Tag Archives: FO

fo: super hero helmet hat.

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super hero helmet hat 1

super hero helmet hat 2

This is perhaps the squishiest, warmest hat I’ve ever made. (It may also be the biggest hat I’ve knit, but I’ll get to that.) I was so excited to discover that I won this pattern over at Cosy’s blog because I’ve been meaning to purchase this pattern, especially now that I have a pile of handspun that is just begging to be knit into smaller projects. I settled on some of my early wheelspun: AVFKW corriedale in The Candle’s Nimble Flame.

Using size 10.5 needles, I cast on for the larger size medium (if you have the pattern, you’ll know exactly what I mean), and knit to the decreases. The hat is knit back and forth, so I wrapped it around my head and realized that it was going to be way too big. I tend not to swatch with hats, as most of the time it seems like I can eye it and the hat will fit someone, but I hadn’t really taken into account how thick and thin this handspun is, and clearly my powers of estimation are less accurate when evaluating something knit flat. I frogged what I had and started over, casting on 8 stitches fewer and beginning again.

I finished late last night, and I absolutely love the earflaps and the shape of the hat. It may still be a bit big — I didn’t think really think about row gauge, and I probably should have accounted for that in adjusting for my surprisingly thick yarn.

super hero helmet hat 3

That said, this may become my go-to hat for super cold days, dog-walking, hiking, etc. I can fit my growing expanse of hair under the hat (see first picture), no problem, and this hat is loose enough that I can stay warm without flattening my hair while out walking with Boh. (This matters on days where I have to head back to campus for afternoon and evening events.)

Most importantly, this is an incredibly satisfying, soothing knit. I have a lot going on this week, and I just really needed to finish something last night — to feel productive, to see progress on at least one task, and I think finishing this super squishy hat and snapping a few (bleary-eyed) pictures helped me to sleep more deeply.

I might even cast on for another before the day is over.

Thanks, Cosy, for a clear, cute, satisfying, straightforward pattern. I highly recommend the Super Hero Helmet Hat!

Any and all wonkiness in the land of sizing rests solely on me, the variation in my thick and thin yarn, and my lack of patience! (I just needed to get to that garter stitch happy place, and ignored gauge issues in order to blissfully knit back and forth — and I do not regret it!)

polwarth (swoon).

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fo polwarth bw1

fo polwarth fo 3

fo polwarth bw closeup

220 yards of squishy 2-ply worsted weight yarn, from 4 oz. of Southern Cross Fibres polwarth in the Boogie Wonderland colorway. I’m low on natural light this morning, so the colors in these photos are a little bit off. The actual color of this skein is somewhere in between the olive and forest green in these pictures. This has more squoosh than any skein I’ve spun, and I can’t wait to knit with it.

Time to pour a cup of coffee and prepare for the day.

FO: a second seaman.

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seaman's cap 2 fo2

seaman's cap 2 fo

This hat just flew off the needles, and I love it. These big hats intended for boys also seem to work with my incredibly big hair, which means I may need to cast on for another. This grey/green version out of AVFKW falklands in The Silent Undergrowth colorway has more drape — again, maybe because it is a 2-ply, but also because the yarn seemed a bit thinner as I was working with it. (I used the same needles: US 6 for the ribbing, 7 for the st portion and decreases. WPI tool, are you hiding under piles of fiber?) Also, for those counting ounces, I started with 3 oz. of fiber, and I have .45 oz. of yarn remaining.

seaman's cap 2 unfolded

Here it is, with the brim unfolded. Perfect for big hair, no? (The colors are too wonderfully gift-able for me to keep this, particular when compared to the bright. cheery pile of handspun taking up space on the bookshelf. I can still try it on a bunch before the holidays, right?)

Alright. Onward to a few photos of the fun parts of Saturday:

bohbeingsilly

cocoa nyer

Snoring dog, hot cocoa made with milk on the stove, the New Yorker…

snail, cowl mitts

Snail hat, handspun cowl, thanksgiving day mitts: necessary for a nice walk along the reservoir.

bohsillycouch2

Boh continues to stretch and snore. I imagine he’ll be doing lots more of this later today, as his greyhound friend (and his people) will be here (with breakfast!) in about twenty minutes. Boh has no idea.

FO: seaman’s cap.

