Happy hockey day in Canada!

I have been a fan of Le chandail de hockey ever since I read it in French Class in high school.  This very Canadian tale by Roch Carrier of a boy denied the hockey sweater of his choice and forced to wear a sweater not to his liking has charmingly tragic proportions.  When I first saw these chapeaux, knit by Iwona, I was immediately smitten. I think (in part) due to my love of this sweater- story.  If you would like to investigate this bit of Canadiana further check out this beautiful animated version of the story by Sheldon Cohen.

For Christmas Iwona whipped up this patriotic project; a duo of head-warmers for her family.  I could not resist copying her and making one for my Leaf-loving pal.  I promised the details  and here they are:

TEAM SPIRIT HAT

The main pattern came from a blog called Artemis Adormnments.  It is a freely available hat pattern with a classic snowflake design.  Iwona omitted the snowflake and replaced it with the blue maple leaf.  The chart for the leaf was found here.  Both Iwona and I were impressed by the extra stretchy ribbing on the bottom of the hat.  Knitting through the back loop makes for a springiness and sturdiness that gives this hat a traditional toque-iness.

We used: Madeline Tosh DK in colour Fathom
For the white, Iwona used Berroco Ultra Alpaca , I used  2 strands held together of Dream in Colour Smooshy which makes it a completely superwash hat.

The pattern calls for 4.5mm, but both Iwona and I used a 4mm instead of the 4.5mm recommended.  Both of us are looser knitters, but the pattern’s assertion that the original hat was made for a extra large head made this needle choice an easy one.

Once you pass the ribbing, the white takes up about 25 rows of stocking stitch.  The Maple Leaf pattern is 20 rows, so begin it on the 3rd row of stocking stitch. Pick up again with the blue and start the decreases at about 6″ from ribbing. We made the maple leaf after the hat was done with duplicate stitch, but you could produce it with intarsia (your choice).

Then make a big old pompom if you choose and you are done!

Craftily Yours
Kristin

go goat!

Cashmere goats in Tibet↑
If you want to produce cashmere you will have to work at it.  Get out the big hairbrush and become a goat-stylist. The softest, warmest, and lightest finds will be under the chin and on the belly.  The rest of the hair is just good for  paint brushes. A good week of brushing should do the trick.  Have fun in the mountains!

Hand dyed 100% cashmere from Handmaiden.  One skein is enough for a hat or a neck warmer.  I made the Jacques Cousteau Hat with a skein, just recently.  The hat needed to be just a”hair” shorter to accommodate the yardage.  How much will depend on your tension.  In my case about a half an inch.  This makes very little difference on a hat with this long a brim.  Or ask us at the Knit Cafe about the Devin’s Toque(pictured here), a pattern by Handmaiden made just for this yarn.

Speaking of shearing; here is something closer to straight off the sheep then we are used to seeing it.  Merino hand dyed fleece from the Fleece Artist can be spun into your own yarn or used in felting projects. Needle felters can separate the colours so one bundle becomes a whole pallet. Or try this↓
A beautiful example of a Thrummed Mitten if I ever saw one.  Which I have.  I made a half dozen of these when I first learned how to knit. This insulated mitten originally haling from Newfoundland is fun to make especially when you have colourful thrum (a fancy term for fleece) to work with. That’s what gets my goat!

Craftily yours
Kristin