Dear Emily,

 As this blanket is a special gift for a special baby.  I have written this post as a letter to her.  For those of you interested in commentary and information on the blanket,  I have provided this in the captions.
Dear Emily 

Voila! My fantastic blanket is finally finished.  The blue yarn is random stash acrylic but the beige 
is my own handspun. They didn't play as well together as I had hopped.  (Read I accidentally felted the
 handspun when washing this).  And So I decided backing it in fleece would make it look nicer.I was right.

  It will be many years before you will understand this letter and probably several more before you can read it for yourself.  I hope that someday you do read it but even if you never see this letter there are things that I wanted to say to you that I think should be sent out into the universe.  I made this blanket for you.  I started long before you were born and I have missed your birth by a couple of months.   I have spent hundreds of hours crocheting and sewing this blanket because I love you.

Frogs are my favorite critters so I couldn't resit adding one.

  I know we have never met, and that we will probably only meet infrequently in the future due to the thousands of miles spread between us.  I love you anyways.  I love you because I love your mother, but more importantly I love you because you are you.  I love you because of the potential you represent and because every person in the world needs love.

The elephant is also made of some of my handspun.  I love the lion's mane!
 When I first made him I left his mane about two inches long. 
For the longest time I bounced back and forth between wanting
to trim and leaving it long.  I decided to trim it a bit.

     I decided to make you a blanket, because I love blankets. A special blankets is a talisman.  It tells you that your are loved, and it can keep you warm and make you feel safe on a bad day.  Someday when  you are older you should ask you mom about her special blanket from a grandma she barely knew.  I remember it was pink and silky and had beautiful animals sewn all over it and she loved it.  I know she slept with it well into her teenage years and I can only hope that you might love this blanket even half as much.

This blanket tells the story of Noah's ark, but

Fishes

that's not the story I am going to tell you today.  Instead, I am going to tell you what each of the symbols on your blanket mean to me.  The boat and house represent a safe place for you to go when the world gets to be too much.  The giraffe represents your reach.  You can reach much further than you know.  Everything you do has the potential to change the world.  The lion is bravery, because you'll need it, kid.  It's jungle out there! 

Octopus!

The elephant is wisdom.  There is a folk saying that says that Elephants never forget anything.  Who knows if that's really true?  But I wanted to give as much wisdom as I had because I know things can be tough.  And the frog because everyone needs a little silliness.
I hope you remember that I love you, and if when you are older you ever need someone to talk to, even if I am a million miles away, I'd be happy to listen.
                                                                                             Love,
                                                                                          Aunt Amy

March reflections

I haven`t finished anything new this week but I wanted to talk about some of my highlights for March and how I am doing on my goals.

Reflections on my snowflake project

I am a member of the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC).  The HPKCHC is a Ravelry group "competition" that is set up around the world of Harry Potter.  Every month there are class prompts for various things to craft and a player earns points for their house by participating in activities.  It is fun and helped me to stay motivated and get to know new people. 
My Snowflake project was what is called an OWL (ordinary wizarding level) and is supposed to be a project that takes 10-12 weeks to complete.  Participants have to propose and OWL and be approved to be able to earn the 150 points available. 
·         The whole owl  proposal process was a bit demanding and slightly annoying but helped me prepare to finish the project in a limited amount of time
·         Setting a time limit made me much more likely to finish the project
·         I was totally proud of myself for finishing on time
Learning to work with thread
·         I don`t think I am an expert at crocheting in thread yet but I feel fairly confident
·         I have learned a lot about tension and stitch definition
·         It`s easier than it looks.  In a lot of ways thread and crochet feel like they were made for each other
·         I really love the stitch definition of thread, and I actually like working super tight which keeps the stitches super neat.
General reflections
·         I really enjoyed the project and the results, but I am relieved to be done.  It was a huge undertaking and by the end I was pretty bored of tiny white  crochet thread and snowflakes.
·         Written doily patterns are a bit of a pain.  It is kind of difficult to determine what the huge sheath of instructions means until you actually do it.  I am sure the instructions I have written out will proof just as difficult to someone else as the instructions I have run into were for me.
·         I have resolved to learn to read and write crochet charts.  A lot of the pattern reading difficulties I had could have been solved with a good chart.

Learning to spin

I set a goal in the HPKCHC's Order of the Pheonix (OOTP) missions to spin for 3 hrs a week for 8 weeks.  
I loved this project.  I think in a lot of way the biggest thing I have learned by  spinning project is that there really is so much to learn about fiber and spinning.

There are so many things I don`t know. My yarns are still lumpy and uneven but I think they are beautiful in all their irregularity.   I really liked working with the BFL even if was also the hardest for me to draft evenly. 
Setting a goal and sticking to it was fun and challenging.  It was good for my self esteem as well

Yearly goals 
I know I have alluded to these, but I haven't posted the list yet.  So here is how I am doing on my yearly crafting goals:

• Knit or crochet 12 squares for charity---2 so far
• Learn Tunisian crochet----so far I have worked through
  
  Beginner's Guide to Tunisian Crochet by Marie Segares and made this sampler square

  
• 24 snowflakes for my Christmas tree next year--Finished
  
  
• Learn to spin ( I got a spindle on Christmas --Actually my WIP the first project is with the tiny bit of yarn I have spun since then)--See above
• Knit at least one Men’s Bias-Knit Tie--not started
• Knit Wallet--not started although I've had the yarn for 2 years
• make at least one homemade present for everyone in my family(either Christmas or b-day NOT both)--I have a few presents for special occasions planned but none completed
• Learn Irish and/or Clones lace--I learned a little bit making the Irish snowflake and I have done some reasearch
• improve at tapestry crochet--not started.
• Knit or crochet 12 Bookmarks --Not started

New handspun

I haven't finished much this week. I waas hoping to finsih the little cabled headband but it will have to wait until next week. I have two big projects going on write now the first is my snowflakes, and the second is to learn to spin  --to that end I set a goal to spin approximately 3 hrs per week between January and the end of March at which point I will evaluate how it's been going.
So with no further adieu I want to show the yarns I finished recently.

