Tag: debbie bliss alpaca silk

FO Friday: Basketweave hat and neckwarmer

I actually finished this last weekend but with photographing, tagging and all that am only just posting today. Hope that still counts for FO Friday ;0

Basketweave Hat and Neckwarmer

I had contemplated sending this in to LKC magazine as a submission but A) it’s pretty basic and more importantly B) it fits me perfectly, which means it will be too small for most adults with hair.  I didn’t want people to get disappointed.

So here it is instead!  I had two skeins of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in Aran weight (I still think Alpaca smells of dog when wet but oh well, it’s sooo nice to knit with!) that I had gotten half off at the John Lewis after Christmas sales in Newcastle.  It had gotten lost in my stash for a while until I was looking for something to go with my Harley jacket (the jacket you always see me in in photos where I am in the chair) which has charcoal grey lettering on the back.  So I pulled this out  hoping to make something in time for the Paris trip and I might have succeeded if I hadn’t frogged the first three attempts.  The yarn’s softness was lost in a detailed stitch pattern (frog #1) but I found I wanted a pretty edging rather than purely functional (frog #2) and eventually (after frog #3) settled  on a basketweave border with plain stockinette for the rest.

Detail of Basketweave hat and neckwarmer

I used the Reader’s Digest loom and used a little bit tighter tension for the borders as I want a little bit of “grip” like you would otherwise get from ribbing.  I did five rows of k2p2 ribbing, then five rows of p2k2 and then five more k2p2.  Then knit as long as I wanted (28 rows in this case) and do the border again for the neck or closed up for the hat.

The neckwarmer looks insanely long but it actually pulls up over my mouth, nose and the bottom of my ears.  The hat comes down to meet it around my ears and thus is forms a pseudo-balaclava but a little more dainty and of course they can be worn separately and the neckwarmer can be scrunched down when it’s not so cold.  (I have problems in very cold weather with my lungs due to my asthma and doctors have suggested that I breathe through a scarf to help pre-warm the air before it hits the lungs.  It does seem to help.)  I also wanted something that could go under the collar of my jacket so that when it zips up I have a layer protecting me from wind — my biggest complaint with that jacket is that the neckline is a little too big. (My second biggest complaint is that if I am wearing a sweater under it it looks like I have scary uniboob happening around my waist, soooo unflattering, especially as it flattens the actual boobs so they don’t show and I get this weird look instead :/  But I have yet to find a knitted solution to that!)  So this has fit both bills 🙂

I have to say that I LOVE this yarn.  It handled the frogging pretty well and I think it will bloom a little when washed, but right now the stitch definition is excellent. It feels a little softer when sliding through your fingers while working with it than in the finished garment, but the end product is still really nice.  WEBS has this for half price (I think it was just under US$5 for a 50g ball) so I got four skeins in an eggplant colour and I hope to do a cabled scarf to go with my burgundy coats (maybe a hat if there is enough left!).  I totally recommend it. 

Oh and for the record the neckwarmer took a little over one skein and the hat a little under, but again that’s because I made the neckpiece longer than most anyone else would want it.

I’m also proud that it looks needle-knit rather than loom-knit.  The flat knit stitch (Isela’s way) really makes sooooo much difference to the finished project that I have switched to it exclusively.

 

Malabrigo Organic Cotton: The Order

Many thanks to Daniella for pointing out that Malabrigo Organic Cotton is now available at WEBS.  It’s pricey, but with the pound being strong it worked out to be affordable for me.  I also took the time to get some of my new everyday-workhorse favourite yarn, Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (I need to photograph those FOs), in a deep purple colourway (half-price), some more Arucania Pima Cotton (not organic, but at least fair trade, half price) to go with what I bought last year, and lots of onsies and twosies of other sale items for a total of £52 including shipping (to my US address).  t gave me a budget of £50 since aside from Project Superstar (2 skeins, now used) and the Paris trip (2 skeins), I haven’t really bought yarn since the after-Christmas sales.

My gothpoints are utterly in decline as once again I bought really bright colours 🙂  I even considered several blacks and then thought “Well what would I make with that?” (as I haven’t tackled fair isle yet to do the piratey things).  But in my defense, many of these yarns will be used for presents for children and I think children need eyepopping hot pink, right? 😉

For some reason this blog is the top Google hit for Malabrigo Cotton.  How odd.  I’m sure I will lose that status in the future as others come to know and love this yarn, but for now I felt obliged to order two skeins of the organic. I plan to crochet a bag out of it.  Guess I’d best get cracking practicing my crochet first!

I do believe in using organic cotton as much as I can afford to.  It’s hard when the price tag is up to ten times more than non-organic (considering that I have a mill that is localish to me in the States that at least hits my low-airmiles button, which most organics do not).  It’s not so much about the environmental aspects in an altruistic sense but because I believe that the widespread use of pesticides is part of the reason why fibromyalgia and other neurological disorders are so much more common nowadays. (Remember to sponsor me for my walk for Fibro research!) Cotton growing accounts for 50% of the world’s pesticides which is why it is most important to buy organic cotton to prove to the rest of the industry that it can be done. But, I guess the lack of pesticides reduces the yield which accounts for part of the increased cost, although I am sure the rest of it is just the organic fad, alas. But Malabrigo is a higher-priced brand anyway and is fair trade as well as organic and these yarns have only natural dyes.  Pity about the airmiles though 🙁

So with looms, swap goodies and now yarn coming my way, I think May 25 is going to be a lot like Christmas 😉  I can’t wait to get there and see all of my stuff.  But first, several projects to finish and a swap package to make!