Homegrown hat

This hat is made from homegrown, home sheared, carded, spun and knitted wool. So exciting!
The finished hat

Dagmar who provided the white wool

Raasay who provided the black wool

The following information is mostly for me.
I used 5mm magic loop needles
Cast on 88 stitched. I calculated by knitting a bit to get an idea of stitches to 10cm then measuring circumference of my head and taking of 4cm.
Length from brim to top is 20cm
The thin lines are 2 rows and the wider one 6 rows. The final row and casting off was in brown (three needle cast off).
The brown round the rim I sewed on with blanket stitch.

Drum carder

Despite Doug’s protests (where’s it going to GO - which is of course a valid concern, but we don’t want to let reality and practical things intrude *too* much on our dreams!) I bought a drum carder to make preparing wool for spinning a bit easier and quicker.
It is fantastic! I cannot say it make my spinning good yet, but it is a lot easier to do from the more even preperation the drum carder provides. On the whole things that slow down how fast I can knit are good, otherwise we will be inundated with knitted products. However there becomes a point where it is too slow and hard and I lose interest.

Carding Alpaca wool

The guy we got the highlands from (and who owns the bull they recently went to visit) also has alpaca. I mentioned I am learning to spin and he gave me some alpaca wool - we recently lent him our horse trailer to take some of his cows to a show. I have finally got round to starting to card it having washed it some time ago.

I am planning on spinning it with a drop spindle, but am feeling tempted to buy a 'proper' spinning wheel - but where would it GO??? There is a travelling one by Ashford though!

A couple more scarfs

I knitted these a while ago but did not entirely note down the patterns used

This one I can't remember exactly what I did at the edge of each of the end bits. It has left a nice pattern of holes anyway. I must have used an increase/decrease that did that.  I suspect it was a ssk yo ssk on one side and k2tog yo k2tog on the other with an increase with a yo as well.

It is similar to this pattern anyway

This one again I cannot remember what I did at the edge. I think it is 2 stitches of moss stitch.
Start with 3 rows of knit (garter stitch)
Right side
k1 p1 k4 (C4B every 4th row) k1 p1 k1 k6 (C6B every 6th row) p1 k1 p1 k4 (C4B every 4th row) p1 k1
Wrong side
k1 p1 p4 p1 k1 p1 p6 k1 p1 k1 p4 p1 k1
Knit until it is long enough to go round your neck and finish with 3 rows of knit (garter stitch)

I didn't do button holes, the wool is quite chunky so the holes between stitches are large enough.
I probably used 6mm needles and wool suitable for that size of needle

Snug neck warmer

This is great for using up small amounts of left over wool. This was left over from a scarf/neck warmer I made for Doug from cashmere. I like to have something like this for skiing and horse riding when it is cold and maybe wet to fill the gap in jacket necks.

This one is about 35 cms in diameter and 12 cm long. It is quite stretchy so size isn't too critical. I wanted reasonably sung. I knitted this on magic loop needles but you can do it on dpn too.
I am writing this mainly so I remember what I did. I used 3.5 magic loop needles and the wool was for that size of needle.

Cast on factor of 12 stitches. This is 120. You need to use a stretch cast on so it goes over your head. Same for the cast off.

Knit 5 rows of garter stitch

Basic pattern is k2 p2 k6 p2 - repeat all the way round and keep repeating until you are nearly to the length you want.

Cable every 7th row on the k6. (you could do twists on the k2 if you wanted too)

Finish with 5 rows of garter stitch

Cast off

Neck warmer for Doug

This pattern is written here more so I can remember what I did than so anyone else can do it.

I used size 3.5 needles and a cashmere wool that took that size needle.

Cast on a factor of 11 plus 14 stitches
This scarf is 44 + 14 = 58 (which gives 5 cables)
Knitted on 3.5 needles

Knit 4 rows

right side     k4      p6 (k5 p6)      repeat 4 times p6 k4
wrong side  k3 p1 k6 (p1 k3 p1) repeat 4 times  k6 k3 p1

every 6th row do a c6b on the right side k6
Knit 4 rows

For this scarf I made some button holes before the final knit section. This was done in the sections between the cables by doing k2tog on one right side row then a yarn over above it on the wrong side row.

The scarf hasn't been finished off in these two photos so there are threads hanging out which will be sewn in.

I actually changed where the buttons go between the first photo and the 2nd so it fitted better.

Chunky Neck Warmer

This pattern is to remind me what I did more than it is for others...

Size 10 needles and wool for that size (this is chunky baby alpaca wool)

Cast on 24 stitches (I always do long tail)

k1 p1 k4 p1 k1 p1 k6 p1 k1 p1 k4 p1 k1 (right side)

k1 p6 k1 p8 k1 p6 k1 (wrong side)

On the right side, cable behind the k4 every 4 rows and the k6 every 8 rows (which coincides with a cable on the k4s) 

To finish do a row of knit on the wrong side and cast off right side.

You can do button holes a few rows before finishing or as the knit is big may be better just using buttons that fit through the knit (that is what I have done here.

Knitting

It might not be clear from the blog that I am a keen knitter as I have not done any so far this year. There doesn't seem to have been time for it, or perhaps I have not been in the mood. I took it up about 3 years ago on a whim and enjoy making hats and scarfs. I have also made a pair of gloves and a pair of mittens but they were quite an undertaking.

Doug's gloves

While in the UK I did a bit and have bought some wool to make in to some things.
In some ways my attitude to it is a bit like my attitude to cooking. I rarely follow a pattern (recipe) exactly but take them as inspiration. Quite soon I am going to be bogged down in hats so was wondering about selling them. My impression is it is hard to make back even the cost of the wool as people don't believe how much nice wool costs, never mind the your time. I am not sure I can let them go anyway as I love each and every one. I have made hats for other people and in most cases I make it, then I have to make another to give away as I can't bear to part with the first one.

This scarf has been in progress for 2 years but it about doubled in length while I was in the UK. It is now pretty much half finished as I have 2 balls of wool and have nearly finished the first. It is not going to be particularly long.

I knitted this scarf from some wool Lorna had

 This is a hat I knitted for Lorna

It is very difficult to photograph knitting well it seems... or maybe I need a better model... not sure how much time I will find to knit in the near future, but will certainly find time at some point.