FO's: Wurm (the 2nd) and Butterfly Mobius

Remember when I started dyeing yarn last winter?  Don't worry, I won't be offended if you don't!  Here's a little reminder....this was my very first attempt at dyeing.  Assuming I can actually reproduce this colorway, I'm calling it 'Reflections'.  

 I went with simple...one color (no mixing) and slightly variegated by slowly adding the yarn in the pot such that part of the skein was more saturated in color than the other.  The problem with variegated yarns (one or multiple colors), in my opinion, is that you never know how they will knit up (and I'll talk more about that with the second FO below).  Of course number of stitches and stitch pattern will influence what the final product will look like.  But with this first skein, I was curious to go ahead and knit it up just to get a feel for how that particular technique would look on a finished product.  A friend had recently finished knitting up a Butterfly Mobius with her handspun and I really loved the finished project so much that I decided to use it as a test knit.  

As you can see, with a long stitch count in the round and the 2-stitch moss stitch, the variegation is subtle and I really love how this looks.  Knit into a sock, it may have looked quite different...  I am very pleased with this project and know I will wear it often.  I think it looks quite nice just as a splash of color against my normally drab wardrobe (see below).  And it matches my eyes which I love!

Now, speaking of variegated...  One of my very first yarn purchases ever (bought in 2007!) was from an etsy store owned by one of the first bloggers I ever read...a fellow Oregonian.  It was a sport weight, variegated super wash yarn in colors that were just 'me'.  I didn't get a picture of the yarn before I knit it up (I was scrambling to get yarn skeined and projects organized to take into the field) but you can see it here. I didn't really know what to do with one skein of sport-weight yarn until Wurm came into my life.  And having one wasn't enough...I needed more because I love this hat.  So I grabbed the pattern and yarn and took it into the field with me.  And this became pretty much the only thing I knit in the field (which is typical for me).  

I have to admit to being slightly disappointed in this project.  First, the yarn, so pretty in skein and cake form, knit up sort of camouflage'y.  I had thought about trying to over-dye it but in the end, have made peace with the colors.  Second, because I couldn't access Ravelry in the field and forgot to write down which size I knit before, I knit the hat a tad bit big.  That combined with the fact that this yarn grew tremendously when wet-blocking makes a hat that is just a bit big and has a lot of slouch (I actually think it looks fine but I wear hats for warmth, not show, and therefore prefer a tighter fit).  Being superwash, I couldn't throw it in the drier to shrink it a bit (trust me, I tried anyway).  I will still wear it and love it (it has a lot of field memories attached to it) but can only give it a close-lipped smiley face on Ravelry! 

Since Kate will harass me if I don't share some modeled pictures...here we go.  I'm trying to make this space more real so hard as it was, you have to look at my face rather than headless pictures!  I put off taking pictures trying to find a day when my eyes didn't look like I had been up all night drinking...but considering the stress I'm under right now, this is just par for the course for me.  It may be April before I look any different! And I didn't quite hit the focus on me...I was getting cold and so partial blurry will have to do! But in looking at these pictures, I'm sort of loving how the hat and cowl look together...

 

Have a great weekend everybody!
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Now playing:  Somebody I Used To Know by Boyce Avenue
(you may hate this song because it was overplayed this past year...but take a listen to this version...pretty sweet)

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