I learned to knit when I was a child, and have, for most of my adult life, considered myself a knitter. For much of that time, I was a knitter in isolation; I didn't go to knitting groups and, mostly, didn't even know other people who knit. With the growth of the internet, that's changed. There are many on-line communities of knitters, and, through them, I have found more local groups of knitters. And more.

I have learned to spin my own yarn. (Not that that's stopped me from buying more yarn. But I have spindles and I have a spinning wheel. So, in addition to the lifetime supply of yarn that I've purchased, I've been accumulating skeins of hand-spun yarn, as I hone my skills (and accumulate more semi-processed fiber to spin). While acquiring a new skill is worthwhile in its own right, this shouldn't be the only goal. Spinning yarn produces, well, a product—yarn, and this yarn is potentially of use.

So, yesterday, as I realized that I really need a new hat, one that will keep my ears warm, I pulled out some of my handspun, three small skeins of some maroon Romney wool. (Part of being a spinner is that breeds of sheep and the properties of their wool matter; wool is no longer a sufficient designator.)



This yarn has been marinating in my stash since June. Rather than make a generic hat, as I'd made with my very first handspun, I decided on a pattern, Coronet, that I'd had my eye on for a while. This hat consists of a cabled band, out of which the remainder of the hat is built.

Because this is "beginner yarn"—yarn that is uneven in ways that would be obvious to a knitter or to a spinner, if not to a random "muggle"—, I decide to average some of these out by holding the yarn double for the cable band. I started the band last night, and I'm about half done now. The fabric is, as I'd expected, quite firm, but the cables, if I must say so myself, look very even and nice.



Now, all I have to worry about is having enough yarn. Because this is handspun yarn, it's unique. There is no more. But that's OK. The yarn looks much nicer knit up into a hat than it did sitting in an opaque bin.

Yesterday was the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival. Among my purchases was this 2.5 lb roll of prepared fiber. It's carded Ramboulet from A Touch of Twish. Other than staring at it and fondling it, my intention is to spin it, using one or another of my trusty drop spindles. Then, I will knit myself a sweater out of it. That should take about half of it, so I suppose I could eventually knit two sweaters.

It is every bit as gorgeous in person as it is in the picture..