting and sample knitting--I love the idea of it. I love the process of helping a designer finish a product; I love being one of the first people to make something new; I love knitting, but I rarely wear my own work--preferring to give it away as gifts or sell it because I don't want to be the one that messes it up. As I was trolling in the Testing Pool group on Rav one day, I came across a call for completing a test knit that I couldn't pass up. So, I signed up and dutifully bought 8 skeins of Manos del Uruguay Classica in cornflower. 

Beautiful, right? After diligently finishing, washing, and blocking my swatch and choosing a needle size (I almost always have to go up one because I knit tightly.), I was off to the races. 

The pattern for the sweater is now available on Ravelry and is called Emilie June. It has an awesome side-to-side construction, so no seaming for the folks that prefer to avoid such difficulties. There's a neat cable design along the bottom edge and a comfy shawl collar. The sleeves are done almost like the afterthought heel--you knit in a piece of waste yarn where the sleeve will go and then keep knitting. Once you're ready to do the sleeve, you just pull out the waste yarn and pick up the stitches and off you go. How cool is that? 

One of the things that I love about knitting is that you learn something new every time--this time, my new skill to learn was how to do hidden short rows in stockinette. I'm not going to lie--I made J. do the tink and redo the first set after I messed it up, but then I figured it out and just look how good I did!

As usual, I didn't really want to keep it and be the one to wear it out, it's also pretty significantly too big if I wanted to keep it, so it's off to a new home as a gift. The cardigan is super warm and soft. I'm not a huge fan of the thick and thin aspects of the Manos Classica generally (why do the thick bits and thin bits always seem to pool together--you'd think they would even out. Perhaps this only happens to me...), but they worked out well in this pattern. I also decided to be super brave and didn't alternate balls of yarn--the luck of the knitter was with me though, because none of my skein changes are noticeable. Here are a few more pics for good measure, a little bit so you can see how well the design elements worked out, but mostly so you can see how awesome I did. 

Thanks for letting me steal J's show! P.S. This is my first blog post, and J says it's poor form to use contractions. I'm pretty sure that's hooey though--feel free to comment if you've a good reason why I mustn't use them. :)

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Fiber Fever Friday #21

Happy Fiber Fever Friday Everyone!

I am currently visiting family out of state so we will make today's post short and sweet.

This week I spun, plied, set and thwacked my second ever hank of yarn:

This was a lovely roving that I got through a destash a friend if mine was doing...  It is 100% merino wool dyed blue and green. I was aiming for a worsted weight two ply and I think I managed to hit that -- although I haven't yet tested the WPI.

I am looking forward to the day when I can spin and ply to match colors together!  But for now I am having a big time just playing with the wheel...

What have you been working on?  Please share your FOs in the comments!

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Joining Linda@Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday and TamisAmis for Finished Object Friday.  Be sure to check them out to see what they have been working on!

WIP Wednesday #21

I love test knitting.

I really do, I love it.  I love that little thrill you get when you slide in just before the sign up closes and the next one when you receive a pattern long before it is available to everyone else in the world.  You get another when your project is on the first page of FOs for the pattern when it goes live (sometimes viral) on Ravelry...  It is a roller coaster of highs...

and then sometimes there are a few low points.

My WIP from last Wednesday is again my WIP this week.  The socks (remember those socks?) have been on the back burner ever since I signed up to knit a wonderful cowl pattern by Mamma4Earth on Ravelry.

I was just about to finish the cowl's third repeat (of four) from the pattern when I realized I would run out of yarn.  This was due to a very small error in the pattern.  It was quickly remedied in the pattern and sent back out.  In the meantime I was able to complete the original knit as written in three complete repeats.  I took photos and sent them in and planned to leave the FO alone.

...




...

... but it kept staring at me.  This project was the perfect combination of pattern and yarn and I just could not leave it in an imperfect state.  I frogged it, rewound the yarn, and cast it on again :)  With a little math I realized I could finish all four repeats of the new version of the pattern -- within the 210 yards of yarn I had -- if I cut back to 160 stitches from 200 and knit it on a US size 6 needle instead of a size 8.

It was, and continues to be, a crazy fun knit.  I want to thank Mamma4Earth and Carle', her trusty test knit coordinator, for the opportunity to be among the first.  Because, as I said before, I LOVE it!

What are you working on?  Please leave a comment and share it with us!

Knit Happy Everybody!

Joining TamisAmis , Ginny@SmallThings, Linda@Natural Suburbia, and Step@Woolythyme for the Wednesday rounds.  Be sure to check out the great things that they are working on...

Ta-Da! Tuesday # 21

Good Morning!  Welcome to Ta-Da! Tuesday... :)

Today I am Ta-Da!-ing an FO of which I am particularly fond.  It has a history of sorts that goes along with the development of this hat.

