Wind a Center-Pull Ball of Yarn

  

I have copied (literally cut and pasted) this tutorial from Amo Tejer's knitting blog (link below), actually I found it because someone else linked it on facebook but I wanted to make sure ALL my followers ;) got to see it too. I for one LOVE pulling my yarn from the center so I think that I will be using this constantly.
 http://amotejer.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/como-ovillar-la-lana-con-la-mano-how-to-wind-yarn-into-a-ball-by-hand/

These are the written instructions to accompany the photos above (also cut and pasted):

Hi, everyone! I come back today with a tutorial I loved! Maybe you are already mechanized and have a yarn swift or ball winder, then you might think is this lady crazy? 21st century and she winds ball by hand? Or maybe you are just like me, you own both but you find it so complicated to pull them out of the closet, put them together, work with them, then put them away again, that you just prefer doing it by hand. And when you are knitting, you reproach yourself for not using them because the ball of yarn is dancing around everywhere. And not to mention a baby going after it all the time! It´s impossible to knit! Well, now you understand why this tutorial caught up my attention. And even though you may figure it out just looking at the pictures, here are a few explanations. I really hope you find it useful! I will try it next time I start knitting! 
1) Tie a slip knot in the end of your yarn.
2) Tighten this slip knot on your winding tool. I like to pull this slip knot tight in the hook of the crochet hook, or high up toward the end of the knitting needle, to keep it out of the way.
3) Hold your yarn against the winding tool with your thumb, and wrap it around the winding tool several times near the end as shown.
4) Continue to wrap yarn around these first clump of wound yarn, criss-crossing as you work from time to time as shown. This should feel just like winding a regular wrapped ball of yarn, only this ball of yarn has a winding tool poking out of it.
5) Continue in this fashion until all your yarn is wrapped, then tuck the end into the ball under a few strands to secure it.
6) Still holding that first bit of yarn between your thumb and the winding tool, gently ease the tool out of the ball.
7) All done! The end with the slip knot in it will now be the start of your next project, and yarn will pull from the center of the ball with ease

The Jubilee

I made this brimmed hat made for a friend's friend's little girl because she lost the first one I made her and had worn it daily (love that!).
I wish I could find a really good brim pattern, I guess I will have to see if I can come up with one on my own.  The patterns I've tried so far just never turn out quite right. 
I LOVE this flower pattern, it was one of the first I tried and is still one of my favorites:
http://www.favecrafts.com/Accessories/Sunshine-Daisy-Headband

PANDA HAT -- JOSE WANG

PANDA HAT WITH SOMBRERO



JOSE WANG THE PANDA



My daughter asked me to make her a panda hat, she said that the panda represents all races being black and white and from China and so to make him even more multicultural she decided he should have a sombrero hat; she feels very strongly that all racism must be eradicated and that is what this hat represents to her...unity across the races. 

I found this great panda hat pattern here:
 http://tampabaycrochet.blogspot.com/2012/02/panda-bear-earflap-hat.html

This talented designer has links to many of her own patterns and to other designers free patterns so it's well worth checking out.

The sombrero was improvised but loosly based on a pattern found here:
http://crochet-mania.blogspot.com/2011/06/crochet-sombrero-cape-for-louisiana-hot.html

This designer also has many cute patterns.

HATS FOR CHARLIE AND HENRI

Hats finally on the heads they were intended for!!!



Charlie and Henri

 These are a friends grandbabies, I've been waiting 2 months to finally connect and get these hats to them, turns out it was just in the nick of time, they fit PERFECT.  Its so fun to finally see the baby hats on some baby heads!  It's a rare treat for me!!  Mama made the mistake of telling me that Charlie LUVS hats right now...and me with the newest edition of Crochet Today that has the CUTEST animal hat patterns hehe!!
BTW the pattern for the beanie on Henri in the 2nd photo is posted a few posts ago.

HAT FOR CHOW



My bff's mom requested a red hat with a pink flower the last time I visited so here it is...my phone takes terrible photos, my photos will improve dramatically after my daughter gets her bday camera and becomes my official blogographer.

I found this pattern via Ravelry, it was a free pattern from redheart  http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/brimming-fun-cap. The flower pattern can be found here: http://skamama.blogspot.com/2006/06/picot-flower.html.

YARN LESSON..."SUPERWASH"

So in my beanie baby pattern I rambled a bit about the yarn I was using and that I hoped it was washable because it says "Superwash".  Today I googled this "superwash" and GOOD NEWS!!!  Superwash wool is a process used to treat wool (much more detail about the process can be found here: http://knitting.about.com/od/knittingglossary/g/superwash_wool.htm) but in short, it makes it so that you can in fact wash the wool without worrying about it shrinking.  You do not have to feel guily about giving a gift to a new mother that has to be handwashed...Yay!!

NIECES, NEPHEW, AND HATS (of course)!

How very fun to see my hats on some of my most favorite people in the whole world!  These are my brothers three children who live in Dillinham, a small town in Western Alaska where they mush dogs, raise chickens and turkeys, put up loads of wild salmon for the winter and enjoy life to the fullest!