Softening Scratchy Yarn

I purchased a hand knit sweater at a thrift store because I loved the colors of the yarn. I didn't really take into consideration that the yarn was incredibly itchy and scratchy and almost completely unwearable. Until I discovered the blog post below, I thought my only option was to make a felted bed for my cats.

I completely unraveled the sweater and then used a yarn winder to create long skeins of yarn.  I took one of the skeins just to see if this method for softening the yarn would work. I was pleasantly discovered that it did soften it quite a bit. The yarn was soft enough to make a hat that wouldn't drive me insane with an itchy forehead.

How to soften scratchy yarn

Cloche with Rolled Brim - Update

I was able to start working on the cloche at my younger son's soccer practice. Unfortunately, I am easily distracted by everything going on around me, so I kept losing my place. This isn't a difficult pattern but the counting kept tripping me up. Once we got home, and I had a little quiet time, I cruised along.

I do most of my knitting on circular needles. I find them so much more comfortable and easier to use than straight needles, mostly because I can sit in any chair and not bang my needles on the arm rests. And, because the needles are attached to each other, I don't ever have to worry about losing one needle.

The above pic shows the hat shortly after I started it. There are 8 stitches between yarn-overs. More pictures will be posted as I finish the hat.

So I thought I had a hat....

A while back, on our Facebook page, I was going to post a picture of a hat I had made from one our patterns. But I couldn't find that hat and I couldn't find the pics we had taken of it. If Alison hadn't been the one to take the pictures of the hat (and seen the hat), I would have thought I had completely lost my mind. 

I had yarn left after making the  original hat, so I thought I would start another hat.  I am using the "Classic Cloche with Rolled Brim" hat. You can find the pattern here: Classic Cloche with Rolled Brim

The original pattern called for Bernat Colorstyle Yarn which is no longer available, and I couldn't find any information online about it. Instead, I found a yarn that gave me the same gauge: Vanna's Glamour Yarn was easily available and makes up into a really cool hat.

I will be posting updates as I go along. Hopefully this will be a quick knit. I wish I was faster at knitting.