Sweet Counsels Tam
I am not ashamed to say that I am very, very proud of this tam. I bought a batt at the Salomon Farm Fiber Arts Festival in mid-May.
As soon as I held the batt, in all of its drum-carded wool/alpaca soft and fluffy glory, I wondered what on earth I could do with it. I decided to try for a hat, but I was worried that my spinning skills might not be up to it yet.
I stripped and pre-drafted the batt and spun it using a short forward draw on my "regular" pulley. (For the spinning geeks out there, that's the 7.25 ratio). I plied to create a two-ply yarn using the next-larger pulley (the 5.5 ratio).
The photos taken in the skein are before the skein was washed. I washed the skein very gently. The photos of the yarn wound up into cakes were taken after washing.
I was left with about 132 yards in 84 grams (2.9 ounces) of yarn.
It's really a very simple tam, but I didn't use double decreases this time. Instead, two different sets of knit-two-together decreases spiral around the top of the hat. This is very subtle, because the yarn has so much color contrast within itself, but I am very proud of taking a project from a batt and an idea to a wearable garment.
Chat
I had a great time chatting with Danielle about her shop, living local, and at least one yarn no one can even get right now.
Links
- Lion Brand Yarn's Homespun
- Viola Yarn (ViolaViola on Etsy)
- Brenda Dayne is the creative force behind Cast-On.
