A tale of Superwash Yarns

Bet you're wondering what it's all about....well it's my recent knitting with 2 superwash yarns. One is so soft and oh so nice to knit up. The other, a good "workhorse" yarn, but not as much fun to knit with..

On with the story...I was reading on Shanti's blog about her Mom wanting to send hats to her crew for Christmas. Living on a Navy Destroyer can get pretty cold. She thought sending the crew warm hats to wear on their time off would be a great gift. The only requirement was 100% superwash wool. Color was our choice, I didn't want to get too wild, so yeah, I have to admit I did pick boring colors ;)

I wanted to help out, you know being a future Navy mom, I'm sorta partial to them :)

I found some burgundy Cascade 220 and decided to knit the Scrunchable Hat (btw, it matches the Scrunchable scarf, just an FYI ;)
(sorry the pictures aren't the best, was a late night)


Cascade 220, Burgundy color
US 5 & 7 circulars
The only mod was to knit about an inch of K1, P1 ribbing before I started the pattern. This type of ribbing doesn't scrunch in so the brim with the 1 x 1 ribbing should help hold it on. Gotta love an easy hat pattern with only knit's and a few purls :)

Well, just because it's not "soft" while you knit, doesn't mean once it's soaked and blocked/dried it won't be. Don't worry, before I sent it off, it got a nice bath and was very soft. I'm sure someone will be happy to have it. I have a vest amount worth's of 220 superwash and will use it...may not be overly happy when I knit it, but hey, at least I know a good soak it will be :)

Onward to the next superwash yarn. Ever heard of Malabrigo yarns?? Yeah..some of the softest yarns around. I love it better than Lamb's Pride yarns on the softness factor. Sigh..single ply yarns.

Did you know they now have a superwash merino yarn...yep it's just as soft as the single ply, but it's a plied yarn.

When I received it in the mail...um..I have to admit, I didn't want to knit the hat and mail it away....it's that soft.

Knitting it up was definately more pleasurable than the 220, in fact, I stopped knitting on that hat when this yarn arrived...shame on me huh ;)



Here's a close up of the folded brim.

This pattern has you twist the K stitches every other row. Pretty cool.

Only problem I found was when I would stop knitting it, sometimes it was hard to see what row I was on, meaning the twisted stitch knit row. Probably the dark yarn.

When this was done, still very soft and a teeny fuzz halo. Since I'm sure sailors have short hair, this should be a nice, soft alternative to the uniform hats they have to wear.

Simple Slouchy Hat by Cocoknits
Malabrigo Rios in Paris Night (this picture shows the color truer)
US 6 & 9 circulars

This pattern calls for a chunky weight yarn, but checking on Ravelry I found it knit with worsted weight so I followed their mods. I cast on 86 sts and knit for about 1.5" with the 5's, then switched to the 7's and knit for 10 inches total. Did a 3 needle bind off in rib, the first time doing this bind off in rib. Not too bad..um..til I found a dropped stitch. I fixed it and all turned out well. I like the stitch pattern, but not the shape of the crown, well for me. Since it's not mine, it's ok. :)


So there you have it, 2 sailor hats off to join over 250 other hats on their way to make a few sailors holiday cheer.

My yarn preference....well...both really. I do prefer the Malabrigo over the Cascade as I knit. After soaking, the Malabrigo is still a bit more softer than the Cascade, but not by much.

Off to finish yet another hat...for me, wait for the post on this one...geesh ;)

Have you ever wondered....

How many bones are in the human body. Probably not something one thinks of in their everyday life. Well, that is unless you are an Xray Technologist like me...er..well I deal mainly with veins and arteries now, not much with bones per say..oh ok, back to the point..

There are 206 of them, some are very weeny and in your ear....yes I said in your EAR! ;)

Please look here! Then come back here and tell me whatcha think!

Amazing or what! Not something I'd ever try, but it's pretty cool I think!

Thanks Marissa for showing me this amazing exhibit!

Still here, still knitting some deadline knits and still waiting...and waiting...and trying to be patient. (sure would have helped had we known the whole process could take a month or more...sigh)

Autumn colors...

Browns, oranges, purples, yellows....wait...did she say yellows!! Now you all know I'm not a "yellow" person, but sometimes, mixed with other colors, I like it fine ;)



As you can see below this braid was gradiently dyed. Meaning larger sections of colors, usually not a lot of colors.


I divided the braid into 4ths and spun 2 sections on each bobbin.

Then I commenced to plying the 2 singles together


My plan to have the singles match together didn't go too well. Had a few issues with a yellow section(figures huh!)..my fault as I couldn't get some of it to ply. Had to put a new drive band on my wheel, then the rest went fine.

