FO: Star-Crossed Hat

Oh, surprise, I made another hand spun hat. Giftmas will be easy and breezy affair for me this year. I hope.

This started out as two equally beautiful bits of fiber- a bump of baby camel and silk blend, plus some AVFKW club fiber of dyed Polworth.



The color was called "Rosemary".



I carded both of these together and ended up with 3 oz of soft, silky fiber. I pulled out the colors into sections so it would get muddy, but would have a more tweedy effect. I spun it up as a 2-ply worsted weight.





The blended color has really gentle shifts of purple and green. I loved it- it was soft and drapes nicely and it's very warm. I only ended up with 120 yards.

I choose the Star Crossed Slouchy beret as a pattern. I started running scarce on yardage, so I skipped six rows of the pattern before I ran out...this means I don't have a slouchy beret. I have a beanie.



Which is fine by me- I like the giant undulating cables and sometimes you have to just go with it until you run out. It's a pretty hat and I could always make another one when I feel like yardage won't be such an issue. I think it would be quite stunning in a blend that includes a little angora- something with a soft halo.



It seems like a ridiculously warm hat by summer standards. The thought crosses my mind on hot and muggy days that no one will ever need a hat this warm again in the history of the planet. However, the days are starting to grow noticeably shorter, and early mornings now call for an urgent scramble to find a long-abandoned and heavily wrinkled sweater from the depths of the wardrobe.

Spinning: Now with bits of Bactrian Camel!

I once spun and wove up a scarf made out of baby camel fiber.



The purple/yellow was a merino silk blend, but the camel colored yarn all came from a baby camel. Weaving doesn't bias if your yarn is out of sorts with balance, so you can use singles without worry.



It's fantastic to work with. Camels are double-coated, and this is the finest downy undercoat. It's like cashmere. The outer coat is terribly scratchy and rough, and much more hair-like. The undercoat is just buttery soft and wonderful to spin.

Here it is, blended with silk.



I had some of this tucked away in my stash that was leftover from my scarf project. Lucky me, my December AVFKW club also contained a bundle of camel silk blend, along with some dyed Polworth.



The color is "Rosemary". I took the opportunity to use up as much stash as possible in one hit and blended my existing 2 oz of Camel/silk with the club fiber.



I spun it up into an Aran-weight 3-ply. It's lovely- very slinky and drapey. I'm hoping the bit of Polworth gives it at least a little memory when knitted up.



The color is very subtle. It's overwhelmingly camel-colored, with just a hint of the purples and greens in the dyed bit of fiber.

Oh, and the static really killed me here. Every time I sat down to spin, I would get covered from head to toe with staticky bits of camel down. It clung to everything, and then after it came out of the wash I had bits of camel felt netted into my clothes. I really recommend spinning these downy fibers when the radiator has been turned off and the humidity is higher. It tames it and makes the whole process much more pleasant.

I keep a spray bottle with a mix of water, vodka (the cheapest stuff is just fine) and a few drops of essential oils (I'm a fan of a blend of lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree oil). I spray down the fiber before touching it- not to soak it but it does help with the flyaways. I also use this as my all-purpose "Smell Better" spray- yoga mats, shoes, linens- whatever has a bit of a funky odor, this will take care of it without overly perfuming.



I ended up with about 120 yards Aran weight from 4 oz of fiber. Not the best yardage, but enough to make an awesome warm hat.

Some Works in Progress

I've been a busy worker bee lately. I need to take advantage since I usually get sluggish in winter. I'm totally on a roll and checking things off my to-do list at a furious pace.

We made beer.



I don't even like the taste of beer. I keep trying it, thinking one day I will get over it and be the average beer-drinking american. I drink beer and I feel bloated and full of burps and unwell. Because I drink it so slowly, I never get a buzz going and spend the rest of my time desperately searching for a glass of wine to wash the taste out of my mouth.

I do like to make things though. I seem to like to make things that people will ask/tell me, "You could get that at WalMart/Target/Safeway, etc for cheaper/easier". Also, isn't science fun? Starches and sugars being converted into alcohol for our pleasure? It's entertaining on so many levels. Get to work, you yeasty bastards!

Please observe my wort.


I'm in love with the way everything smelled in the brewing process. It's currently sitting in the fermeneter, getting big and strong and alcoholic. If anything, I figure the one with the beer is the one with the friends, so this will get drunk by someone eventually.

My brew-happy co-worker also informs me that no one has ever died from drinking home-brewed beer. Always a huge concern of mine.

So I cheated and even though I took a dumpling-making class, I went out and made someone else make them for me.

Mandoo in Koreatown makes their own dumpling, right then and there. They are beautiful little gems that are the perfect cold-weather cheap-but-delicious eats. There's pretty much no limit to how many dumplings I can eat.



If this woman goes missing it's because I've kidnapped her. She'll be safe in Brooklyn, I assure you, making a mountain of dumplings in the comfort of my own kitchen.



Now I'm inspired...I will make dumplings very soon. I've been also making pickles lately. Cukes and cauliflower and garlic and hot peppers and pretty much anything else I can put in jars. Then I make bloody marys with the leftover pickle juice. It's fantastic.

I've been knitting and spinning as well, but I'm slow with the picture taking.



This is the Devon sweater by Norah Gaughn. It's from her lovely little book of men's knits that was published by Berocco a couple of years ago. This picture is a bit old as it is now done the sweater with the exception of the ribbing around the neck and blocking. It took no time at all- I really love making sweaters that are huge swarths of stockinette stitch, with some interesting details thrown in to keep things interesting. I used Cascade Eco in the lichen colorway (the yarn color doesn't show up true in the above photo at all, and that's my fault).

I finished another handspun hat, but I need daylight to do it justice in photographs.

I cast on for a pair of ribby socks in BMFA yarn. Socks are my daily commuting activity and I feel kind of lost if I don't have a pair in the works.

I spun up some fiber:



I made a big fat 3-ply from it. It's very soft, and I would imagine that it really blooms up nicely with all that downy baby camel in it. I'll post pictures soon.

Oh, and my mom got me some Angora fiber. She bought it at the Fryeburg Fair, which is an enormous agricultural fair that happens every fall in picturesque western Maine.



It's lovely and soft, but I think the downy fibers need some humidity in the air in order to be manageable- the static really creates a monster.