Handspun Hat

I finished it. Here is a finished item from hand processed, hand spun, hand dyed yarn.

Well this hat has sure been a process. The hardest part by far was figuring out a pattern and more specifically a gauge for the final hat.

I started with just the Raspberry Lemonaide and was having issues even with size four needles. I figured there wasn't a ton of use for this brightly colored yarn outside this project so I finally decided to just ply it all together, figuring that the worst case scenario would be that I would have to un-ply it. But once I had it at a heavier weight, that is a 4-ply yarn, things worked out much better.

I do need to watch my over-spinning as the yarn was quite stiff and there were several times that I held the yarn and let the hat untwist in the air to release some of the tension. Perhaps if I had finished the yarn first that may have helped the situation. Although, I do like the slant of the stitches. It gives it a look of intent instead of just a stockinette stitch hat with a short rib boarder and interesting colors.

It was a fun experience, and now one of the items from my list on September 28th is done...too bad I've started about three more since then.