Wool hats and 70F

While the temperature outside was climbing above 70F (21C), I was inside finishing a wool hat. Finishing the wool hat is a good thing though because it is suppose to be 35F (2C) tonight.

The hat is a pattern of my own. I casted on 96 stitches and did a knit 2, purl 2 rib for about an inch, then changed to a 6 stitch cable with two stitches of purl between each cable set. The yarn is really the focus of the hat for me. The yarn is a corridale wool I spun. It is the first thing I spun outside of my spinning lessons and I thought the end result was okay, but by no means great. Italian thought the hat was okay and gave it little notice until I casually mentioned I spun the yarn. Then, he became excited about it.

The hat definitely has a homey slubbiness to it which I think is common for most first time spinners. If you look closely, you can see where the yarn is overspun and underspun and too thin and too thick. It will still keep my head warm and I think I love the hat.

Speaking of hats, I had a moment of pride this week. While in St. Louis, I taught Teelee how to knit. I followed the guidelines of the Yarn Harlot who recommends starting off new knitters with a hat instead of a scarf. A hat will provide faster gratification than a scarf, and I agree this is a very good strategy for increasing our numbers. For teaching her how to knit, Teelee in return, sent me a picture of her first FO. I'm so proud!