I made that pretty red wool that I spun into a cloche style hat using the York stitch!

Because of the intensity of color in this wool, and because I wanted to block this hat (blocking is the process of getting a piece wet and laying it out nicely to dry), I gave this hat a gentle wash with Euclan no rinse soap.

I let the hat soak for 15 minutes in tepid water (I didn’t want to felt it), then gently squeezed out the pink water and rolled it up in a towel to squeeze out more water before laying it out to dry.

I’m glad I decided to give it a wash, not only to remove some of the extra dye, but laying it out to dry evened out the stitching making it look even nicer.

I really do like the way the York stitch goes with a Z plied yarn (S and Z indicate direction of spin). I also really like spinning and nålbinding an entire piece. There is peace in taking time to enjoy the process. But it is not a fast craft. This hat took me a month to finish, working on it about an hour a day.