Sunday, December 28, 2008

Koolhaus

I finished the Koolhaus hat! Remember this, my first decent handspun, made from natural grey Coopworth?I wanted to make something special with it, and a Jared Flood hat seemed right. My original idea was to make the Habitat hat with it, but my grey yarn was too bulky and the pattern had a large repeat that was difficult to adjust to a different yarn (so I went out and bought new yarn to make my Habitat, instead). Koolhaus, with its 8-stitch and 8-row repeat (pattern available here), was much more forgiving, and I was able to adjust the pattern to get a hat that worked with my yarn and still fit a normal person. I ended up using a size US 8 needle and knitting 11 pattern repeats per round (not 13 as he calls for). I knit this on 2 circulars rather than 1, because (like Kristina) I find it difficult to hold the short needles on the ends of the 16" circular Knit Picks needles. Plus, if you knit a hat on 2 circs, you don't have to switch to dpns (yuck) when the circumference narrows at the top. I knit 4 of the 8-row repeats before beginning the crown shaping. I love how well the crown shaping preserves the integrity of the stitch pattern. Very clever design. This isn't the best photo ever, but my hat models are away and I wanted to get this post up.

I wanted to start spinning some new yarn this weekend, too, and Boy 2 helped me select a roving from my stash. The kid has good taste - he picked Lorna's Laces Shepherd Top in colorway "Gold Hill." Here it is in the funky new basket I got to hold roving on my hearth next to the wheel (made in Ghana), as well as the first singles on the bobbin. This is going to be 3-ply (I divided the roving into 3 equal-ish parts before beginning to spin) and I think it will be very pretty when plied together. We shall see!





2 comments:

  1. The hat looks fantastic and the Roving looks beautiful. You are right, #2 does have great taste.

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  2. The hat turned out awesome. And with your own yarn! I agree about the 2-circulars over the dpns. But you could also have done Magic Loop! (that's what I did) -- now with less dangling! I, too, admire how the decreases flow up to the crown of the hat.

    Really love the colors in that roving. I'm so in awe of your spinning abilities!

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