Possessed to Knit

Australian Fiber and More

I received this beautiful fibery surprise from Ann in Australia.  Starting on the left, we have Melanian top in its natural wheat colorway.  It is incredibly soft and I cannot stop touching it!  Next are two sets of Ann's delightful markers (essential when I knitted John's Habitat hat) and a darling project bag.  On the right we have a beautiful Dreamee Wool Tops braid in natural colors beige, wheat, coco, and white.  I have already spindle spun and spindle plied the braid and look forward to knitting a natural Fair Isle hat with the yarns.  I'm thinking a nice lace project for the wheat Melanian top, with over half a pound, I will have enough yarn to knit one of the larger shawls from Victorian Lace Today. 

Thank you to Ann for her wonderful gifts!

John's Cotton Habitat Hat Completed

Here is my completed cotton Habitat hat for John.  I had trouble selecting a pattern and a needle size.  I was almost to the crown decreases on Windschief and realized it was going to be too small.  Habitat's cables will cooridinate nicely with Dryad's cables.  I used my size 8 Addi Click Lace needles for the ribbing and changed to the size 9 tips for the body of the hat.  I worked Norwegian purls between the cables to even out the purl stitches.  I'm concerned about the pilling I noticed along the edge of the ribbing, but with cotton being such a short fiber, pilling is to be expected.  At least John will have a hat to go with his scarf and all before the end of winter.

John's Cotton Dryad Scarf Completed

Here is my completed Dryad scarf for my good friend, John, completed just before the end of winter.  I used four skeins of Knit Picks Simply Organic Cotton Worsted in the Toffee colorway and size 9 Addi Fixed Addi Lace needles.  This yarn is made from cotton that is naturally grown in color and it is machine washable on gentle and dryable on low.  The scarf is about 9.5 inches wide and 68" inches long and the resulting fabric is very soft. 

I didn't block it because I thought it looked fine and I wanted to send it off as soon as I could.  It was fun to knit and I am working on a matching hat, which was not cooperating so well.  I mailed the scarf today and hopefully John will be able to wear it for a little while this winter.

Handspun Fair Isle Hat Completed

I have been having a lot of fun spindle spinning my Cormo/Possum roving.  I even plied it on my All-Day Lollipop spindle.  I used about two ounces of it with some handspun alpaca two-ply yarn to make this Fair Isle hat.  I casted on 84 sts and worked k1, p1 ribbing on size 7 Addi Turbo needles.  I changed needles to size 8 and worked two rounds plain before starting the Fair Isle pattern which I found in 1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts.  I minimized the jog which goes through the middle motif diagonally.  I worked two plain rounds after the motif and then decreased six 14 stitch sections every other round until the last few rows where I decreased every round.  This hat is about 19" around and it was a joy to knit with my spindle spun yarn.