Radical Fringe Hat

Here's what happens when you get carried away with overtwisted yarns. This hat -- or fez, or toque, or product of a Rastafarian sheep, whatever -- combines knitting and weaving techniques. The band is handwoven in a honeycomb pattern, using orange and purple 2-ply yarns as pattern weft on a green foundation. The top was handknitted and the top-knot is a tassle of handspun singles that curl up playfully when left to their own devices. From the Ministry of Silly Hats, for sale in my Etsy shop.

Weaving Leaves of Grass

A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more
         than he.


I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green
         stuff woven.


Walt Whitman, Song of Myself


I wove this fabric from handspun cormo -- singles spun in both S & Z twist -- and a handspun merino/silk blend -- again, singles spun in both S & Z twist. Hopefully, it will become a garment -- but first I have to spin more weft!

On the loom, it looks like gauze, but when it's washed gently in hot water, the overtwisted yarns relax into a seersucker texture. I didn't do anything to create the fringe. The yarns do this all by themselves.

Today there's more color inspiration outside my window:

Candle Flame Hat in Kauni

Look closely: the ribs at the base are the candles. The diamonds are the flames, rising in color from blue at the wick to red to orange to yellow. A very warm hat indeed, knitted in Kauni Effektgarn, which has wonderful long color bands -- this particular yarn in rainbow shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Switzerland (and knitting) in November

Lake Geneva: Vineyards on the hillside near Lausanne

Swans and sun on Lake Geneva

Zurich at night

And now, on to the important business: There is a wonderful yarn shop in Zurich's Old Town, at 10 Neumarket, called Hand-Art. You can find directions to this shop and others in Zurich at this website:

http://www.knitmap.com/ 

Here's to what my husband calls "The Fiber Underground." We are everywhere!

We stayed in Kloten, a suburb of Zurich, in a Euro-modern hotel, the Allegra. The hotel's design was inspired by Mondrian, who lived in Zurich -- as did Le Corbusier and Giacometti. If you go, you must visit the Fraumunster Cathedral, which dates back to the 9th century. The stained-glass windows in the church were created by Giacometti and Chagall! And it's a short walk across the river to the Kunsthaus, the city's art museum, where there is currently a Picasso retrospective, a recreation of the very one he himself helped put together in 1932. If ever I can begin to understand Cubism, it's thanks to this exhibit and his painting, "Man with a Clarinet."