just casting off a gift-knit for the boyfriend. he saw jane richmond's christopher pattern and fancied it, and i thought, why not give it a try? it presents a number of neat challenges for me, like working a top down hat in the round, seamlessly, and also involves stripes, which i've really enjoyed knitting lately. i did have to buy a new set of size 7 dpns and circulars, susan bates only offers 4 needles sets at the nearby craft shop, and my circulars measure up to something like 30" around, way too much for me to comfortable knit a hat !
the yarns i'll use for this project will be knitpicks wool of the andes yarn, in coal and cobblestone heather--guy-friendly colors if i do say so myself. actually, this yarn was the first pure wool i've ever purchased, and come the binding off of this hat, the first wool yarn i will have ever used to knit something ! it definitely feels much different on the needles than acrylic or cotton, sometimes i look up at what's forming and realize that [no duh?] it's hair that i'm making this hat with. a sheep's fur. wow. this definitely won't be the last time i'll knit with wool. i just might get used to the different care instructions for the stuff too in time.

yesterday i received the ball winder by knitpicks in the mail and was thrilled to be able to finally deal with my unruly, tangled yarn stash. i remember spending a lot of time thinking about whether it was a good choice or not, it cost me around $20 for it, and i've seen most other winders for up to twice the price--maybe i'd be getting my money's worth to order the cheapest one i've seen? anyway, after much thought i decided to just get it and decide. after about two hours of turning the little crank of this thing and feeding all of my yarn, i was really happy to see the results. i went from an overflowing shelf stuffed with random wads of yarn that wouldn't stop rolling out and onto the floor[i wish i took the time to shoot a before shot but i was too excited to use it as soon as i saw it on my doorstep!] to this beautiful sight--

what you see here is essentially this plus another half dozen or so of newly stashed skeins of yarn, in the form of these nice little neatly stacked little cakes. feels good to make room! i don't know if more expensive models would have done any better but i'm already more than happy with what this little ball winder's done for me. paired with this yardage counter i bought a bit back, i made a nice and tidy tally of just how many yards i've got in there [7272 !]

i'm sure it'll help me along with picking projects to use this lovely stuff up. i want to argue that the attractive presentation of these wound balls have made it easier to put lovely color combinations as well, i see a lot more opportunity in my yarn stash than before.

if you want to organize your stash, free up some room, or even count up how many yards you have left of something to better know how to use a skein, i highly recommend this little thing for you, it's done me very well so far !

in other news, i've been stashbusting with some fun little hairclip projects that have been on my mind for a while. there's something therapeutical about the making of these bows, not sure how i can explain it, but what i know for sure is that there will be more on the way. i really like how the ones so far have turned out, and hopefully someone will too.

these sets of three are currently for sale on my etsy--have a look !

pattern : my own

yarn : red heart yarn in fleck & black

needle : US 5 [3.75mm] 

size : 6.25x67in

i'm in love with how this scarf turned out. while very simple it's a color combination that i really enjoy looking at, and when washed came out even plushier and very soft. it was an afterthought but my favorite feature is that one end of the scarf is black while the other's white, the small subtle detail is all too pleasing to me xD this scarf is one of the first listings i put on on my etsy shop, i hope its new owner loves it as much as i do.

pattern : seed stitch, & personal design

yarn : ella rae phoenix, silver

needle : US 5 [3.75mm] 

size : 10x10in

i decided against working my pattern again for the second washcloth because i had questions about how absorbent or durable a mostly stockinette cloth would be in this yarn? maybe i'm completely wrong in my presumption, maybe not. matching cloths or not, i'm pretty happy with how the two came out, and i hope he likes it and that the cloths last for some time.

hope you all have an enjoyable father's day weekend!