Spun from Blue-Face Leicester top from The Woolery

This  BFL is the more recent of the two yarns as it was actually finished up, washed, dried and skeind over the weekend.  This fleece is amazing.  It feels like I've always imagined the clouds would feel. For me I loved working with it but I didn`t find it to be the easiest wool I have worked with so far.  My experience is quite limited but for this skein I started with 2oz of fleece and my end skein weighs only 1 3/4oz which means that I ruined a good bit of fiber while trying to make this yarn.  It tended to snarl up while I was working and was more difficult to join.  I had worked with a  corriedale wool and the Icelandic wool previously, and of the three I had worked with so far I feel like BFl was harder to control.  Though of course right now I am not very good at spinning yet and work exclusively in park and draft.  Despite the difficulties I am pleased with the progress I have been making.  I am getting better contolling the twit and adding/removing twist as needed.  I still have trouble with drafting evenly but I think that will come with time.

Spun from Icelandic Top also from The Woolery.

This Icelandic wool is not the clouds of dream like BFL, but it was soft and strudy if a tad on the itchy side.  I could see it used in a hat or outer garment but not in a scarf or directly against the skin.  I found the Icelandic the easiest to draft of three wools I have tried so far.  This skein weighs 2 oz and I started with 2 oz of fiber--I lost very little fiber to unmanagable snarls and found it easier to join fiber.

I am not sure what I will do with all my big funky beautiful yarn yet.  I really like this pillow  I made to display my very first yarn wich was quite slubby.

pillow for displaying homespun

My first ever homespun finished in late december 2012

However one only needs so many pillows, and I would love the have something wearable.  Do you spin?  Are you learning to spin?  What do/did you do with your first attempts?
Be sure to drop by Tamis, Wonder Why Alpaca farms, natural suburbia or Crochet Addicts to see more fantastic finished projects.

Learning to take better photographs

Today I felt like I don`t really have much in the work until I started thinking about the things that need to be photographed.  To be honest taking photos is my least favorite part of doing the blog--I am not very good at it, I don`t really have a space to set aside for it,  we live in demi-basement so we more less always have less than ideal lighting.   So I have decided that my camera and I must try to make friends and we spent a couple hours together trying to make things look good and then I did the photoshop stuff and now it's totally the time I supposed to go to bed and I haven't had the chance to rest or read everyone else's Wednesday posts yet so I am going to keep it short on words today.

Another snowflake of my own design and probably my favorite.  They definitely need blocking.

Closeup of the previous

 American Thread Company Snowflake that I finished this week next to it's pair I finished a couple weeks ago

One of the best pictures I got tonight!

A snowflake I improvised--Not sure I like it much.

Another American Thread company Design I have been working on

Learning to spin.  BFL Top from the Woolery

Cabled Icord headband I mentioned on Friday.

Closup

Hermionie the Unicorn I started a while Back.  (Hoping that posting it here will give me kick in the pants).

I need kick on the pants to finish Archer too.  I totally started him back in November with the Mystery CAL.

Just for fun I took a couple pic of Confundus.  He was made with the Lark patter by Stacey Trock

I was having fun with Photoshop

I need to put all these photos on Ravelry, but I am totally tired tonight and I have tests at the hospital tomorrow--Wish me luck so hopefully soon.  Drop by Tamis to see all the great projects.

FO Friday--Except it's Saturday

I haven't written a finished object post in a while and I find myself dithering between the thought that I have nothing worth sharing and far too much that I have finished in the last six months for a single post.  Both ideas are true and false at the same time --most things its a matter of perspective.  Consulting both my brain and my Ravelry notebook I know that I have finished at least a dozen projects since October. Some of them I have forgotten to photograph and some of them have fairly poor photographs, and a  few of them are part of larger projects that require more explanation than I wanted to write today.  My mind works like this often, I see the twists and turns and cracks in the earth and yet completely miss the footpath to my intended destination.   I think I will just share a few of my favorite things I finished in the last little while.

A lovely simple granny pillow that lives on my couch

My first hand-spun knit into a swath and sewn to a little pillow that makes me smile

My first hand-spun made over the winter holidays on the spindle my mother gave me for Christmas

My husband with his dragon hat I made him for Christmas.  My first real effort at tapestry crochet.

My Vampire scarf being modeled before sending it off to my sister.

Vampire scarf again

A blanket square made up with a few Tunisian stitches.  Also my first effort at Tunisian crochet.

A pair of knitted slippers made for a valentines day swap.  My second attempt at knitted cables.

Two new elephant hat samples.  The one on the right was finished last spring and the one on the left a few days ago

Another blanket square for Blankets for Canada.

The most frustrating crocheted socks that I finished for my husband's Grandfather's Christmas present at the end of January and still need to deliver.

This is made up with the pattern Lark by Stacey Trock.  We call him Confundus and he has taken to sitting on the corner of Pat's Computer.

I know there have been a few other projects but I think this is enough to give you and idea of what I've been making.  They are not in chronological order but I hope you enjoy them.   I hope you drop by Tami's amis to see what others have been up to this week.