Hats, Hats, Hats!

I am continuing my hat making kick.

 I should have chosen subtle yarn so the design would show up better.

 Mohair and yarn knitted together.

My granddaughters and I have matching hats.

Thanks for viewing!  Dawnie

H A T S

Not long ago I purchased a hat kit from Jimmy Beans Wool.  It was

https://www.jimmybeanswool.com/knitting/yarn/JimmyBeansWool/BoobieBeanieHatKit.asp?showLarge=true&specPCVID=88023

This got me in the mood to make more.  I gave 4 away, so far.   Then I switched to knitting and made the rest of the hats in a version of the watch cap.  This pattern has been around for 100 or so years.  When switching from the ribbing to the stockinette or stocking stitch, I go up one or two needle sizes.  Ribbing stitching is always larger than the body of the hat.

https://seamenschurch.org/sites/default/files/sci-watch-cap-itr.pdf

I like to watch the podcast Chelsea Pearls.  They discussed making hats using a carrier yarn of lace weight mohair and silk blend.  I don't know who started the fad, but it carried on and many different wool dyers have laceweight mohair.  This is a link to a recent podcast.  Ahe has a beautiful yarn store, but it is a little far for me to drive to.  (Redbank, New Jersey)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_2fEot3b9E

I made a hat very similar to the watch cap and used a multi-colored wool and a lace weight mohair as a carrier yarn.  On the top part, every 5th row, I only used the mohair.  This gave the hat a little-striped effect, however, it is not easily noticed.  On the next hat, I used the same mohair, but the wool was worsted weight from Plymouth and it was in the color name lipstick.  I picked this out for my grand-daughter who loves to wear lipstick and her favorite color is pink.  When these two yarns were knitted together, it made the yarn a little more of a cherry red.  I crocheted the edge in the mohair yarn and put I an embellishment on the top of the hat.

The hat I am making at this time is the Cookiegate colorway from Chelsea Yarns.  Luxe Superwash DK Merino and Luxe Mohair with 72 % mohair and 28 % silk.   Mohair without the silk added is too scratchie for me to wear close to my skin.  The hat is very, very soft.  The Merino is brighter than the Mohair blend.  The Mohair blend reminds me of antique lavender and mauve colors.  Anyway, when you use gray in a blend, it makes the color duller.  I think I could use a gray pompom for the top, or maybe a natural fox.  There is a small amount of a cherry red popping out here and there.  I may be able to even use a cherry red pompom.

What are you working on?  After the last blast of cold, I decided my close friends and family needed to have a warm hat.  Years ago I made hats for all of my friends and family every year for Christmas.  It has been at least 10 years since I made hats.  I guess it is time for me to start again.  I hope they wear them proudly.

Do you notice the stripes on the top of the hat on the right?  The kit is the one in the very center with the mauve colored pompom.

Grandbaby's hat

                     

Thank you for viewing!  I hope you all have a warm and blessed holiday season!  Dawnie

Hobbit Hat or Tea Cozy and More on Energized Singles

After spinning a bobbin full of yarn, it is so much easier to knit or crochet something when the wool is not removed from the bobbin and plied or the twist set.  If the twist is not set, the yarn is referred to as energized.  I have recently posted on energized singles and you may want to refer to those posts.  Usually, I crochet with energized singles.  In this case, I knit a hat in one piece and seamed the pieced together.  As you see, a normal triangle is not made.  It was not curved this way due to my knitting expertise, it was the use of energized singles.

Once I sewed the seam, the hat became more of a triangle, unless the stitches are followed. The stitches do not go straight up and down like normal knitting.  They curve to the right.  I added locks to the top of the hat, crocheted along the bottom of the hat, and brushed up the knitting to make the hat a little fuzzier.  I also gathered the seam which allowed for the top to curve down.  The type of wool I used to spin this hat with is Cotswold I purchased from Nistock Farms.  This wool was not cheap, but it was covered and much cleaner than most raw wool. Usually wool has bits and pieces of pasture, not to mention a little poo.  I buy most all of my wool raw (unwashed) from a farmer.  I then wash, dye, comb, and prepare the yarn to spin.  I could buy processed and colored wool, but that would take the fun away from the prep, not to mention all of the variations that can be done in the prep.  This yarn was spun thick and thin with some of the lock curl showing in the yarn.

I could stop with the hat at this point, but if the hat is for me, I can't put Cotswold wool next to my skin.  This would make a cute tea cozy also, but I would still want to line it for optimal warmth.  It has been a while since I posted about lining hats with fleece.  Not wool fleece, but the fabric fleece used to make blankets, scarves, jackets, etc.  Originally, I thought I should line the complete inside of the hat, but all that is needed is a band that covers the area of the hat that touches skin.  Here is how the hat looks at this time.  What do you think?

