This Hat Which is Completed

I did it, I finally got the hat down to normal hat size. There was great rejoicing at this achievement.


It sits a little high in this photo because of my hair clip. There is enough room to wear the hat with my hair pinned up, yet it is snug enough to not blow off if my hair is down.

Knit in the round on US size 9 needles with Fritisgarn wool. This is a bulky yarn from Iceland (I think the band is in Icelandic) and it knits up very nicely. The yarn does make a solid material when felted that has enough play in it to allow for shaping.



In other news, I'm currently listening to the sounds of rattan being loaded into the truck for tomorrow's Crown Tourney. The shop will be there rain or shine. I'm staying home with the guard pets and doing a bit of baking. The weather has been good for staying indoors and being productive in a warm environment.

Wool Sorting

The Sunday after the Corydon Fiber Festival, I was given a surprising offer. My church's organist is a spinner. He had three bags of wool sitting at home not being spun. Did I want it? I said sure. I figured the fleeces can be sorted, cleaned up and used for SCA demos to teach children about spinning.

I was expecting 8 - 15 pound fleeces. Hubby weighed himself while holding two of the bags. I was gifted with two fleeces that weigh approximately 20 pounds. 0.o


exhibit A, two out of three bags full.

Today I popped one of them out of the plastic and sighed.

It should not retain this shape. Carefully unrolling it, I discovered the sheep had not been sheared in one pass. The fleece was in sections. This was not a bad thing since the belly wool with most of the debris was one section, the sides were two more sections and the back was a final section.

I found two bits of hoof paring in the fleece.

this one was the larger of the two.

As you can see, I had expert supervision. Miss Priss, diva kitty of the universe, had a good time sniffing at the wool, rubbing her cheeks on it and finally trying to prevent me from taking it away from her.


Once ownership was settled, (I have the thumbs, I win) she had to check out the stuff that is heading to my compost heap


My final haul from one of the fleeces is pretty impressive.


I'm not looking forward to washing and carding all of this. I may take everything over to a mill and let them do the hard part so I can do the fun part of spinning yarn.

This Hat Which Needs Felting

Last weekend, I went to the Corydon fiber festival. It's not Rhinebeck by any stretch of the imagination. However, there were some good bargains to be found. I also had nice visits with other textile fanatics.

I had planned on knitting in the car on the way there and back. Alas, I ran around the house like a mad woman looking for the right sized needle the night before and the morning of our trip and had no luck. I took along the yarn and pattern just in case I found the right sized circular needle and found zero circular knitting needles. Oh well. If I'd been knitting I may not have seen the deer, the fall leaves or the neat older homes along the way.

We got home safely and I found the blasted needle. It was hiding in my basket, laughing at me. I cast on red Fristisgarn:

and got to work. I knit a few times during the week. Then today came the big burst of "just another row" followed by, "I can see the end" and the inevitable "why don't you get larger?"


I did eventually have to switch to double points and an hour after that, I had the following:




I am not too sure of the brim. It may need to be a touch wider. Tomorrow this hat will be taking the big plunge into hot water with lots of beating and felting. If all goes well, it will be a person sized hat.

Of Scarves and Bracelets

I finally completed a garter stitch scarf for the superbowl scarf project. It should not have taken so long to work on. I blame my lack of motivation on how hectic life has been. Also I blame it on my short attention span. I only knit on this project while watching Ghost Hunters on Wednesday evenings.


Last night I went to the local library and taught a beginning knitting class to 9 people. Two folks showed up late and didn't get started since the library closed 30 minutes after they arrived. They did make head way in getting yarn from a hank into a ball. Next month I have got to remember to take along my swift and my ball winder. Those tools will speed things up.

I am planning on sending out an email to the students with an invite/reminder for the local knitting group's gathering on the third Wednesday of the month. I think they'll enjoy it and they will also have more time with knitters while they work on their scarves.

Recently some friends and I were chatting about ways to keep small children from wandering off in a crowd. I mentioned the bracelets linked with cord my younger step-daughter and her mother would wear. This system was made up because the younger child showed signs of being the second coming of Houdini.


There are two bracelets made from ribbon and attached to each other with a sturdy cord. I made the above as a present for one of the ladies in chat night after she requested a set.

~~

I'm still fighting the major depression. It's been a rough season. One daughter was rear ended and is fine. We're now shopping for a replacement car for her. The other daughter's vehicle needed serious repairs due to parts wearing out, our water heater was feeling neglected and sprung a leak. That's been replaced.
To top it all off, a friend passed away over the weekend. I'm alternating between numb and celebrating. You have to understand. This lady spent 25 years as a quadriplegic and is no longer stuck in a hospital bed or a wheel chair.

More knitting will be forthcoming. I promise.