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fo seaman cap 1

This pattern was made for handspun. And for boys. This is a simple hat with a serious fold-over brim. What do you think about this particular hat for a (grown-up) boy? Are the reds too rosy and not enough burgundy? It was rainy and overcast yesterday, so these pictures were taken in less than ideal circumstances. Here’s a true-to-color picture (which also illuminates the challenges of taking a picture of the hat on your own head):

seaman dark fo 2

I made the large size, and it is roomy without being ridiculously too big on me. This might be terrific for not totally crushing my hair when I am running late, my hair is still damp, and I’m heading to campus for something that requires me to look nice. I guess what I’m saying is, this is a traditionally sized men’s hat, which is good to know.

seaman fo side 3

Details: Seaman’s Cap, by Brenda Zuk

Size: large

Needles: US 6 for ribbing, 7 for body of hat

Yarn: Spunky Eclectic Spunky Club dark bfl in Myrtle, 3-ply, light worsted.

Now that I have the kitchen scale, I should really be more precise about this, but my houseguest is still sleeping, and I need to turn the lights on to read the screen on my digital kitchen scale. I have a small ball of yarn leftover, maybe 30 yards or so? That would mean that the large size of this hat used up about 150 yards, give or take, which is perfect for single skeins of handspun.

It is possible that I will cast on another seaman’s cap very soon. Time to wake up my visitor and head to the farmer’s market!

FO: botanic hat.

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botanic fo side

botanic fo1

botanic fo inside1

LOVE. This is the botanic hat, by Stephen West. I rarely buy hat patterns, but as more and more botanic hat projects began showing up on ravelry, I decided that I needed to knit this, and I justified my purchase by telling myself that this pattern would be great for gift knitting. I can’t say enough about this pattern or the finished product: the instructions are very clear, and the hat is truly reversible — the two sides are quite different. I will be checking out more of Stephen West’s hat and shawl patterns!

Details:

Hello Yarn handspun in Five Plum Pie (MC) and purpley Cascade 220 (CC).

US size 6 needles (did not go up to 7s after ribbing).

Followed instructions for the regular hat, and the result is a generously sized (covers the tops of my ears) snug hat.

botanic fo on blurry

As I was knitting, I was thinking that these colors are perfect for a dear friend of mine, but now that the hat is finished, it might be very difficult to remove it from my head. We’ll see. I’ll definitely be making more of these!

morehandspuncakes

I wound up two skeins of handspun last night with more hats in mind. This is Spunky Club dark bfl in myrtle, and AVFKW falklands in the silent undergrowth colorway. I’m going to cast on for a seaman’s cap with the myrtle today (after I grade another paper or two) to see how this yarn knits up.

In conclusion, hooray for handspun hats!

and then there were two.

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skein2 cmfbfl fo

Two  skeins of handspun Crown Mountain Farms brown bfl! This second skein (on the left) is 166 yards of 3-ply. I decided to use the bobbins from the first skein, and two of them still had a bit of yarn leftover from the first round of plying, so I divided these three ounces to account for the additional fiber and hoped that everything would even out. So with that in mind (slightly more fiber), I’m really happy with the consistency of my spinning! Here’s a close-up of the second skein:

skein2 cmf bfl macro

Boh and I walked down to the reservoir to stretch our legs and check out the fall foliage, and we were not disappointed.

smc4 leaves

smc1

smc3

smc5 boh

Making time to do this is important to me. There’s something about being in a relationship that made it easier to leave all of the work that piles up and prioritize spending time together. This fall, I’m really trying to make sure I take some of that time for myself.

The weather this weekend was absolutely lovely, and I’m hoping for an October filled with cool mornings, crisp fall breezes, and clear skies.

you gotta keep ’em separated.

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gyc sleeves divided

My sense of humor is returning, which makes me hopeful that I’ll be back to my usual (healthy) self today. A few weekends ago, I was having a conversation with my officemate about The Offspring. (He LOVED them, and even seemed a bit nostalgic for the days when they were on the radio all the time.) Thus, the title of today’s post. I sat down to think of a way to indicate that I had finished the raglan increases and divided the sleeves from the body on my garter yoke cardigan, and The Offspring came to mind.

gyc sleeves divided2

I know you can’t tell from the photo, but I’m thrilled with the fit so far. I was too lazy to put this on scrap yarn, so it is still on a slightly too small circular.

gyc sleeves divided3

gyc sleeves divided4

When I joined the Cascade 220 and began working the raglan increases, I have to tell you that I had some doubts about my color choices — I just wasn’t sure that this brown was the right match for this handspun. I think I just needed to see more of the brown to get a sense for what it will look like, because I absolutely love this. Also, I think this is the first sweater I’m making with Cascade 220, and I am thoroughly enjoying knitting with it. I might need to acquire a bunch more the next time Webs has that incredible anniversary sale…

cmf bfl skein1 prewash

Here’s the first skein of my Crown Mountain Farms brown bfl before washing and setting the twist.

