Try Again

This week I gave away the leafy cowl to its very happy recipient. I'm guessing a first-time hand knit gift recipient, which makes brings me a lot of joy.

Also, it turns out that I underestimated the amount of yarn I would need for this hat by about 1/2! I ran out of the yarn right as I hit the decrease row of this pattern: Simple Hat. I was asked for "just a beanie" so the pattern seems fitting. I had to decrease the number of cast on from 100 to 80. The handspun is about 12 wpi while the pattern calls for a DK weight.

I spun some more...

Definitely lost yarn chicken

I was cursing myself as I was spinning more because I did not put in the up-front time of scouring carefully. This fleece was part of a "bargain" package of fleeces in a 10 pound bag, and I considered it a bonus. I had struggled with this bargain package because I had to throw so much away due to tags and cotted tips. Because this Border Leicester came in this package, I didn't hold it in very high regard, and I had felted a lot of my fleece on accident. I considered the wool to be moderately dirty with moderate VM, so I handled it too much while washing. That left one chunk of softer part of the fleece unusable. I vowed to be more careful in the future, even with bargain fleece, because I enjoyed the finished product so much.

Here is the finished hat:

Not blocked yet...

The length of half of the brim is around 8". It stretches considerably, and is slightly large for me, which should be perfect for the recipient. It's not perfect... rustic, which is perfect for someone who is moving and (maybe) starting a farm

And the yarn I snipped off of at the end, which happened to be the best part of the yarn that I made:

Handspun, click to see larger photo

The simple pattern really highlighted the natural variation of colors in the fleece:

See the heathering?

My conclusion is, Border Leceister = great stitch definition! I can't tell where the loops in the yarn from chain-plying are in the finished product at all. I think because each fiber is distinct because it is a coarser wool, it leads to great stitch definition.

Then earlier this week, I decided to scour some more bargain wool, and realized that I had more left over of this fleece unwashed, in my stash. I am much more carefully scouring this time around. I know it's silly, but I feel like I've been given another chance to do it right. I will be making the same yarn, but making slightly different hats. I have an idea for 3 hats which I will explain later!

J