I have been really busy knitting and crocheting things for Christmas and other things. I think my fave project by far are these crochet hooks. Aren't they fun? I made some for my DH and then some for myself. I just recently used mine and LOVE it. I'm going to have to start doing more of these. they're so comfortable in my hand and really helps with the smaller hooks. With the extra I made some buttons. Not sure where I'll use them but they're pretty. The ones I made for my DH are more manly. 
He says he likes them and has been using them while he's making his hats for everyone. I'm so proud of him. He's really going to town with the crocheting. If you want to see what he's made here's a link to his own set over at flickr. I also had him set up an account on Ravelry to share his crochet projects with other people. 
So the Bub found some fairy wings at the dollar tree and decided to become a fairy. Luckily I just finished the pants I was knitting her and they match rather nicely. The pants were a test knit and I really love the pattern. (go check it out) Then I figured for her costume to be complete she'd need a mask. Not to mention I've always wanted to go to a Halloween party where you wear masks and people have to guess who you are. So I made her a butterfly mask. (since she's a butterfly fairy) I had to make up the pattern as there wasn't much to go off of on ravelry. Not a big deal, it was really fun to make. So her costume is complete. 
I guess with the start of school and all, I have been so crazy busy lately. So an update is in order.
The next coolest thing I've been doing is sewing. I found some great t-shirt surgery tutorials and I tried one of them on a tie-dyed t-shirt. I think it turned out really interesting. It's definitely something I'm going to have to try again. Basically you take a large t-shirt or one with a stain or hole or even one that's too small for you and get out your scissors and cut and sew it into something you actually want to wear. I took that plain old man's XL t-shirt and turned it into a girly and sparkly v-neck (something definitely showing off the girls better) Here's another link to some tutes for you (if that type of sewing interests you)
I love listening to podcasts. (in fact i'm obsessed with it) it's great for walking, spinning, knitting, and just all around fun! One of the podcast I listen to is Getting Loopy, it's all about crochet fun. Well every week she has a contest to enter and you can win a prize. Guess what!?! a couple of weeks ago I won! and last week I got the yarn I won in the mail. Its pretty isn't it? I'm not sure what to make it with. Any ideas?
Thanks to the Ravelry Group DIY tools, I found this tute. Of course I had to try it, I got my DH to do the cutting for me. (b/c I can just see myself sawing something I need off). I'd measured and marked everything for him to cut. 
Then I needed to find someone with a drill press. Luckily my BIL had one and he allowed me to bring myself and the kiddos over while He and my DH drilled the holes for me. So I had all the parts sawed, and I sanded them till they were smooth. The hardest/longest part was sawing the heads off the nails with the dremmel. After that was done the nails were epoxied in place and I glued the two pieces of wood together and attached a handle. It was from an old grilling tool that I hadn't used in a long time so I re-purposed the handle. I only put a handle on one of the 
combs b/c I figured I'd be using the other one attached to the table. Then I tried them out. The weren't awesome but worked completely well. I loved it. I'm slowly working on the unprocessed wool a friend gave me. Look at my little nests! So much fun. I'm off to process more wool. Now if only someone would send me a sheep or an alpaca or both!
A couple of weeks ago I went on a dying binge. I was actually dying some yarn for my etsy store. With the left over dye I thought I would dye some roving. I broke some up into 4oz sections and dyed away. It was a lot of fun. Of course I couldn't let the roving sit that long with out spinning it. 
So first I took the Peacock roving and got to work. I named it Peacock b/c it reminds me of the colors of a peacock feather. I decided to try my hand at spinning a cabled yarn. Which is taking the singles plying them together and then plying those together. (4 ply total) Here's a close up of the yarn.
The second 4oz of wool I dyed with the Twilight book cover in mind. I use only 2 colors, black and red. They blended really well and it just turned out LOVELY! I am really amazed at how wonderful the roving turned out. 
Spinning this yarn was a lot of fun. The colors changing as I was spinning was exciting to see. I've got to to try dying with only 2 colors again. This yarn I just plied a 2 ply yarn. It's so lovely i'm just staring at it. Here's a closer photo of this yarn. of course there's more photos in my handspun set over at flickr. I really enjoyed how the grey parts and the pink parts plied together and look almost purple. 
And I have one more 4oz roving left, from this dying binge, to spin up. This one is named Flaming Forrest. and I can't wait to spin it up.
So I've been really busy lately but I've been able to keep up with posting over at the gryffindor blog for the HPKCHC, so there's no excuse for my lack of posting. I hope my fabulous adventure in dyeing can help by keeping you distracted.
But after it dried and was braided, I really like how it turned out. I can't wait to see how it will look spun up. I'm just itching to try it again. Though I only have a few more rovings to dye. But my sister did just pick me up some more wool. 
