Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Adaptation

I don't know why I've been very interested in hats lately. After finishing a hat with Jojoland Fantasia, my thoughts turned to some kiwi green Lamb's Pride wool yarn I had hidden away in my stash. I decided to challenge myself by adding a cable on both sides of the same basic hat pattern. I also decided to try a felted flower for an embellishment. I tried two flowers, but the one that looked the best was crocheted and felted with a very easy boiling method (boil in water, dip in ice water, rub between hands, repeat until fully felted).
Before
After
The flower was easy to sew onto the hat, with a large button for the center.  I finally settled on a pattern called "Banana Tree" for the side cables. I had to convert the pattern from flat knitting to in-the-round for the hat.  Since the pattern is asymmetrical, every other row needs to be reversed for the in-the-round conversion.  Secondly, the cable stitch twisting is all the same direction as written, but with purls and knits reversed.  (I found all that out the hard way, so now you don't have to...you're welcome.)  Banana Tree is such a beautiful and interesting cable, which looks quite nice climbing up the sides of this, otherwise plain and basic, hat.                        - 吴碧芙





Forest Sunrise

Jojoland Fatasia yarn has an interesting colorway called "Forest Sunrise."  Even though it's hot outside now, I really wanted to make a scarf and hat with this beautiful (superwash wool) yarn.


This basic hat pattern is a quick knit, and the yarn does all of the color work on its own.


There is little continuity between skeins, so the scarf is not likely to match and the pieces not likely to look like a "set."


This one was finished a few weeks ago.  I'm on to other things now.


- 吴碧芙