FO: Handspun Urchin Beret

Back to showing off a bit of knitting here. Here's another handspun hat that I whipped up in an afternoon.

It started out as a 4oz braid of Creatively Dyed roving. It's a 50/50 wool and bamboo blend.



I got this at MDSW a couple years ago. I just remember that it was hot out, and touching wool was a really big effort for me. Maryland has a great wool festival, but it's timed rather awkwardly. It's at the exact part of the year where you are liable to get your first really muggy days, which make you panic about there never be the need for woolly things ever again.



I spun this up as a chunky 2-ply, with plenty of thick and thin spots. The bamboo was a little squeaky to spin- it wanted to clump and not be a homogeneous blend with the wool. I went with it, and let it be what it wanted to.



I got slightly over 60 yards in the end. A hat-amount.



A simple beret was whipped up in record time. I used size 15 needles. Once again, it's the Urchin Beret by Wenlan Chia. It's a good pattern for a small amount of chunky or bulky weight yarn. I put in some extra rows just so I wouldn't have any leftovers. The bamboo really wants to drape, so it gives it a nice slouchy appearance. You can't really put this on your head, you have to pour yourself into it and let it flop around artfully and lopsided.



The bamboo didn't pick up the dye, so the white really muted the bright colors. It looks more heathered than anything.



Voila! It's a cute, fun little topper.

Spinning Stuff

I'm looking forward to the weekend, if only because I have some dedicated spinning time worked in. I made the mistake of getting more than one spinning project going at the same time, which means very little will get done on either one of them and it ties up my bobbins for plying. This is the hazard of having two wheels...if something gets boring, the temptation to switch to another is too great.

I did finish with some Creatively Dyed roving.



It was 4 oz of a bamboo/wool blend. I didn't think too hard about it and just let it spin.





Because the bamboo wasn't blended into the roving all that well, I ended up with a handful of white bamboo while I spun, which didn't take the dye. I tried to keep it integrated with the wool, but in some places I failed. It also helped mute the colors a bit so I didn't end up with too obvious of the candy-cane stripe effect. It's chunky weight, 2ply and about 62 yards total. A cowl, perhaps?

I also plied up the BFL fleece that I've been spinning forever now. No pictures yet. So far, I have 3 huge skeins of heavy worsted/aran weight 2-ply, about 250 yards a skein. I need to fill two more bobbins with singes in order to get enough for a sweater. It's brown. I am bored.

I am also spinning up my Foxfire Farm Cormo on the Majacraft Gem. I love my Gem...it folds down tiny, weighs 10 lbs, travels easy, and it is incredibly versatile. It's my favorite for spinning lace- I feel like I have a ton of control over what I'm doing. I find that lace on my big Kromski Minstrel is a bit trickier- I get a lot more breaks and the wheel is a bit slower to respond than the Gem. I try to keep the lace projects to the Gem, and the bigger sweater projects to the Minstrel.

I'm spinning the Cormo woolen, from the fold, laceweight. It's only 4 oz, but you can really stretch out your spinning time when you are spinning lace. The fiber is minimally processed, so you can see and feel the crimp in the fiber. It really has a lot of spring and bounce to it. I'm pretty sure I'll be decimating this booth at Rhinebeck next year.