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!

Project updates

Things have been pretty busy here, so the blog has been quiet. That does not mean there has been no fiber, though! Here are some project updates:

Katie's socks

I started knitting Katie's 3-year-old birthday socks and am 3/4 done. I'm using the Coriolis construction from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, in Tess' Designer Yarns "Super Socks and Baby" yarn that Kristina purchased at MDSW. The colorway might be "spring garden," but it wasn't marked and I'm not sure (it looks like some of the other spring gardens in Ravelry, though). They are going well. I thought I wanted to do a picot edge on the cuff, and I tried to adapt the picot bind-off from the Fetching fingerless mitts pattern, but it looks weird. I'll pull it out and do something else.

Spinning

Sunday evening, I pulled out the wheel and did some spinning. I'm still working on "Heidi's Blues" and a new photo wouldn't really tell you much. I decided to start a new bobbin. In an attempt to not end up with a lot of leftover singles, I weighed bobbin #1 with its singles, then weighed empty bobbin #2, and weighed enough fiber to bring it up to the weight of #1. When I'm done spinning the pile of measured fiber on the piano, I'll try making some 2-ply. It's harder for me to get a really smooth single out of this fiber. It's grippy.

Koolhaas

Speaking of spinning, remember the grey Coopworth handspun that I wanted to knit right away to see if there was anything to be learned by knitting with my handspun? It turned out to be too bulky for the Habitat hat (so I used Julia for the hat, instead). I swatched the Koolhaas pattern with the grey yarn and decided I didn't have the right needles. A Knit Picks order was placed. The needles have arrived, but I haven't cast on for the hat yet. I hope that this one will fit Sharon's head a bit better.

Holiday Gifts (the magazine)

The Koolhaas pattern originally appeared in the 2007 issue of Interweave Knits' Holiday Gifts. Has anyone gotten the 2008 issue yet? I wasn't planning to visit my LYS anytime soon and it's a 25-minute drive from my house, so I thought I'd order it online. But the shipping cost drove me away - IK charges $4.50 to mail a $7.99 magazine! I emailed my LYS (The Mannings) to see what they charge to shipping it out to me, but I haven't heard back yet. If anyone local is heading there soon, let me know - I'd love to have you pick up that issue for me.

Holiday Gifts (the presents)

Now that I'm done with the Habitat hat, I thought I would use the leftover Julia yarn (about 1/2 ball) to make one of those adorable sweater ornaments that Berroco designed. My mom is nuts about Christmas, and even nuttier about decorating her tree - one of these would be a great gift for her.

I'm also planning to make Sharon a bag for Christmas. She wants a felted bag with a special fabric lining. She has chosen the fabric from an online store (ReproDepot) and wants the yarn to match the fabric. We need to get the fabric asap so I can decide which yarn to use. We have a sketch scribbled on the back of a Ping's placement. Now all I have to do is work out the design details. Should be fun! Here is the fabric:

Election

Did you vote yet? For the first time ever, I stood in a line to vote today - about 10 people were ahead of me at my local municipal building. I have never not gone directly to the table before. It was exciting! Local Democrats are abuzz about the lawn sign in our front yard. Check it out (part 1 and part 2).