One Skein Accessories from America

Although I have not posted for a few weeks - I mostly post at weekends, and we have had guests for the past two - I have been quite productive, knitting up my American skeins into one-skein accessory projects.

First, I completed the Cable and Rib Quartet Gaiter, from Leigh Radford's One Skein, in Road to China:

I modified the cables, more by accident than design, but it worked and also meant I used up the whole skein.  It is a beautiful colour and super-soft.  I will be wearing this as a cowl this winter.

I then moved onto a skein of Romney handspun, bought at a farmer's market in New England (I loved the fact I could buy yarn at farmer's markets through most of the American states I visited!). I wound it and turned it into a beret:

This is the Star Cross'd Beret, by Natalie Larson, a free pattern on Ravelry.  It is designed for chunky yarn, and I was using what is really a heavy aran, so it came out a little snugger than the pattern suggests, but it will be super-warm in winter.  My cables wandered around a bit, but I like how it came out.

I had yarn left, so used the rest combined with some odd ball chunky in my stash to make Yuko Nakamora's Non-Felted Slippers (free on Ravelry) for the husband:

These are real stash-busters, as the Romney ran out just before I completed the second one, and I had to substitute some more or less matching grey yarn!  It's not easy to tell though, thank goodness.  I will buy some stick-on slipper soles for these and attach.  I followed the pattern, and they are a good size for a man, so would need to downsize for myself.

After these three very quick projects, I decided I was ready to commit to something more - so yesterday cast on for the Northampton Neckerchief, from New England Knits, with some vintage yarn of unkown origin I bought at an antique dealers in Athens, Georgia last year - 3 large skeins (very tangled!) in bright spring green, orange and purple. I considered a Colour Affection shawl for these three skeins, but I have been hankering after a Northampton Neckercheif since I first saw it in the book, so decided to go with that instead. I started with the green:

It is brighter than appears in the photo, and is knitting up at about a light dk weight - heavier than the yarn called for, so I have gone up to a 4.5 mm needle. I don't actually know the yarn content, but I would guess pure wool from it's feel and stickiness. I plan to use some beads from my stash, and will switch to orange next, leaving the purple for the lace border.