I did get some sections to match, not sure how stripey it'll be, but that's ok. I love this picture!

I would have navajo plied it, but my yardage would have been really low! I'm still not a consistently thin spinner with my singles...they go from lace to heavy worsted LOL!



Just enjoy the lovely colors!


See, more matchy sections...

oops! disregard the lovely twine there! I use a cone of kitchen twine for my drive bands and tying my skeins. So cheap and multi-useful!

The whole smooshy, soft, squishy skein! The softest BFL I've ever spun ;)

Warm Quilter Superwash BFL 2-ply from GLBLF (Girls Like Boys Like Fiber ;)
6 oz., approximately 179 yards of sport/dk/worsted
11 wpi post soak

YPF-Not My Handspun Version

It's gorgeous and all mine, mine, mine! Please note though when you see it, I surely did not spin this gorgeousness!


My spinning guru Megan spun this!

Yummy creams, browns, strawberry, and pinks


You see, I had a yarn in my stash that she needed for a project...she had just finished spinning this and didn't know what to do with it...


I was drooling over it....so we swapped for it. Win/win for both of us!

One day I'll spin that thin...one day ;)

I'll be knitting lacy baktus with mine! This cannot be socks, it needs to cuddle my neck ;)

Merino/Bamboo/Nylon from Bee Mice Elf
Clover Colorway
3.6 oz
approx. 200 yds of squishy, soft fingering/sportweight yarn

BTW, she's updated some new yarns and reduced her prices so check out her shop! Wayward Yarn & Fiber

Scattered....

Can't seem to focus on any one project to finish anything (other than Iris last week). I really have a bad case of castonitis, but other than a few hats and dishcloth's for charity, not allowing myself to do so until I finish or get farther on these projects.

BFL singles ready to be plied.


Sockhead hat that is mere inches from decrease section....

A lot of my friends have knit this hat, some multiple times...sad part is, I started this way before they did theirs, like months...car knitting didn't progress much did it ;)

Wandering the Moor Shawl...

It's gorgeous and sadly neglected...soon my pretty, soon...

These colors make me smile...I just wished I could knit on them longer than minutes at a time...


This hat got a lot of attention sitting by hubby while he was in the hospital a few weeks ago..he's ok now, scared me though..

16 - Cable hat, that I really want to finish soon so I can make it's matching cowl. Not that the weather around here allows itself to get cold enough. :(

No news on the job front either...something that was very encouraging turned out not meant to be....we're both pretty crushed about it, no wonder I'm so scattered lately....

Meet Iris

Hi, my name is Iris! I was just born about a week ago and I am well loved already :)

My new owner/momma found me in this place where she spends alot of time. Those teenagers, always doing something involving these little squares with writing on them. I think it's called a keyboard....


Then I spent some time in the kitchen with my momma's momma. Sigh..I was looking out at the back yard at this huge furry animal and wanted to go play. I was told it wasn't a good idea, I could lose some stuffing, arm or leg...hmmm


Here I am where I usually live. Right beside my momma on this pillow. Gosh, has she got a lot of men/boys on her wall. Some of them are pretty darn cute too ;)


Ok, so my momma's momma was a bit lonely one night...she let me rest here for a few minutes...

What the heck is this wheely thing and um..er..it's not very nice to rest people on pointy objects...sheesh!

I have to admit, visiting the forest was pretty fun too. Swinging around while my momma's momma was trying to take a picture. If I had a tongue I would have stuck it out at her!

Iris the Gourmet Monster from Dangercrafts
Cascade 220 Handpaints--red/black
US 5 circs & dpns

Your Yearly PSA!

You all know what the month of October means. If you don't that's ok :)


National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It's been 2 years for me. If I hadn't been getting my yearly mammograms, mine wouldn't have been caught so early. I know they are uncomfortable, but hey, worth it in my opinion and experience.

The reason why I started getting early mammograms was due to my mother's breast cancer. 20 years ago today she passed away from it. Sometimes it seems like yesterday...I still miss her a lot! That's why every year in tribute to her I blog my yearly reminder to you.

ETA: I had my first mammogram at age 26 and at first only had them every couple of years. My mom was diagnosed in August 1990, she had just turned 46, and she passed barely 2 months after diagnosis. I've had patients in their 20's get breast cancer so the age issue for your first one I think depends on your own personal family history and discussing it with your Dr.

Despite the craziness around here lately, I still plan on joining the TTL 2010 Mystery Sock KAL. Ravelry group info here

I'll be using this Rose Quartz colorway, perfect for pink month I think. In fact I know it is, as it had an attempted sock knit from it.

ETA!!! Picnic Knits is doing a Boobie Blitz to raise funds for her 3-Day walk for the cure! There are many ways to help her and her team! Check it out!