An ear brassiere in progress

I like warm ears, but I'm not really into hats. I like hats, but they are an all-day commitment. As soon as I don a hat, it needs to stay on my head for the remainder of the day. My hair is easily influenced...meaning once a hat plasters my hair to my head it's over. Hat. Must. Stay. On.

That's when a little gem like this comes in handy. I call it an ear brassiere, which is an odd name since this is worn for the sole purpose of keeping my ears warm rather than keeping my ears from jiggling and flopping about. To be clear, my ears don't jiggle or flop.

It's simply a head band about 3 1/2 to 4 inches wide. I'm knitting it flat and will graft the ends together when it gets long enough to go around my head. Not too snug, yet snug enough to not slip down into my eyes.

I was hoping to get it done before this weekend's camping trip. (Low on Saturday is expected to be in the upper 30s). I don't think I'll make it. There's grocery shopping and packing to be done tonight so we can leave as soon as possible on Friday.

No pattern...yet. This is something I brewed up in my head, and the yarn is leftover handspun, probably a dk weight. I'm using size 4 needles.

Rough pattern: provisional cast on, 23 stitches. Slip first stitch each row. There's a 3 stitch cable on either side of a 9 stitch braid cable. One reverse stockinette between each cable. If I were to knit this again, I'd put two stitches between the cables. I was afraid it would be too wide with those 4 additioanl stitches. I forgot how much cables will draw in. Also, the yarn has a tiny bit of angora in it, which softens the stitch definition. When it's long enough, my plan is to graft it in a manner that you won't be able to see the join. Yep, the much-maligned kitchener stitch! I'm not scared, maybe I'll even post a YouTube video of it.

 

 

Basket case

Show and tell time...I finished my basket!

The class was tons of fun and I'm so glad I took the plunge and signed up for it. I'll be taking more classes, that's for sure. 

I used wire, reed, sea grass, beads and some of my handspun yarn....which looks a lot fuzzier than it really is. The basket is about 6" high and kind of triangular shaped. My favorite part of the basket is the purple wire that I wrapped around the wired rush in an inside out pattern.

The whole process was quite satisfying. I'm typically a "color in the lines" type of person and struggle every day with recovering perfectionism. For me to weave a basket with irregular sides, different materials, mixed weaving patterns, random beads, and no preconceived pattern is a pretty big accomplishment.

I simply love it!

A shout out

After listening to my woes about the needle I was using for the Weave-it loom I found at an estate sale, Liana ordered me one that is so much thinner and longer! I tried it out this evening with an old ball of some crappy yarn I spun (very badly) a couple years ago. The yarn is ugly, poorly plied, inconsistent. Yuck. So I tossed it in a bin intending to use it as a core for spinning batts. Well, hold the presses! Stop the spinning wheels!  Who knew that weaving it would transform it into something so delightful?

 

Yay! And thank you, Liana! Not only did you make mini-loom weaving enjoyable, you saved a misunderstood and unappreciated skein of yarn from the crap bin!