Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Hats On!

I may have only one finished sweater to show for 2013 (so far), as I've been distracted with other things this year. One of those things is dyeing.

My friend Julie and I did a playdate earlier this year where we played with gradient dyeing with food grade dyes. Actually, we took a class while at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet show in acid dyes and decided that there really isn't any advantage, especially with all the extra equipment needed. So we decided to stick with the non-toxic dyes.

So what do I do with all the yarn that we dyed? Well, let's try some hats!


This one turned out great! The yarn was actually one of Julie's results, but she didn't love the green (and we all know how I feel about green). The pattern was delightful to knit, and I'll be knitting more!

Project Stats:
Pattern: Men's Ski Hat by Irina Dmitrieva (she is a hat goddess!)
Yarn: Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool hand dyed by my friend Julie
Problems with pattern: none
Changes to the pattern: none
Overall impressions: YUM! love the way it turned out. Julie's yarn is beautiful and the pattern is great. I'll be knitting more!

This hat was knit using a partial skein of Patons Classic Wool that I had laying around. I actually just threw it into the dye pot after I dyed an other yarn to absorb up the excess. I got a beautiful color (as you can see, even my purchased cardigans are in the same color family... and wearing it for the photo shoot was purely coincidental. I just love the color!).

The problem with this one is that I only had 61g, so I was concerned I had enough yarn (I weighed the Mens' Ski Hat: 68g... not gonna work!). I cast this one on, fingers crossed, shortened the hat a wee bit, then had more left over than I expected (and the hat was way too short for my huge ears). Ripped back, added some length and it worked!

Project Stats:
Pattern: The Mayra Hat by Heidi May
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino (hand dyed by me)
Problems with the pattern: none (a very well written pattern)
Changes to the pattern: ended up lengthening the hat by about 1" before shaping.
Overall impressions: a great pattern and I can't begin to tell you how much I love the color! The yarn semi felted on me when I dyed it, so it's soft and fluffy.

So I've knit 4 hats this year... and I've got some more hand dyed yarn to knit up a few more! However right now, I'm trying to focus on some sweaters. Hopefully I can get an other sweater or three done by the end of the year!


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