Day 6 Tour De Fleece

I spun up these batts that I made with hand dyed superwash merino and some silver angelina fibre.  I think it will make a nice hat.

Will wash and set this yarn tomorrow.

I dug this yarn out of my handspun stash and decided to attempt knitting one of these hats.  I have a small head and knit with a big gauge so I am knitting with 5mm needles and cast on only 72.  I will see how I get on.

Happy Spinning!

Three Ply Handspun Hat

                                         Lexi is always on the scene, to help.

Three Ply Handspun Hat

Solid Navy Brim and Contrasting Handspun

4 stitches per inch
Worsted/Aran Yarn

Needles

5.5mm for body of the hat
5mm for the brim

Cast on 76 stitches, using 5mm needles and solid colour.  (in this case, I used Navy Blue)
2x2 Twisted Rib for 2 inches

Switch larger needles and handspun/contrasting yarn.  Increase 4 stitches evenly in the first round with handspun/contrasting yarn.

Knit until piece measures 7.5inches/19cm then start decreases.

Decreases
Round 1: *K6, K2tog
Round 2: Knit
Round 3: *K5, K2tog
Round 4: Knit
Round 5: *K4, K2tog
Round 6: Knit
Round 7: *K3, K2tog
Round 8: Knit
Round 9: *K2, K2tog
Round 10: Knit
Round 11: *K1, K2tog
Round 12 : Knit
Round 13 : *K2Tog
Round 14 : *K2Tog

Cut the yarn giving you a 12 inch/30.5cm tail.  Using a wool needle or tapestry needle and draw the yarn through the stitches on your knitting needle.  Draw it tight and weave this in and all other ends.  Wash and block or just wear if you don't have the patience.

Donegal Black Hat

This was knitted a couple of years back but it is one of my favourite hats with one of my most favourite yarns.  It is knitted with Kilcarra Donegal Yarn/Studio Donegal yarn.  It is a yarn that gets softer as you wear and wash it.  It doesn't pill as much as other yarns and it wears well.  I like my sock yarn to be superwash but not much else.

I would like to make a few more of these hats.  I like a smurfy slouchy hat from time to time.

You can buy Studio Donegal yarns in most good Irish yarn shops, especially This is Knit.

Warm Spices Falkland Handspun Sweater

This is a top down seamless raglan sweater.  I dyed and spun the yarn then knitted it.  I 

love knitting handspun yarn.  The wool is Falkland and the colourway I named Warm Spices.  I have it finished a while now and was happy to get it photographed.  Been knitting the sleeves bigger at the cuff lately.  I don't know if I will continue doing so but it is a result of me decreasing at the 8th row instead of at the 6th row.

I spun some yarn last week that I would like to use as part of a cardigan but I am aiming to finish a few projects before I cast on/start any more projects.  This is a lot harder than it sounds.  It's always exciting to start a project, finishing one sometimes demands great discipline.  The infamous and irksome question "Are we there yet?" is often asked.  Also the thought of using many of the the new stitch markers that I made, makes starting new sweaters very tempting.

The hat, I knitted as well.  I used some scraps from a This is Knit Yarn Tasting event and also some leftovers of projects that I had.  I dyed the purple-y blue yarn which is a Merino, Cashmere and Nylon yarn (MCN).  I like putting colours together.  It's probably my favourite thing to do especially in my print work that you can see here and here.

And as mentioned before, wooly hats are essential here.  I've never been a big fan of umbrellas.  May hasn't been warm.  It's been chilly and raining.  It's not as cold as winter but it's the furthest cry from bikini weather.  Grateful for my wooly jumpers and hats to keep me cozy. Wool is an indispensable ally against an Irish Summer.

Beads and Brownies

I've been making stitch markers.  So far, I haven't outgrown my love for beads, wool, dogs and cake.  As you can see it's been a day of all the loves.  The knitting is a hat that I am working on.  I made all the stitch markers pictured.  Lexi is patiently modelling my cowl that I dyed, spun and knitted.  I made the brownies today because my brother is coming over to watch a movie and for dinner.  My mother and I tucked into the brownies and drank a load of tea.  Really full now.

Hats

I made a couple of hats during winter.  They are fun to make and it was a great way to use up some of my stash and mini skeins.  I love hats as I am sure I have said before.  They are perfect for Ireland's climate and rain.  I grab one from my basket of hats, scarves, cowls and mittens, go for a walk, get soaked, let it dry and then grab another one for the next walk.  I don't really like umbrellas.

Knitting and Stuffed Animals

This is one of the skeins that I dyed first with avocado skins then overdyed with some acid dyes.

Yesterday evening, I decided I could take some photos for the blog of what I dyed with the avocado skins and over dyed with some acid dye.  It was too late in the day for photos.  The light was terrible and I photographed them anyway.  These photos aren't great and I apologise.

I finished the tan and handspun sweater.  Now I need to weave in the ends. I would like to make some mittens with the leftover yarn.  I had a great weekend.  I decided to try to rest up a bit in getting ready for the busy times ahead of me.  I can't wait to get back working with my sewing machine!  I miss my weekend sewing.

 Lexi is still behaving with the stuffed animals.  Maybe because she is a mature lady of 2, she is not shredding them and is just playing with them.  It is great because Lexi gets so excited anytime she sees a stuffed animal.

This is Lexi playing with Molly's toys when she was a pup.  This is almost two years ago.

Lexi, in our kitchen, a month or so after we got her.  This photo was taken December 2012.  These photos crack me up.