A Hat and a Frog

I have mentioned before about all the yarn that has come my way as people clear out their stash and give it to my friend. One of the yarns she gave me last year was a skein of Spincycle yarns. This yarn provokes all sorts of emotions in crafters as it is not a cheap yarn and certain designers use it in their patterns which creates an expensive finished item. Knitters feel there is a case of the haves and have nots and that they are being excluded if they can’t afford this yarn. I can’t comment on other people’s feelings but with so much yarn and so many patterns – walk on by. The yarn company justifies their prices by saying that it is an expensive process and they pay their staff a living wage with benefits.

I really wasn’t sure what I would make with the skein, it seemed a waste to let it sit in stash for so long but as with all these yarns I have been given I did not want to feel obligated to use it. I found a hat pattern which used the Spincycle with another yarn in a mosaic pattern. Pondering on what yarn to use, my friend then gave me some of her left over Malabrigo Arroyo.

The hat was one of my January cast ons and I finished it in two weeks. I had quite a bit of yarn left and thought some fingerless mitts would be fun. In a slipped stitch or mosaic pattern to go with the hat. This was not as easy as I was expecting and I started three times before I found a pattern that worked. In the end I used the stitch pattern from the Humboldt Hat and incorporated it into a mitt pattern I had already started so that I would not have to redo the rib. This was not a good idea. As I was working on them I knew they were not going to be long enough but I convinced myself otherwise but after taking off the stitches for the thumb, I couldn’t deny the truth any longer. I frogged them but have not restarted as by then I had more projects on the go. Although with all the yucky weather we have been having, I would have worn the hat and gloves.