Finished - Stranded Knitting Hat!

This project was a great deal of fun and I learned a ton about stranded knitting!

1. It was not as hard as it looked.  Following the pattern is a lot like counted cross stitch.  If you can count to 20 and keep track of which line you're on in the pattern, you are in great shape.
2. Find a way to hold the yarn that works for you.  There are a number of great videos on YouTube showing different ways to hold the different colors.  I settled on Continental, holding the yarn in one hand, a different color around two different fingers to better tension control.  There was a fair amount of trial and error involved.
3. Felting the project at the end solved a world of issues (see item 2, above)... Like puckering and inconsistent stitch lengths.  It also made the fabric more dense and warm.

I think it turned out to be pretty cute.  Much cuter on my niece (but what isn't cute on a twenty somethings), but she wasn't available for the photo shoot.

This project was so much fun that I have completed another project, have one underway, and just purchased yarn for a third!

New Crochet Project

Hiya.

I January I went to Nancy's Sewing Basket on Queen Anne.  It is a wonderful fabric store full of silks, brocades, wools, cashmere, linen.  Definitely not a shop geared toward quilters.  They have an entire room devoted to ribbon, new, antique, European.  All yummy.  Needless to say, when I go I seldom walk out empty handed.

On that visit I fell in love with this lovely silk/wool blend.  It's baby blue.  Soft, fuzzy wool on one side and smooth, satiny silk on the other.  It was super wide - something like 72".  I lightened my wallet by a yard.

I planned to make 3 scarfs each with a lace crochet trim.  I began by turning the rough edge with a blanket stitch in a lavender wool/silk yarn (Zephyr).  Then distractions snuck in.  Quilt projects, other yarny projects, so it sat.  I would pick it up from time to time, but mostly it sat.

The silk side is dreamy to run your hand along.

I've decided to finish most of my works in progress before I head into new adventures.  (That's mostly true, but that's a different story).  Over Memorial Day Weekend I finished the blanket stitch I began the crochet part.

The first two rows...  I'm using a 1.50mm hook, which is bigger than hooks I've used on some other projects.  I had hangnails larger than some of my crochet hooks.  You can see just the tiniest bit of the fuzzy wool side of the fabric.

I've completed about 25% of this final row.   I love my new Macro lens.

 I think it will be super cute when I finish.