fleece to finished - Check Slouch Hat

I've blogged about this yarn and this hat as I made it but for completeness here are pictures and my thoughts.

I used my new wool combs to process a couple of bags of fleece I had stored - some zwartbles fleece and  some from Smiler, a sheep belonging to a family friend whose breed I can't recall. The grey is a mix of the two (note much more white than black) and all of the yarn is rather neat and incredibly squashy.

I love the Check Slouch pattern. It's my first 'slip stitch' colourwork pattern. Each round only involves a single colour, this may mean that the knitting takes a bit longer but I preferred this to carrying two strands around the work. The check effect is great and works really well with natural colours. 

I've not blocked a hat before, here I used a balloon which worked well, although I probably put a little too much air into it and stretched the brim a little larger than needed.