Pattern: Selbu Modern
Yarn: Warm Valley Orchard's Worsted
Needles: US 3 (for ribbing) US 5 (for the rest)
This very special yarn was purchased on a trip Mom, Kevin, and I took last May to the San Juan Islands. We spend most of our time during that trip on Orcas Island, and my one request was that we stop in to Warm Valley Orchard to take a peek at their yarn. It's a very small shop that sells much more than just yarn, but the yarn they have there is super cool. Most of it is from their own sheep! You can even see said sheep grazing in the misty field as you drive in. I have a soft spot for woolly, undyed natural sheep's wool. This stuff also has lots of natural lanolin still in it, so it's a pleasure to knit with and produces a fairly water-resistant fabric.
The pattern is one I've made before for myself and the hat has become one of my favorites. Mom had also admired it, so we decided to pick out some yarn at Warm Valley so I could make her one of her own for Christmas (which I did finish in time thankyouverymuch). The only problem was that the wools we both liked where worsted weight, which is much heavier than the fingering weight called for by the pattern. Not to worry, I simply cast on less stitches and did fewer pattern repeats of the colorwork section. There was some math involved, but it was fairly painless. The resulting hat is definitely more stiff than slouchy and much more dense. For Mom this isn't a problem because it means it's super warm and suitable for even the coldest Wisconsin winter days. Except when it's -30, because no one should go outside in -30.
Raveled: here.
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