Yesterday, right after I posted and gave the computer back to NoMans I sat still for precisely three more minutes and then dove head first into the wool stash abandoned some six months ago. As NoMans was pulling me out by my ankles (it's a BIG stash basket) I snagged myself a ball of unlabeled violet Lopi and a pair of size 11 needles and made a small swatch. Just to see if my hands still remembered what to do. They did.
After that I pulled out a sixteen inch size 11 circular and knit a hat that started with 80 cast on stitches because somewhere in this organic knitter's cluttered brain I recalled once casting 80 stitches onto a size 11 circular needle.
If any of you knit, know your needles or have a passing acquaintance with Lopi then you know I made a lovely violet hat for Hagred's brother. If he grows a little. Then I went to bed. In the morning I pulled out my double pointed needles and finished Hagred's brother's hat. I put it on my head. It fell easily to my chin. It was really pretty though. It occurred to me later that those 80 stitches on the size 11 needles were for a child's sweater. Hmm.
I decided to felt the hat. Felting involves washing and I think maybe drying but I don't really remember because I've only actually read about it, the piece of wool trapped in a pillow case. This causes shrinkage and the agitation causes the fibers to alter until it sort of melts together a bit. The felted hat is still too wide but now it doesn't fall to my chin. I think I was supposed to take it out still damp and shape it but it can be wetted again and then formed properly. If I get around to it.
I made another hat after that and almost got it right by decreasing the stitches to 59 and doing a seed stitch for the first eight rows so that it might stick a bit better. It's still too big. I'll felt that one too.
After that I pulled out two skeins of wool I bought in Vermont last year that just scare me senseless, they're so beautiful. They are raw homespun skeins the first died with pokeberry (it's that lovely orange you see in my lap) and the second is an undied, unbleached pale cream that's been spun tight and is still remarkably sticky from the unprocessed lanolin.
I did all this today because during the trip to Whole Foods, NoMans decided he needed to whip up a batch of nine alarm Texas chili. I don't think he meant to make it nine alarm (yes, I made that up) it's just that he doesn't actually cook much (he preps, cans and cleans) and he was experiencing significant chili abundance. I whipped up a pizza from yesterday's leftover dough while he was out allowing Cletus to scare the pants off herself behind the wheel of my car but other than that, it was his kitchen. I did make the mistake of roasting some sweet red peppers while he was cooking and nearly got a fork in the eye when I approached the counter to clean them. And also there was the matter of the baking bread but I suppose I'll be forgiven for that because he's going to need it to help him survive his chili.
So here I sit with these two skeins of lovely raw wool turned into balls and a plethora of needles to choose from. I also have a mess of books on the subject and if I was so inclined I might march myself down the hall and fetch them but I don't think that's how it's going to go.
Recent Comments