Still Knitting

Noro Iro with recylced sari silks

It's time for a new winter hat. This is usually a slow process; I make my own patterns and rework the piece many times until it looks like the idea in my head.







The Yarns

• Noro Iro (75% wool, 25% silk), Color #9 (peaches, corals, plums, browns and other colors I may cut out of the skein for this project. I often do that with variegated yarns.)
• Noro Lotus (57% rayon, 23% nylon, 12% acrylic, 8% cashmere), Color #15 (maroons, plums, pinks, orange, navy, and brown). I definitely want to use this yarn for the tassel because right off the skein it looks stitched. Unfortunately, once it's knit, the "stitches" change to speckles. I believe this yarn may be discontinued and that may be why I got it on sale.
• Coral yarn I picked up at the NH Farm and Forest Expo years ago. I think it's 100% wool. The color is yummy with a slightly shifting saturation. I'd love to use it around my face but it's scratchy so I still have to work out that part of the project.



Cutting coral sari silk in half lengthwise

• Yarn made from recycled sari silks. Such yarns come in different forms. This one is sewn strips with no spin -- such as the sari ribbon shown here. Some of the strips were too wide so I spent some time cutting the silks lengthwise.

Knit skein of Noro Iro, 20 stiches across

Hand Picked Colors
For all three variegated yarns, I'm hand picking the colors. I love how Noro creates colors only found in a watercolor painting but sometimes they throw in a hue that does not work for me. Typically, I cut it out and move on.

I have a terrible time imagining how a yarn will look once it's knit-up, so . . . I decided it would be faster to just knit the entire skein and decide which parts I like and snip around them.

Clipped yarn for color selection

And that's what I did yesterday. I knit up the skein of Noro Iro (20-23 stitches across) and auditioned some of the Noro Lotus and the sari silk. Then I started clipping and unraveling.

Testing out the yarns

Undecided
 I'm still undecided about how I want to do the part around my face. I wish I had something not scratchy in a deep coral. I considered some of the silks but I think they are just too loud by themselves. They are a beautiful riot of color but that's not entirely what I want.

Testing out the yarns with the fur

I even considered some pieces of fur from an old child's hat given to me by a friend. In the past, I've used small pieces of the fur for a top knot or tassels such as on this hat.