Loopy Academy Hat & Mittens

For the first semester of Loopy Academy, you needed to knit a cowl in self-striping fingering weight yarn, mittens in a semi-solid worsted weight yarn, and a hat from a new-to-you designer in sport or DK, all using at least 175 yards. I finished the cowl earlier, and managed to find a yarn company that dyed their worsted and DK yarns the same as well as a mitten pattern that matched a hat pattern, all calling for the correct yarn weights. Score!

Pattern: Cafe au Lait Tam (Ravelry mine)

Yarn: Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool DK in Great Lakes, 1.52 skeins

Needles: US6/4.0mm for the brim, US7/4.5mm for the hat

Timeframe: December 13 - 21, 2014

Mods: Added four pattern repeats around the hat and two in length to make it slouchy and take up enough yardage.

Problems: None!

Pattern: Cafe au Lait Mittens (Ravelry mine)

Yarn: Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool Worsted in Great Lakes, 1 skein

Needles: US4/3.5mm

Timeframe: December 4 - 27, 2014

Mods: Added the liners but used the same yarn by picking up after the cuff, bound off the thumb stitches instead of making thumbs on the liner.

Problems: None!

For the mittens, I made the first liner a bit long and had to rip back to make it fit inside, not outside, the mitten. I decided I did not want extra bulk at the cuff or in the thumb, so started the liners after the cuff and bound off the thumb stitches. It was a good decision, both comfort- and yarn-wise - I had just enough yarn for what I wanted!