The Colorado Hat

I sent my sister in Colorado and email yesterday and gave her an update on the hat she requested. As of yesterday, I had spun the alpaca and the rambouillet (after rewashing and recarding it).

She was so excited to hear that I had taken her seriously and said she is going to be bragging about how not only did her sister knit this hat, but that I had spun the yarn, too!

Nothing like a little pressure, eh?

As of this morning, dried and skeined, I have 126 yards of worsted weight 2-ply. It's very nice. I'm just not sure I have enough. Fortunately, I still have some alpaca roving and there is still some of the wool on the bobbin so I can make more if I need to.

As I was plying I was a little concerned because I had spun the wool somewhat finer than I did with mom's hat (also minus all the neps and junk). I had also spun the alpaca on the spindle for mom's so it was very much finer than the wool. Anyway, as I was plying, it appeared that the alpaca color (the fawn) was more prominent than the chocolate brown wool. My sister was especially excited by the chocolate color in mom's hat because she thought it would match the color of a coat she was preparing to buy. When I washed the skein, however, the wool bloomed beautifully and the two colors are almost even in presentation. I'm very happy with this yarn.

And I will take a picture before I start knitting it.

Anyway, I got to thinking as I was plying these singles last night, that this whole hat really will be fully representative of the Made in Virginia theme. Both animals (the alpaca and the sheep) are Virginia raised and their fleeces were harvested in Virginia and sold in Virginia to a Virginian who is spinning and knitting with them.

And when complete in a couple of weeks, will be going to keep the head warm of a former Virginian.

I'm a little concerned, however, because on February 2nd we are traveling to West Virginia for the weekend to visit with friends. What if I'm not done by then? Would it be cheating to carry it across state lines and knit on it? Or should I just lay it down as we cross the line, pick up another project to work while in West Virginia, and then pick it up on our way back? Or can I just invoke that old pre-Civil War notion that West Virginians were just being ornery because they were all poor and didn't own slaves and no matter what they say, they will always be Virginians?

How silly can I get with this anyway?

Thanks for the Support

I do want to thank the many folks who commented and those who wrote me privately to encourage me in the weight loss project.

Yesterday was not such a great day in that department. I thought I had a healthy, low fat lunch until I went back and read the label and realized that the soup alone was 10 points! Yikes. Watch out for those Thai noodle meals. Anyway, I went over my points yesterday but I'm onto a new day and can just proceed.

I think I will have to find a way to track my progress in the side bar somehow... maybe. I'm a bit balky about going into that sidebar stuff even though it's a lot easier with the new Blogger.