cmf bfl skein 1 fo2

And here it is, all finished and ready to wait patiently for the other skeins. This is 150 yards of 3-ply worsted weight. If I can maintain this yardage per each 3 oz, I should be able to get 8 skeins, or about 1200 yards, to work with.

cmf bfl skein 1 fo3

More gorgeous fiber came in yesterday’s mail, which certainly improved my mood. (I am not a very good sick person — too impatient and pouty.) I’m planning to head to campus for a little while today, but don’t worry, I’m going to take it easy to ensure that I’m over this little weekend flu bug. (Which means I’ll probably do some more knitting. And annotating.)

FO: handspun toast mitts.

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five plum pie mitts FO1

five plum pie mitts FO3

These practically flew off the needles this weekend! I started with the toast/toasty pattern as a guide, and then decided on a thumb-hole, rather than the no-thumb or tip-less thumb options in the pattern. I love the look of a full thumb on fingerless mitts, but it always seems to impact their functionality for me: the thumb never fits quite right, and it seems to require that I take the mitts on and off a lot more to keep from spilling things on the thumb section. (Does that make sense?)

five plum pie mitts FO2

I used the 34 st cast on called for in the pattern, with size 6 needles, and made a 4 st thumb-hole. I’m wearing these as I type this morning, and I adore them.

thylacine fiber

Also, the last bit of my fiber splurge arrived yesterday: 2 braids of grey merino dyed with gorgeous shades of reddish orange from the thylacine on etsy. It is an overcast morning, and this picture does not even come close to doing this fiber justice. It is absolutely stunning, and I can’t wait to see how it spins up.

Enjoy the last weekend of summer!

too cool for school?

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sockswithchacos

I realize there is a serious debate raging out there in the universe about whether this is acceptable, but I do it all the time. I usually wear my Chacos with commercial wool hiking socks, but yesterday I decided to try it with hand-knit socks. It was a cool, grey but not rainy day, and it was so nice to be able to look down and admire my pretty socks!

handspunshawl1

handspun shawl2

I finished my shawl yesterday! I ended up using some leftover purple Araucania Nature Wool from my fad classic to lengthen it by a few rows and create a crisper edge.

handspun shawl3

The shawl isn’t huge, but it can wrap around my shoulders, though I think I’ll probably wear it more like a scarf. In order to get a bit more width, I soaked the shawl and pinned it out to block.

handspunshawl4block

handspun5macroblock

It should be dry this afternoon. I’ll say it again: these blocking squares are awesome.

hibiscusFO1

hibiscusFO2

Here is my very happy skein of AVFKW targhee in the hibiscus colorway. I spun up 3 oz., which yielded 240 yards of 2-ply in a dk weight. Targhee may be my favorite fiber to spin — I cannot get over how soft and squooshy this skein feels!

hibiscusFO3

On the list for today? A mixture of school (reading), life (a few groceries), and play (a long walk with Boh). Happy Friday, folks!

walk/wool/work.

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plain and simple 9in

Yesterday, thanks to a fairly productive Saturday, Boh and I were able to take a nice long walk down to a local preserve that also happens to house a big reservoir for New Home’s drinking water. As we walked and the wind rustled the leaves on the trees, I realized that it truly smelled like fall. We spent the rest of the day snoozing (Boh) and alternating between spinning, knitting, reading, and writing (me).

targheeoranges1

I started spinning this targhee — 3 oz. from AVFKW in the Hibiscus colorway.

targheeoranges2

I’m planning a 2-ply, and I’m hoping for enough yardage to do a densely knit pair of fingerless mitts (I think). Note the pooch asleep in the background.

bohasleepcouch1

bohasleepcouch2

It is so hard to be a dog.

norwegianskein1

Here’s the first skein of that norwegian top from Paradise Fibers: 156 yards of 2-ply, worsted weight, from 4 oz. of fiber. I love the sheen of the yarn and the depth of this grey.

norwegianskein2

This is not the softest skein on the planet, but it strikes me as workhorse yarn that would be great for hats and mittens. I’m interested to see what this will feel like knitted up.

How did it become Monday again? I may indulge in a little bit of knitting before I head to campus to face the universe…