Diggin' the Cotton

I've been on a cotton bender lately.  A few weeks ago I demo-ed at a friends booth at an event and, once again, people were fascinated by the magic of cotton.  To me, that's the only word to use.  There is something so magical about how this stuff grows (the flowers change colors and the seeds burst their bolls), how it comes right off the seed and how it spins up.  It was very satisfying to have women and men stand by me watching it all happen and being as entranced as I am.  It's like we were all just standing back watching a wonder of nature unfold right before our eyes.

I was going to use this cotton in a particular baby item but found that the thread is not suited to the technique I was going to use so I'll need to figure out something else to do with it.  For anyone who has never felt handspun cotton and who only knows cotton as that heavy or rough stuff that usually comes from commercially produced yarn or thread, they would be even more amazed at how light and soft and cushy this stuff is.

On a more wooly note, remember the Polworth yarn I was unhappy with?  Here's what happened to it:

Still no better spun but as pretty as can be.  This is the advantage to the Navajo plying and keeping the colors pure.  You get great striping like this.  I'm the most pleased at the scarf and how perfectly these vintage buttons matched the yarn.

The scarf pattern is very simple.  I cast on about 24 stitches and worked K2, P2 ribbing until I almost ran out of yarn then I crocheted the edge, including 3 loops for the buttons.  I attached the buttons at an angle so it would sit right when around the neck.  Easy, peasy.

The hats just keep coming

The hat thing hasn't lifted yet although it is starting to slow down, I think.  That's because I'm almost finished with the first skein of red merino so I can start swatching for my Bohus sweater.  But while I"m at it...

I had some gray alpaca left over from the hat for my friend's aunt and I had some blue left over from my blue hat.

Bam!  How cool is that?!  I love this hat.  I adore this hat.  Alpaca and Blue faced leicester, 2 of the softest, coziest fibers in the known universe.  The electric blue against the gray.  I love this hat so much that I've been wearing it around the house.  I have to take off from time to time because, of course, it's not cool enough yet to wear this hat for real and my head gets too hot.  So I take it off until I'm cooled off and then it goes right back on.

Then, for something different, I decided I would make a hat from the Entre to Entrelac book by Gwen Bortner.  She's got some cool stuff in the book which I think is worth the effort to understand the patterns and techniques.  It is an effort to follow the shorthand used and you will need to refer to 2 or 3 sections of the book at once so keep some sticky notes handy so you don't lose your place but what you get out of it will entertain, intrigue and delight you.

For me, it was the hat pattern that I wanted to try. 

 The brown is alpaca/merino/silk that I got from Kickapoo Creek Farms that no longer exists.  It was such a lovely preparation.  Wish I could find more of it.  The black was supposed to be alpaca but wasn't.  Alpaca would have been better - this isn't nearly as soft. 

For the first part of the hat, I used each of the yarns double since it was such a large needle size (for me - US size 7).  I don't like it and wish I hadn't done it but by the time I'd decided that, it was too late and I wasn't up for undoing it.  So for the entrelac section, although I used the basics of the pattern in the book, I did my own thing and did it with single strands.  The pattern called for decreasing stitches down to make six entrelac panels.  I didn't decrease; I made eight.  The pattern called for just 3 sections, I made 4, repeating the brown for the final section. 

To me, that kept the poofy quality of the entrelac and made it a better fit for me.  I obviously have a way bigger head than most hats patterns are written for.  One really clever thing the pattern did was calling for the sections to be stitches together at the top.  I love that feature of the hat.  The only thing I decided it needed, though, was the little black section to close up the hole and to finish the hat off.  Having just the brown there looked too unfinished.  All I did was crochet some stitches around for a couple of rounds and then closed it up.  That helped a lot.

I think this is a hugely creative use of entrelac and I will definitely want to do this hat again.  Next time, though, I may just go for a solid color all the way through.  I think first, though, I need to hit the fiber stash and spin a little more because I've used up almost all my handspun.  Mon Dieu, what shall I do?

