Early this fall I decided to downsize my yarn stash by taking the fuzzy wooly yarn and stitching it up into assorted winter accessories: cowls, scarves, hats, and headbands. I’ve used it all up! Here are a few of the items I made.
I love to make hats bottom-up. You can judge size more easily, and the work gets quicker as you go along. The hat pictured below, shown both ways out, was made with two strands held together and probably a K/6.5mm hook.
I started with hdc worked in rows, each stitch made into the back loop of the previous row’s stitch (the one that makes hdc’s faux teardrop on the back). That gives a sort of ribbing. After slip-stitching that together I used fpdc, starting with the round that was on the sides of the ring of ribbing. That gives the interior the horizontal ribbing you can see in the second picture above. It’s possible it would be warmer worn that direction since the fpdc posts would be compressed together more, but I prefer the look of the post “cables.”
The first image below is of a scarf I made using simplified star stitch, which combined with the yarn choice gives it a cobblestone-y look. I used similar yarns as for the hat, but an N/9mm hook.
Finally we have a piece that was supposed to be for me despite its wool content. I made a Mobius strip using knotted stitch, out of four skeins of variegated, almost metallic yarn. I wanted it to be an upper-torso wrap that would wind over each shoulder and under each arm, crossing in front and passing smoothly across my back in two horizontal lines, but there were two problems: A) that really needed to have a full turn inserted when closing the strip into a loop, not a Mobius half-turn, and B) it was way too big around. It hung like a double bandolier. Since I can’t wear it as a scarf, hanging around my neck, it’s getting donated. Too bad because it’s far lovelier in person than in the photo – it was impressive how the skeins, each a different colorway, played so well together. Someone who can wear wool will have to love it instead.
PS As of today everything in the site is listed in the pattern and tutorial directory!