Hats and Spinning

OK, I know it’s positively depressing, the lack of knitting that has been posted on this blog of late.  So though it’s not terribly exciting, I have for you: Noro Silk Garden, knit up into a garter-brim hat.  I loved working with this yarn, which is a joy, and I enjoyed this simple hat pattern I ‘designed’, especially as I made a couple of modifications the second time.

Secondly, I’ve started on YET another hat, knit from Malabrigo Merino Worsted, which until my employment at Urban Yarns, I had not tried.  MMMMmmm it is lovely to knit with (like butter), but I fear it will pill and wear quickly.  But I’m withholding judgment for later.

So of course, I’ve also been spinning!

And loving the results – though they are but meagre.  Upper left is a single-ply mystery-wool that came in a box from a friend of my mom’s, and which I dyed into intense (offensive?) pink, purples and blue – about DK weight, and 170 yds.  To the right is 2-ply, fingering weight merino, spun from tiny balls of roving I bought at a lovely artistan’s shop during my bike trip of the oregon coast (december 08).  It’s about 40 grams, and 130 yds.  At the bottom is ‘wildflowers’ a single-ply silk which I hand-dyed and spun, also procured from the box of mystery handed down to me by a spinning friend of my mother’s.  I have TONNES more silk to spin, but I am seriously lacking the skills to do it effectively.  This little skein, ~ 100 yds, is uber lovely, though, I must say (so modest!).