Web-Letter, Issue 19 – Aspen Hat and Scarflet I was there at the very first moment—when the snow began. I was walking past the local hardware store and noting the signs of Christmas in the window—santa mugs, candy cane candles, garlands of silver furry stuff—when it hit. I’d like to tell you that I noted soft, crisp snowflakes waffling in the air. Instead, the signs of snow were miniscule pellets spitting from the sky. But they were white, no doubt about it. And cold. Global warming notwithstanding, winter is here. This morning, the snow is still coming down the way it often does in a coastal city—wet and sloppy. The snow trucks are up and about banging their plows into the curbs and everyone on the street is wrapped in snuggly winterwear. This is the morning to think about a knitting project to look forward to in the evening. Soft and warm, the Aspen Hat and Scarflet could be ready to wear tomorrow, if you curl up and start it tonight.
The Story: There are times my fingers itch to take up fine yarn and small needles and make something knitterly where stitch details and color work are refined and precious. Other times, I like the proverbial quick knit, something that’s chunky, fat—out there—such as Cecily Glowik’s quick cap with a seed stitch border and its matching small scarflet. Cecily made the cap first. She chose soft gray because she wanted a “goes-with-everything” hat. When she’d finished the hat, she made the little scarf with shaped ends to leave on after she takes off her coat. The hat is knitted flat and seamed—good for beginners—but it could easily be worked in the round. The shaping takes place four times on decrease rows (or rounds) and begins right after the seed stitch border. You can start and finish both projects in a few hours. Friends of Cecily will be happy to know that she’s planning to make several hat-and-scarf sets this year for gifts.  Cecily’s tips for working small projects in Aspen or other super-bulky yarns: Keep the stitch patterns and project shapes simple.  The Yarn: Aspen — 50% alpaca, 50% wool Aspen is a single-ply, soft-spun yarn that’s half alpaca and half wool. We know that wool is warm because it traps warm air in its fluffiness. But alpaca is even warmer. Its hollow core stores heat. Just what you want in a cold-weather hat—a heat bank. Aspen’s structure, barely more than a roving, means that it knits up into full, rounded stitches. Great for popping simple knit-and-purl patterns. Cables, too, become something different when they’re worked on a grand scale. One of the things I love about Aspen is the palette. Most of the thirteen colors are heathered—like the gray used in this project. To make a heathered yarn, the mill blends fibers of different colors in the pre-spinning process. In this case, undyed fiber in the natural colors of sheep and alpaca are combined to make a soft, heathery gray. In Aspen’s other colors—teals, mossy green, chianti red, dusty grape, etc.—the blended fibers turn out rich, textury colors that have depth and mystery. Where to buy Aspen. The Stitches: The variety of knit-and-purl stitch combinations is endless. They’re simple to work and make wonderful textures alone, or mixed together. When a yarn is as dramatic as Aspen, you don’t need to do much to make an interesting garment. Even the simplest stitches worked (automatically) on a grand scale are eye-catching. Try seed stitch, ribs, even simple cables in a narrow scarf, say, 6” or 7” wide.	more photos The Pattern: Here's the free downloadable Aspen Hat and Scarflet pattern.
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