Warm Head = Good. Warm Head + Warm Ears = Rather Essential

I knit another hat for I. (see the tale of his 1st hat, the What Hat, here). Why? Well, his first hat was only long enough to touch the tips of his ears. Not a crucial detail, I thought, when I made the hat, being a mild-climate and non-hat-wearing person. After a recent trip to Boston during a snowstorm though, I stand corrected. A mere 10 minute walk outside while wearing I.’s non-ear covering hat was enough to convince me that indeed, the ear-covering part is a very important detail. Especially when wind is shrieking by and giant flakes of snow are buffeting your head. I was so convinced, in fact, that I bought yarn in the city right then and there to start knitting. So here’s the new and improved What Hat, knit wider and longer than the previous. I did a similar cable pattern (the science dork in me is still tickled by the fact that they look like chromosomes) with some adjustments due to the increased stitch count.



Project Specs:

Yarn
Less than 1 skein of Araucania Nature Wool, color 56 (dark blue-tinted charcoal)

Needles
US7/4.5mm DPN

Pattern
My own, using the same pattern I outlined here with the exception of casting on 108 stitches instead of 96.

Thoughts
I really enjoyed knitting with the Nature Wool. It’s a sturdy, substantial 3-ply aran-weight with wonderful yardage (240 yards per skein!) that feels like it would be an excellent workhorse yarn (good thing since I have some in the stash earmarked for a sweater). Compared to Cascade 220, my usual favorite workhorse yarn, it’s slightly thicker, more rounded, and feels less liable to pill. However, this is definitely a yarn that I would only buy in person since the evenness of color (it’s kettle dyed for a tonal variegation) varies vastly from skein to skein. In fact, there are no dye lots for the skeins since they vary so much. On the whole, I’m very happy with the hat. I love the color and the look of the shifting shades of bluish charcoal. And, it makes the ears happy!

(Please forgive this peculiar self-portrait of hat on head...proper camera angling to capture an image of my own head is a skill I have not yet mastered.)

Mad Spinning

Been a little spinning obsessed lately...


It doesn't help that I'm so head-over-heels in love with this blend of lush amber and deep blue (Wensleydale from Hello Yarn in Mmm...Rich and rich the colors certainly are...) that I can hardly wait to make something wearable out of it.


So, step one in the fiber to scarf transition: spinning it into yarn.


Spinning Wensleydale was quite an interesting experience. The long-stapled fiber is very lustrous but quite tough and sticky and really doesn't like to hold twist. The resulting yarn has a bit of a halo, similar to mohair, and is probably akin to Lopi or Noro Kureyon on the scratchiness level (which doesn't much bother me but may be a concern for others thinking of spinning up Wensleydale).
Because of the long fiber length and sticky texture of the fiber, I didn't split the roving. Instead, I spun directly from it, drafting as I went. I opted to Navajo-ply the singles so that I can preserve distinct colors in the roving (even though doing so with a non-squishy single means that the little knots from the chain-plying will show a bit...you can see one such knot in the closeup). For the non-spinner, this way of plying makes for a 3-ply yarn. As you can probably tell from the number of photos peppering this post, I'm quite enamored with the resulting yarn. The only downside of doing a 3-ply when I only have 4oz of the fiber is, of course, the not so great yardage. Now that all four ounces are spun up, I have four little skeins that total up to around 140 yards of worsted weight (9-11 WPI) of the yarn. So, something on large needles with a lot of dropped stitches, perhaps?

Wooling in the New Year

Funky Carolina hand-spun and Sundara sock yarn…
What better way to start off the New Year than with a great big whack of wooly goodness?


These were all the beautifully color coordinated goodies that arrived in a jam-packed box of raffle prizes from the wonderful fundraiser that is Spin Out (a pretty magnet and SOAK samples and Yarnitini sock yarn and Grafton Fiber needles to boot). Oh what a glorious start to the year (and knock on wood that I didn’t just use up a year’s worth of luck)! Thanks, Cara and prize donators!


I’m so far behind on trying to catch up on blogging that I’m going to leap frog it all and start in medias res. So, look for some chatter about a new FO and some pretty, newly spun yarn here soon. And, if I manage to stick with my New Year resolution, there may even be some reviving of long forgotten WIPs (Bunny Lace, I’m looking at you…).
Hope the year is off to a happy start for you too!