A very dear friend of mine, in fact she is the one who first taught me to knit, has always had an eye for charting her own designs.  On one of our visits we were perusing some of her recent FOs and came across a hat she had charted for a family member.  It was a beautiful hat!  I asked her for the chart and she looked high and low for it, but to no avail -- it simply would not be found.

Being particularly tenacious, however, we sat down and stared long and hard at pictures of the original hat until we had "re-created" this chart.  I held on to it for a year or so and finally got around to writing up the pattern to accompany the charts and cast on -- I needed this hat for Christmas!

By a wonderful intervention of fate, the original chart emerged days after I cast on and we were able to compare the original to the recreation -- and boy were we ever off!  In any case, I knit the original pattern but  it turned out HUGE.  I mean REALLY BIG.  Like a dinner plate was too small to block it!  This was all because of my main color yarn choice.  It was the right weight, but it was a fuzzy acrylic. I had to *CUT* out the ribbing from the beginning and work it again in the reverse direction holding an elastic thread with the yarn to try and force it to contract  -- no luck.  Back to the scissors...  I knit the ribbing again working from a 2x2 ribbing to a 2x1 ribbing....  Still too big.  I had to cut it out (I still cannot believe the insanity of this) for a third time and reduce it to a 1x1 ribbing with a lot of K2togs...

In the end, I think it turned out beautifully.  But if you are ever considering ribbing using Lion Brand's Wool-Ease in White Frost -- FORGET IT.

In any case, and much delayed, here is today's Ta-Da! Tuesday FO:

The MC yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease in White Frost.  The CC yarn is Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair in Glacier Bay.  The charting was done by my dear friend C.G..  You can find out more about her and her work on her blog, TheHippieHomemaker , and you can find her on Ravelry as GAGIN37.

What do you think?  What are you all working on?  Leave a comment and tell us about it!

Knit Happy Everyone!

Morning...

The summers may feel like the 7th circle in Hades, but you gotta love Memphis in February!

Fiber Fever Friday # 20

Good Morning!

I hope you are all looking forward to the coming weekend!  The weather forecast calls for sunny skies and mid 50's here in Memphis this weekend, but the Fiber forecast calls for a downpour of good fortune!  

Late last week I spun my first pair of singles (see Fiber Fever Friday # 19) and last weekend, I plied, set and thwacked my first ever 2-ply.  It did turn out to be a bulky weight yarn, but a great bulky weight yarn!  I am very happy with the result -- although I do not think I will ever be able to use this yarn.  It is going straight into the core stash!

Not too bad, all in all, for a first hank.

Have a wonderful Knitful weekend everyone!

Joining Linda@Natural Suburbia and Steph@Woolythyme for Creative Friday and TamisAmis for FO Friday.

Project Lexicon : Brood

(not my best photograph, but it fits the word too well!)

Joining the Mayberry Home Journal in the Lexicon Project.

WIP Wednesday #20

Good Morning Everyone!

Last spring I was in a not so local yarn shop and struck gold in a hank of Pagewood Farm's Kissi yarn in the Prism colorway.  It is a beautiful (and expensive) yarn which reminds me of stained glass.  I have seen these beautiful soft blues with flecks of red and green and yellow in many European cathedrals.  Anyway, I had to have it but at the time could only budget 1 skein.  I will admit that this skein went immediately into the "Core Stash" level of my stashdom where it should have remained forever -- as an inspiration yarn.

However, late last week I ran across a beautiful cowl pattern being offered as a test knit.  It was pictured in a beautiful shiny green yarn and it was titled Seaglass.  My mind immediately went back to the hank of Kissi in the stash and its fate was sealed.

Monday I received the pattern and cast on and it is nearly half completed as of this morning.

So, without further ado, I give you today's WIP:

It has been a crazy fun knit and I will provide more details on it (and a Ravelry link) when it is completed...

What are you working on?  Please leave a comment and share it with us!

Knit Happy Everybody!

Joining Tamisamis , Ginny@SmallThings, and Step@Woolythyme for the Wednesday rounds.  Be sure to check out the great things that they are working on...

Ta-Da! Tuesday #20

Two Furry Hats...

Back in September, I saw a sample for a Cocoknits pattern and hatched an idea for a Christmas present.  It was a cool hat -- good for the chill of winter and it would give me the opportunity to learn "thrumming".

So, for today's Ta-Da! Tuesday, we have the Fleeced Earflap Hat (well two of them really):

I made one for a family member and enjoyed it so much I made another for myself.  The yarn in both cases is Malabrigo Rasta (Tip: Knit the medium size to get a large hat in this yarn!).  The thrumming is pure wool dyed brown...  You can find my project in Ravelry here.

Happy Knitting Everyone!