First, I want to show you a cowl I crocheted from a Wool Ease Lion Brand Thick & Quick. I know that I said handspun yarn, but I was walking through Michael's and this Super Bulky yarn caught my eye!
And now on to the actual handspun yarns! The following yarn was spun from this roving of alpaca fiber that was given to me. I spun it into singles but was limited to around 100 yards of yarn.
I have been considering embracing knitting more as it tends to use less yardage than crocheting. This seemed like the perfect opportunity!
This knitted headband pattern came from Cedar Box Knits. She calls it a Wavy Moss headband. It took about two hours to complete and uses a provisional cast on to prevent large seam lines. The pattern includes instructions for a headband, a beanie, and a slouchy hat.
The photo taken by the designer showed the headband worn this way, I call it hippie-style. I like it a lot when those darn straight-haired people wear it, but I'm still not sure if I like it with my curly hair....
One of the main reasons I'm often attracted to knit patterns is because you can create cabled looks, which I love! While I do know how to knit I don't do it very often as I've always found crocheting simpler. This was my first experience knitting cables and because I only own one pair of knitting needles, I totally used a wooden skewer in place of the cable needle! lol
Like I said, they jury is still out on whether or not I like the hippie-style look, so when I actually wore this headband, I wore it with a pony tail. I think it can also be used as an ear warmer when it's cold outside.
I had a small amount of yarn left over and I wanted to make one more small project for the very kind lady that gave me the fiber. She is an expert when it comes to fiber and the animals that grow fiber. She's been wanting a sheep, but doesn't want to mix them with their goats. So....
Since she can't have the sheep she's been wanting, I thought this coaster would be a cute alternative. :) I should have blocked the legs, but I think it's very cute!
The last is a two ply yarn I spun from wool I bought from The Woolery. I considered dying it but I kind of liked the natural cream color and left it.
It looks knitted, right? Actually, it's knooked! I bought a Knook Beginner Kit a while ago but never made anything from it. This pattern required a circular knitting needle but as I don't often knit, I didn't have one. The knook replaces that!
The cabled portion of the beanie was made first, and wasn't as difficult as I was expecting using the knook. Three rows on each side of the cabled section are done in seed stitch. The whole upper portion is supposed to be seed stitch, but I got very frustrated with it very quickly and made it in stockinette stitch instead.
The decreases aren't as gentle as I'd been hoping, possibly because I didn't use seed stitch like the pattern said to. I think I also started decreasing too early and it's a little more shallow than I wanted, but I think it will still be warm when we visit North Carolina.
I really do love the cables, and I like the small amounts of variation in the size of the yarn. It really adds to the character of the piece. :)
I know it seems as though I'm preparing for cold weather and I don't want you to get the wrong impression, this is Florida and the high today is somewhere in the 90's! I threw on the long sleeve shirt so you guys could get an idea of how it would look but Mom thought the rest of the outfit was hilarious....shorts and flip flops!
~Farm Girl Teacher
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