Cashmere Overhaul

I took that stretched out head band and used some of my favorite blue-faced-leicester wool to crochet some meandering lines on it, hoping to add a little spring. Seems to have worked pretty good. Think it's too goofy looking? I thought about slapping on some embroidered lazy daisies or leafs or something, but I may just leave those wandering stripes. I'll wear it skiing and let you know if it works!

Lesson in cashmere

An impulse purchase on ebay led me to try spinning cashmere. Impressive stuff. Delicious on the hand, spins yummily, (yummily? Yes, I think that's the word I want.) but short and slippery fiber that drafts apart with the least bit of inattention. I spun a little test sample on a drop spindle, and croched it up into a nice lacy swatch that begged to be a soft little beanie. When I geared up to spin it on the wheel, however, I couldn't get the tension right and had to spin much bulkier than I wanted, and ended up with a fat, thick and thin sort of "artisan" yarn that didn't have nearly enough length to make a hat. So, I single croched it into a head band, ear-warmer sort of thing, but when I went to wash and block it, it was MUCH bigger than it had been before washing. I see now that it's not bouncy and springy like wool, but more limp and saggy, (not in a bad way, maybe "drapey" is the word) but my head band did NOT fit my head anymore. Hmm.... I've stretched it lots by hand the short way to shorten the length, and in the morning I'll try to wear to see if it stays on my head.
I learned:
Ply a single of wool with my cashmere in the future so the garment holds it's shape!

Keep on Sockin....

One more sock - In a new and different way. (For me, anyway.)
I've done some cuff down, a couple toe up, and now an "afterthoughts on a tube".
I got the idea from my favorite sock resource, Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook.
I started a plain tube from some yarn that I spun from some hodgepodge roving bits when I was visiting my grandmother last spring. It had alpaca, a multicolor marino and some bamboo in it - a slubby, thick and thin single. I'd started knitting it up into some leg warmers which turned out so ugly I frogged them back out (Rip-it, rip-it) and divided the yarn into two equal balls. The tube was just the right size to stash in my purse, so after two Christmas programs and a boring meeting or too, I'd knitted the yarn all up. The fragile mismatch of fiber won't hold up to high abrasion areas of a sock, so I grabbed some blue faced Leicester yarn left over from last year's mits. I made a round toe (don't like it so much, next one will be wedge.) and split the tube part way to knit in an "afterthought heel". Worked great! Can't wait to do the other one. The soft tube doesn't have any ribbing, and it's a pretty drapy sort of yarn, so the leg's going to sag, but I think that's okay. I could rib the other one, but I think for once I'll try making two socks that actually sort of match. (with the exception of the toe... )

I learned:
How to do an afterthought heel! Cutting into the middle of something you've knitted is intimidating, but not that hard.

No match socks

Here is what happens when I start a pair of socks (without a pattern) in the spring, stop for the summer and finish in the fall. Spring sock fits nice, has 2x2 rib in the cuff and a heel that's a little too shallow. Fall sock is 3x1 rib all the way to the toe, and has some kind of tricky dense stitch in the sole. The sole stitch turned out to be a bad idea, for one thing because I couldn't remember how I'd done it once I came back, but also because it grew slower than the stitch on the top of the foot, and I had to try to add short rows to get the sock to knit up evenly. In the end, the rib top sort of wraps around the toe anyway. Good part is that I think I finally learned to do the kitchener stitch right! Regardless, they are a really nice superwash marino, and I do love hand knit socks. Something so nice and lofty about that good wool, not all tight and non-breathing like even those good smartwool socks can be.