another (handspun) thorpe

I know some people don't like popular knitting patterns, but I get excited seeing new ones just explode. Especially when they're something I'll wear and have excellent yarn on hand for :)


Thorpe
handspun baby alpaca and alpaca/silk, A Verb for Keeping Warm-- "Witchy Woman"
US 9 (5.5mm) and US 8 (5.0mm) dpns, 5 (used 8's for the garter)
Started and finished: January 2009

The fiber for the yarns was from the October shipment of A Verb for Keeping Warm's ultra fiber club-- 2 oz of baby alpaca dyed in "witchy woman," and 1.5oz of black alpaca/silk. I spun each into a bulky soft single...



...and was just too impatient to actually wet finish the yarns before knitting them up.


(late in the day flash picture, black not so true black)

It was actually kind of fun knitting from the bobbins like this! Wondermike had twittered (or asked on ravelry? can't find it now) about combating bias in singles... I guessed that in addition to purl sts, stranding might work.



Maybe not? :) I can't really tell if its the fact I didn't block the hat or not making it slant. I'm not going to wetblock the hat-- I'm worried that the alpaca with grow and outgrow my already huge head :) Mom's alpaca Thorpe may already be too large for her... I'm avoiding asking if she wants me to reknit it on smaller needles for now.

In addition to the fact the hat takes on a faux fair isle look from the long stretches of "witchy woman" colors, I also really, really like the halo.



And that you think I look Tibetan :)

Thanks again!

saved by stash

Amidst secret and not-so-secret holiday knitting (grandma afghan status: 2.5 panels of 4 done)... I managed to forget to make something for mom. Now, okay... see, last year she asked for (and received!) the merino-silk Hanami stole I knit, so I wasn't really thinking as far ahead as having a gift this year, just slipped my mind. She doesn't know I forgot, and she's one of those that would be aghast that I "forgot her"-- so stash diving I found some yarn that could be knit up in two days...




Alpaca with a Twist Big Baby-- 100% baby alpaca, bulky wt

...a really great pattern that would make a bulky alpaca hat even warmer, some gigantic needles, and yay!



A bulky baby alpaca set in two days with room to spare :)

For the scarf, I used 3+ skeins of Big Baby, doubled and knit in garter st over 12 sts on US 17 (12mm) needles. The hat is Thorpe, a fun top-down earflap hat that comes both plain and stranded. I knit mine using a skein each of 'natural' and 'harvest' on US 10's to give it more room (coming from big-headed stock)...



See?

I probably should have knit the headband/earflap panel on smaller needles, it is a bit larger than the stranded portion but still okay. I am hoping the stranding will help the alpaca keep its shape and not grow too much-- used garter for the scarf for the opposite reason and hope it will stretch even more than the 6' it's at now. I just discovered I like long scarves :) It is *crazy* heavy, and thick... warmer than Hanami for sure.

And mom will never know I forgot :)

Have a good holiday! And if Santa's listening-- what I *really* want is a year membership to the Grafton Fibers Colorways fiber club... 2 Grafton spindles plus a Grafton Fibers batt a month for a year! (I have not wanted to join a club so badly since... well since aVfKW, since Black Bunny Fibers, since the Bellwether's Rhyme Times... but still!! :))

Miss you!