FO Friday- Brioche baby hat

Another FO that has been done for ages but has been hanging around waiting for its turn on FO Friday (like months).

Pattern: Brioche Baby Hat by Connie Carroll

Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll

Needles: 3.0mm

Mods: I know I altered this a little, but it was so long ago that I can't remember, I am fairly sure I made it shorter than in the pattern.

This a nice pattern to work, and makes a very cute baby hat. The brioche stitch is not difficult, but I think it is much more effective when worked with two colours, in a single colour it just looks like a slightly odd looking rib (you know when you look at something and it looks odd, but you can't work out why?).

I love the yarn, it is one of my favourite sock yarns so far- machine washable, not too expensive, lovely colours, good fibre content, its only downfall is the ribbing on my sock could be springier, but that may be to do with my gauge on those. I am considering ordering some more as I am about 3 skeins short of having enough sock yarn for my whole alphabet. 

A really terrible photo that shows the stitch but is an awful representation of the colour, it is a lovely bright red.

I have been doing some knitting, and even have a couple of FOs, but mostly I am spinning, today is the TdF challenge day so I will be off to try some Wensleydale locks in a minute.

Scrap down- Little hearts

Today is Wednesday, but my WIPs are not overly exciting to look at, just a lot of blue so I am sharing a scrap down instead. 

Pattern: Hearts by Anna Hrachovec
Yarn: Random red 4 ply and DK, literally a few metres for each
Needles: 2.5mm
Mods: I worked a lot of these last week and found that after the first increase row doing the increase as a M1after the first stitch and before the last rather than doing kfb gave a much neater finished piece.

These are a great way to use up tiny scraps, I even stuffed them with the yarn tails from knitting them up. They are also really cute, mine were about an inch across so just right for tucking into pockets and bags as a sweet suprise.

FO Friday- E socks

These having been waiting a while to be blogged, the socks from my marathon finally get their turn on FO Friday.
s
s
Pattern: Escalator socks by Sara Amoroso
Yarn: Knitpicks stroll in Gypsy
Needles: 2.25 Kollage dpns
s
I did this pretty much as on the pattern apart from changing the lengths of each section to suit myself. Changed the decreases on the toes a little as I needed them longer, this has made them a bit pointy but they are ok on.
s
Close up of stitch pattern:
s
s
I love this pattern, it comes out looking fantastic and is easy to work. Although I did manage to finish them in the weekend it was maybe a bit ambitious- a plain pair might have been a better choice for that.
s
I also love the yarn (lots of love to day), it is gorgeously smooth and so very red- yum! I will be finding ways and reasons to get my hands on this stuff again if it wears well.
s
Obviously the subtitle for these is Marathon socks, I am going to measure up for my F socks now, that's right- I said measure! 8-O

I went with the red...

As you can see from the photo below, I went for the red on my handspun. This was for two reasons- first all the lovely encouragement I had, and second black can be dyed over red if it was a disaster, but not the other way round!

s

s
I mixed some black into the red dye to get a nice dark colour, not an in your face red. It is maybe a little darker than intended, but I am still pleased with it (and have since realised that I obviously like this colour a lot, I have a carpet, sofa cover, curtains and jumper all in a very similar shade!).
s
There was no felting during the dyeing, and the colour took nice and evenly (the slightly shiny bits in the photo are just on the ties around the skein). This was a massive relief as I was very nervous about it, and accidentally boiled it during the dye process through not paying enough attention and the difficulties of temperature control on electric hobs- thank Bob for the low felting tendencies of Suffolk fibre!
s
I saved the tiny skein in natural colour, a good wash cleared up a bit more of the grey, there may even be an attempt at a colour work Christmas decoration.
s
The red has been balled and is already in the process of being knitted up, it will just be a plain ribbed beanie type hat. I had intended to spin a thick yarn to make the spinning and knitting faster, but it seems I struggle with that, it is about DK weight, not the aran/chunky I had pictured!

Scrap down- Little pixie hat

Another project to use up some leftovers, this time I decided to try out a top down hat pattern. It is toddler/small child size so will be sent to my niece at some point, or maybe tucked in her Christmas present.

The yarn is a superwash merino I dyed for another project, the pattern is Jack Attack by Jenny Raymond. I added an I-cord to the top as it came out somewhat pointy and the bottom edges seem to flare- Pixie styling!

s

s

I am still generating scraps and ends of balls faster than I am using them up. Maybe I need to dedicate a whole month to project scrap down.