Hello All!!!
I am here to show you the hooded collar (Purple Haze Hood {I love Jimmy}) that I made for this challenge. I started out with some white fiber from Sheep Shed, and spun it all up. I only used about half of the yarn I spun. I used the bluer of the purpleyarn, which was about 403 yards, at about a sport weight. My spinning is much more consistent now than when I made my shawl. The left over yarn that I did not use is about 468 yards.
Spun and Plied yarn soaking to set the twist
Three of the skeins hanging to dry before dying
The other 4 skeins hanging to dry
Dye bath before adding yarn. I used Jacquard Acid dyes in a mixture of Sky Blue and Fire Red to get a purple.
Yarn in bath after sitting in crock pot for about 40 minutes.
Four of the skeins drying.
All of the skeins drying. I measured my fiber, my dye,my vinegar, my water everything and still did not get dependable results. So you can see the difference in the colors.
The skeins and balls. You can really see the color differences here. (yay fuzzy pink slippers)
Cool pic of yarn for all you fiber junkies out there needing a fix. Yummy.
Now to the project. I have been wanting to make a hooded collar type thing for quite some time. I always seem to have the problem that when I wear a hat/scarf combo I still get a cold spot on the back of my neck, and can never quite seem to cover my chest all at the same time. Hence a hooded collar. I searched for days (literally) all over ravelry for something that I liked, that fit exactly what I was going for. The closest things I could find were a hooded collar from Vogue Knittings winter 2011 magazine, and the Katja Collar on ravelry. But the hood was to big a bulky and didnt cover enough neck, and the collar didn't have a hood and didn't cover enough chest.
So I studied photos of different things, made swatches, lots of math was involved, and eventually I came up with my own pattern. There are still some glitches that need to be worked out, but all in all I am very please with it. Above picture is when I was done knitting.
Blocking on the bed. You can really see the cables here and the lace decreasing panels.
This best shows the colors that it turned out. Somehow I got a very definitive blue-ish stripe in there, but it is not nearly as visible when its on. I blocked it flat so that I could really get those points done right, and get the bottom edge stretched correctly. I then grafted the top seam and blocked that. I steam blocked it because I didn't really want my needles to sit in the water, and I didn't want my extra little ball to get wet either.
Back. Designed to have a point at the middle back, on each shoulder and two mini points in the front.
Side view.
Front with six buttons. I can button it up more if I want more chest coverage.
Back side cable and lace detail. I used the firefly cable pattern from Lion Brand's stitch library. I wanted each element of the item to shine. I didn't want the cable to detract from the yarn, and vice versa.
Hope ya'll like it. And I love the other entries! Let me know if you have any questions. It has been a rough couple of weeks. Two deaths within five days, thus 2 funerals in 2 days. Finding out the bank is foreclosing on the condo we are renting. Fun fun and more fun. (Yarn helps though.)
And happy Saint Patty's day!
