Hats!

I've been knitting and knitting, but still failing to post. Then I finally got around to taking a some photos a few weeks ago when it was cool enough in the mornings to actually consider briefly donning a wool hat outside in Texas. Here are the hats and their stories at last.

I finished the Even Better Bucket Hat back in late spring. It was my first project using the ever popular Malabrigo Merino Worsted yarn in the American Beauty colorway. I am now IN LOVE with this yarn. It is dreamily soft and comes in amazingly vibrant colors. Plus, the yarn is hand-dyed by a women's cooperative in Uruguay.

In this project, I tackled the provisional cast-on for the first time with uneven success. Fortunately the join is on the inside of the hat (the brim is doubled), so no one is any wiser.

After the Bucket Hat, I worked on a number of projects simultaneously over the summer. Some of them are still in progress, but I finished another two hats pretty close to each other in Septemberish.

I finished the Amanda Hat first (I think). Another Malabrigo project, this time I knit with a variegated yarn called Alpine Pearl. This was an interesting project because it was such a completely different architecture from the bucket hat. The knotty stitches in the Amanda hat gave it a firm, plush shape--the hat will stand up on its own! It's also interesting to see how the variegation plays out in the stitch pattern.

The Raisin Beret is the third hat. It was a quick knit...but I also think I was gaining speed by the time I took on this pattern because even the lace sections seemed surprisingly easy after the Amanda hat. I was hoping this would turn out as a good everyday fall hat and so far it has worked out quite well and now lives in my tote bag for the days at the office where the a/c still thinks it's summer.

Beaufort Hat

How I have wronged thee, oh Beaufort Hat. You rocked my world back in May and then I utterly failed to post about you.

I'd picked this pattern out well before our trip to San Francisco, then while engaging in some serious stash enhancement during our adventures there, I came across some Jo Sharp Desert Garden Aran Cotton yarn. This stuff is really wild. It's 65% cotton and 35% microfiber. The microfiber gives it a lot of smoothness, spring and bounce, so much so in fact that strands of it remain almost eerily tubular. Combined with cotton's flatness of color, the yarn almost looks like clay, which means you get some amazing stitch definition.

It was one of the recommended yarns for the pattern, so I got started on the pattern almost immediately. I needed something to work on when we got back to the hotel room and were braindead from a full day of San Francisco excitement.

The pattern knit up quickly and the yarn was a great match for it. The design is a clever spiral of yarn overs and knit togethers, not actual cables. Best of all, this hat actually fits!

y@rn pr0n

Every First Thursday, Hill Country Weavers features a fantastic sale to go along with all the other fun that takes place down on South Congress. I discovered this by chance in April and came prepared in May. My big splurge item was a totally random hank of Road to China yarn by The Fibre Company. Before walking past this particular corner of the yarn shop, I'd never heard of the company, let alone this specific line, but I was really digging into HCW's stock during the visit, trying to make the most of the sale. I was instantly mesmerized by the Lapis colorway. It's a deep turquoise yarn with a bright garnet halo. Unbelievable. And of course it's incredibly soft, being a blend of camel, cashmere, alpaca, soy and yak. (Yak?!) Alpaca was a dominant fiber, however, qualifying the yarn for the sale. And The Fibre Company handily provided a single-hank pattern for fingerless mitts. I was sold!

What is this made of? Vampire Skin??

I stopped at Hill Country Weavers yesterday to pick up a special order and make a return, vowing to not even browse. Alas, there was a huge influx in the sale area, so how could I resist? I spotted some discounted Rowan yarn called Holiday that I'd never seen before and thought it might rescue me from swatch hell on my simple shrug (more on this saga later). It was a lovely, drapey tape with a bit more bulk than a pure cotton because it was a blend. There were several balls in a selection of hues, including a lovely periwinkle. I almost bought them, until it occurred to me to check the care instructions:

Hand wash. Do not soak. Do not wring.

Lay flat to dry, out of direct sunlight.

Whaaat? The yarn was made of cotton, polyester, and viscose. I'm not sure what that last one is, but if it entails this much insanity, no thank you. I have both a life and a dog, which makes it impossible for me to be that careful with my garments.