Sweater surgery and other crafy things

I love the way this beanie turned out for dear Son, it is based on a 1940's pattern for a watch cap. I had to knit it over about 3 times though because I was having a hard time getting the correct length. He likes it and it will keep him warm.

I did a gutsy thing with my heather hoodie sweater. You may remember this from last year about this time. Well, I never liked the hood on it. The hood was over sized and made the whole sweater hang wrong. So I took a scissors and cut it, then unraveled it and re-knitted it to have a collar instead of a hood. I had to do this when I was with my sweet Iowa City friend as I needed moral support for this sweater surgery. Now I need to block the collar and sew on the buttons. Need to do this before Christmas as I think it is the perfect Christmas sweater.

Here is some of my handspun. It is a color way called Haunted Vineyard. It is out of polworth sheep. I love it, soft and snugly. I got 237 yards out of 4 ounces, it is worsted weight. What does this all mean to you non-knitters? It means I have enough yarn for a hat or mitts but not much more than that. I think it will be a hat.

I am trying to make homemade vanilla this year. Basically you take vodka and vanilla beans, put them together and let it sit for a month or too. More on the results in a future blog post.