I must be getting back in touch with my inner unicorn-loving child. Or something.

a bulky flyer is wonderous thing

A few weeks ago, my husband gave me the best birthday present ever - a gift certificate to Hello Yarn. Adrian is the best source for Louet supplies on the internet, wonderful to buy from and so helpful! So, I got myself a bulky flyer and bobbin to use with my spinning wheel and hoo boy, do they make life easier! I'm having so much fun making super-gigantic skeins. I'm not going to post photos of the undyed stuff because that's boring, but here's a big fat skein of merino/silk that I finally got up the nerve to spin:





The silk is so glossy and soft!

a dog named Julius

This hat is my first attempt at colorwork. There are clearly problems - first of all, I didn't get the tension quite right with all the floats, so it's not flat and smooth like it should be. Second, when I blocked it I didn't do a good job getting the hem straight.

Originally, I was going to try to make this absolutely awesome hat, but then I had a moment of insecurity about whether I could pull off wearing it. Fact is, I'm not a cool bike messenger. I'm a vanilla 30-something who drives a Corolla. And since I would have had to cry if I made that hat but couldn't wear it, I decided to try designing my own instead.

Originally, I based this design on Blue Dog , but now that it's finished I really think it looks more like my cousin's dog Julius. Therefore, I am calling this the Julius hat.



See the resemblance?