roguecrafter

triangular shawl hanging from a fence gate. The shawl is knit from chunky handspun with a brown/white twist as the main color and a few stripes of a white/multicolor twist and a brown/multicolor twist.

Driving back and forth to the beach, I finished knitting a glorious shawl made from my handspun yarn. (I should clarify, I was not knitting and driving.) It is a warm and snuggly triangular shawl with stripes of three different 2-ply yarns, which are blends of some of the same fibers.

The main color is a yarn I dubbed “chocolate Escher,” and is a thick-and-thin 2-ply blend of imported British Black Welsh Mountain sheep’s wool and local Virginia Finnsheep. The two contrasting colors are plyed with an “art batt” from a Loudon, Virginia, USA farm cooperative that is labelled “mostly wool” (but contains some small amounts of acrylic and other yarns for texture and color, please be aware if you have any allergies). The cream/art batt blend is an ultra-soft Targhee sheep from the Montana/Wyoming area. The chocolate/art batt blend is more of the Black Welsh Mountain sheep and the art batt.

I had a lot of fun knitting this yarn because it was all from my hands, and from the hands of farmers and from the wonderful animals who provided these fibers.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

(For the curious, it’s on Etsy. I decided not to keep it because I already have All The Shawls. Moar photos on Etsy.)

( Image below the link )


This hat is available as a finished product on my Etsy Store.

Pattern Notes:
This hat makes me think of gardening in late fall in early winter (pruning, raking, putting the garden to bed with a last layer of mulch, etc.) and hikes in the woods past raspberry hedges. I liked knitting this hat because while there are sections of more complex stitches to keep things interesting, they are interspersed with "zombie knitting" to give the knitter a break for those times when you have to put the kettle on or the kids are screaming. As a side note, you may want to practice Raspberry Stitch and Wildflower Knot in your swatch so you get the hang of them (just remember to do them in the round or convert to back-and-forth knitting!) before you begin knitting the hat. Just remember that they will distort the swatch, so be sure to take your gauge measurements from a section of stockinette. Do choose a yarn that does not split easily, or you will want to strangle someone.

Yarn:
Cascade 220 Superwash, Colorway "Aporto" (Color No 856), 100 grams per ball, 1 ball. Can substitute any worsted weight yarn as long as you get gauge and it does not split easily (as you will be purling and knitting three together multiple times).

Needles:
US #8 16" circular needle (if desired)
set of US #8 double-pointed needles (or second circular needle) for top of hat
*or size needed to obtain gauge*

( Pattern below the cut )