Cotton Hemp

While I was on vacation recently, the hubby and I were able to ditch the young one for a while courtesy of Grandma's Babysitting Service. First order of business was a new cell phone for him, a process that didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. The cell phone store happened to share a parking lot with one of my most favorite retail establishments: Tuesday Morning. And it's like they knew I was coming! Their yarn was right up front....unlike the one nearest me that puts it in the back. 

Naturally, I wasn't able to resist this Martha Stewart Cotton Hemp in Coral. Though, in my defense, I DIDN'T buy the entire lot of them. I limited myself to four balls at $2.50 a piece.

I have crocheted in straight hemp twine; it's not my favorite. Cotton, on the other hand, is pretty much my favorite. This stuff is 65/35 cotton to hemp, so it's softer than pure hemp but sturdier & less stretchy than straight cotton. It's perfect for making bags! I wanted to make something wearable, so I used it for my first sun hat, a pattern I designed and will need to refine a bit. 

The brim is a little bit more floppy than I really intended, but it still works as a sun hat! I picture it on a beach with a killer pair of shades. 

Shortly after we returned home from our vacation, the hubby was at a Tuesday Morning to which we don't usually go. He made the mistake of calling to tell me that this one had an even larger selection of the cotton hemp MS yarn. A few days later I was there, once again limiting myself to four balls: two each of black and light blue. I was going to make a bag, but then I got to thinking about product development....

You see, my hair is helplessly curly, and my daily struggle with frizz is real. I recently read a life hacks article that suggested using a cotton shirt to dry curly hair to reduce frizz. Makes sense: regular towels have tiny loops that catch water and individual hairs. Cotton shirt fibers are much smaller and more closely woven, and therefore snag less of those individual hairs, cutting down on frizz. 

I tested this idea; I used an old cotton shirt instead of my usual towel to dry my hair out of the shower. It worked! I know, I was shocked too, but there really was a marked difference in how frizzy my hair ended up being after it had been fully air-dried (disclaimer: I don't use heat on my hair other than hot water & sometimes sunshine). However, my XL t-shirt isn't eactly long enough for my hair. 

So, my crafty brain kicked in, of course. First, I thought of re-purposing old t-shirts, which at this point is plan B, because plan A is to make something out of, you guessed it! Cotton yarn. I love cotton yarn, and I'm totally capable of creating a cotton towel that is long enough for my hair. Then, there's this cotton hemp. Hemp is a freaking wonder product, so I figure it can only be a good thing, right? Right.

Plan A is already in process, and I'm starting to think that another trip to the Tuesday Morning is going to be needed. My hair is super long, and the balls don't actually contain a ton of yarn when one is used to using Red Heart Super Saver sized skeins. The hat actually took up 3.6 balls of the coral. The other 0.4 has been combined with the blue & black skeins in the (hopefully to come) anti-frizz revolution.

Stay tuned for updates! I may or may not have also been unable to resist pre-cut pieces of polar fleece at the Tuesday Morning that are going to become a blanket that will be truly hard for me to give up. More on that to come soon, too :D

UPDATE (7/28/14): It's here! 

Thanks for looking, Loves!

Always Yours,

The NWB