Thank you for viewing!  Dawie

More varied color and breed, hand spun, energized, single wool yarn

I made a yarn bowl with more varied colors and breeds of energized singles.  I felted the yarn some to make the crocheting stiffer.  I decided to keep a plastic bowl in the yarn bowl for extra support and  if I put something like a pen in it, any leakage of ink would be into the plastic bowl and not ruin the yarn bowl. 

Thanks for viewing!  Dawnie

Many Colors and Energized Twist

Am I the only one that likes to change colors and fibers after just a short time while spinning wool?  I like some variety every now and again.  I just crocheted a trivet with yarn made with many colors and kinds of wool.  This does include kid mohair, which is a goat fiber and not a sheep fiber. It is only one ply (strands put together) and it is what they call (in the spinning world) an energized single. The twists are the energy and can be a little harder to work with. When yarn is spun and taken off of the bobbin, it has extra twist and over twists on itself. It has what I think of as a bird's next effect. When wet or steamed in a stretched (not over-stretched) state such as on a niddy-noddy (tool to place spun yarn on when taking it off the wheel) or while hanging dry, the over twisting disappears and the twist is set.  

Thanks for viewing!  Dawnie

PS  The font will not stay in one size.  It is kind of like I did it on purpose to show how a varied font would get more attention and interest .  LOL

Making yarn

New 2 ply yarn.

Some of this wool, combined with other pink wool, pink banana fiber, 2 pink colors of Angelina sparkle(nylon), and rose cellulose fiber made one of the yarn plies.

This is what it looks like on a hackle.

Purchased spinning fiber with tussah silk.

Thank you for taking the time to view my blog!  Dawnie

Icelandic Trivet

I made a trivet with Icelandic wool, using the locks and needle felting them in the center.  After I got the center needle felted, I dyed the trivet a brilliant blue. What do you think??  Honestly, how do you like it?

Thank you for viewing!  Dawnie

Pink fiber for next project

Thanks for viewing!  Dawnie

Needle Felted Purple Wool Rug

What project(s) have you done lately???  I made a needle felted purple wool rug and I have some pictures of the steps I took to make it.

Raw BFL Wool from Tenney's

Rug made with wool locks.  The locks were dyed in a rainbow dye which contained pink, blue, red, lavender, and violet.  The use of the various colors gave the rug dimension, variation, and interest.  I needle felted the locks onto a thick gray felt. Most of the wool is BFL but some are mystery wool.  

I started placing locks on the outside of the felt which I cut in a circular shape.  I needle felted about 7 rows of locks and each row was about an inch in-between.

A non-slip background is needed to keep this from moving around when stepped on.  I purchased a vinyl paint for the backing.   
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YZ5IY4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I think I will toss this on top of my footstool and just admire it from across the room.  I am grateful I don't have a pet that would claw the locks.

A small skein of yarn made with curly mohair and lots of sparkles.  

Thank you for viewing!  Dawnie

Every Which Way but Loose.

Anyone that has been spinning for some time has accumulated a stash of wool.   On the project I made, it doesn't matter if the wool is processed by a mill or at home.   I made a very interesting yarn and used up some of my wool and made a table runner and mat.  Directions for how I did it are as fallows.

Begin by pulling out 10 or more different fibers to spin.  (more are better)  Just grab a handful of each.  Vary the type of fibers and the colors.  If you have mohair, silk, Angelina (sparkle), curly locks, soft wool, rug wool, or ugly wool, it is fine to use for this yarn.  I start spinning with one of the yarns and I spin from lace-weight to bulky varying the spinning style.  This is a project were you can try different spinning techniques.  Some of the fibers I pull the locks apart with my hands, some I have to card or flick card.  I like to obtain  as many curls as possible in the yarn.  This is a two ply yarn.  Both plies can be done this same way.  The way I prefer is to make one ply varied as described here and the second ply with one solid, bright-colored fiber spun neat and thin.  This ply yarn will tie all of the various types and colors of yarns together.  It can also brighten the yarn or make it duller depending on what you use.  Examples would be:  If you use an orange or yellow, it will brighten it.  If you use a duller wool color such as gray.  It is possible to use a thin crochet thread or other thread for plying.   Little bits of interesting wool placed here and there also add interest to this yarn.  

The above picture shows a skein of yarn made this way, along with other fiber.  In order to make the table runner, I cast on 39 stitches with number 10 knitting needles.  I knit the first 6 rows, after that, I knit the first 4 stitches and the last 4 stitches in every row.  Aside from the beginning and ending 4 stitches, I knit one row and then purled one row---stockinette stitch.   The last 6 rows I knit binding off on the sixth one.  I will probably go through and brush up some of the fibers and allow them to fluff up a bit more.  They do make a mohair brush for this, but I think most any brush would be fine as long as they don't get caught in the fiber.   

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Thank you for viewing!!!  Dawnie