I know, next Saturday is Bishop Hill Spin-In.  Maybe I need some more fiber....

Hat, hats and more hats

And a cowl.  And gloves.

First of all, let me reiterate that I'm not really a hat person.  I like them but I tend to look pretty silly in them.  In saying that, I have no idea why I'm so into hats right now.  Can't get enough of the them.  Need hats.  Need more hats.

Part of the seduction (for seduction it is), I think, is that it's a good project for handspun.  You don't typically have tons of yardage out of your handspun unless you're spinning for a particular project and a hat is a good project that doesn't take loads of yarn.  But that's always been true and this has only descended on me over the past couple of months.  Hummm...

So, here's the latest in the line and it comes with a bit of a silly story.

I saw this pattern in the magazine.  But like any lazy knitter, I saw the pretty picture, didn't read the pattern and chose the yarn I wanted to use.  I sat down with said pattern and said yarn and needles to go with said yarn only to discover that the pattern called for a worsted weight yarn and US size 6 & 7 needles.  Said yarn was lace weight and chosen needles were US size 3 & 4. 

Not to worry, the band is made flat, you just repeat the pattern until it's long enough to go around the head.  No problem, right?  Actually there wasn't a problem with that part.  What was the problem is that said yarn was actually this slightly variegated bfl yarn AND another handspun lace weight corriedale in a solid color that I thought would go with it.  I made the band, sewed it together, picked up the stitches for the crown with the solid color, knit the crown (only not floppy like this - it was more fitted), finished the hat and decided the colors definitely did NOT go together.  They were sort of the same ball park but off enough to set your teeth on edge.

For some reason I didn't want to rip it out so I went back and picked up stitches with the same yarn I'd used for the band and upped the needle size to the size 4 and I finished the crown.  Again.  What I ended up with was a double layer hat with a lacy edging and I really quite fancy it!

But before I'd even got the hat finished (the second time), I knew there had to be gloves.  I love gloves and the lace weight was the perfect weight for good gloves that you can wear and still move your fingers in.  So I used my basic glove pattern working in the lace pattern from the hat band into the back of the glove.  You can't see it very well in the photos but just look at the hat.  It's the same pattern.

The other thing I finished this weekend as I watched the first three seasons of Leverage (which I am totally addicted to, by the way) is the Tilting Tardis Cowl.  This was a hugely clever pattern posted on Ravelry by Marilyn Phillippi.  She adapted a Barbara Walker lace pattern to look like little Tardises (Tardi?) hurtling through space and time and I just couldn't resist.  I'd started this ages ago but it was one of those projects that gets buried in the stash until the proper time.  It made it to the surface this weekend as I cleaned and organized the craft room (and watched the first 3 seasons of Leverage) and I had to finish it.

I don't think it was supposed to be big enough to cover the head but after it was washed, it became this size and I couldn't be more thrilled because I do love this kind of option to cover one's head but then be able to drop it around the neck for storage, as it were.  I think I'll be wearing this a lot in the coming months.

Getting through the pile

A while back I decided to try to start knitting through my handspun stash and I'm finally making a dent.  The other thing I've had a hankering for is knitting hats.   I'm not really sure why because I'm not a big hat person but for some reason I have this craving for hats.  Here's the latest:

You can't see it so well but there is a cabled band around the bottom edge.  The advantage of this, which I feel is going to pay off later, is the double thickness of cushy BFL around my ears.

There really is just not enough time to do everything but this is where I'm at on my bobbin lace bookmark:

Some of it has been a little more successful than others but I think it will be pretty.  If I ever get it finished, that is.  I've got a couple of days off coming up so maybe I can get this finished up and make a dent in my yardage piece.  I'm up to 22 inches on that, I think.  Or is it 24.  But do you think I can find a tape measure?  When you only own 15 tape measures, you can't expect to always be able to put your hand on one. 

I'm going hunting...