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Winter Rose Cowl – New things to learn

Another photo shoot. A triumph and a learning experience all at the same time. The beauteous Steph has been my model for this wonderful winter rose cowl that I finished recently. She graciously did the photos I requested from her so that I could publish them. As you can see she looks amazing and so does the cowl. Except it could look better. It is inside-out. As a knitter it never occurred to me that someone wouldn’t know the stocking stitch garter stitch game and be able to see which way was the correct way to wear it. So even though I have had to ask for new photos I feel like I learnt an important thing about how your item will be worn.

Even better news – pattern will be available as soon as I get the new photos!

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New project

desk with teapot, wool and workbook

I have finished my winter rose jeweled cowl and I’m starting the scarf. Very exciting. I love the yarn I picked for this one – deep peacock green in a merino/silk blend. It’s going to be luxurious. Right now it is a theoretically work in progress. But those beads, scribbled notes and balls of wool will soon be something marvelous. I promise!

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Bad Hair Day Hat – Part 3

Two girls wearing similar hats

Pattern is now completed. All I need to do is take my 3 pages of scribbled notes and turn that into something usable by other people. I have 3 sizes and it is a great little pattern. The wool that I used means that you can get twinned hats from two balls of wool.

This was my first fair isle pattern where I was designing it with purpose in mind. I discovered that hats are in fact perfect for that, because it’s a relatively small project. I think the next one will be mittens or fingerless gloves (also small!!)

The last fair isle I designed from scratch was a massive blanket which I worked out about 4 rows at a time. It is a one of a kind as I took minimal notes and couldn’t recreate it if I tried. This time I approached it semi-professionally, worked out the stitch numbers required for each hat size, the rows, the patterns and so on. An invaluable resource was Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle Knitting. It’s a wonderful starting point for anyone wanting to branch out into fair isle. I’ll have the pattern up in the next couple of days. Both here and on Ravelry and Lovecrafts.

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Bad Hair day hat – part 2

I’m very happy with the way this has turned out. I ended up doing a couple of different hats as I played around with the fair isle pattern for the nicest one. I think I have the pattern down now. The hat shown just had a beautiful star, but now I have shorter cables, a line pattern, star pattern, line pattern and then the crown. I’ve even worked out 3 different sizes.

This has been such a satisfying project to complete. Even when I was playing with the design and final shape I knew I’d end up with usable hats. It’s also super warm and a great stash-buster! The contrast colour requires very little wool so great for little amounts of worsted weight that are lying around. Also because it doesn’t require a huge amount of wool, you can make it very cheaply or splurge and buy some expensive wool.

I’ve done it in some Peruvian 100% worsted from Knit-Picks at $3.49 USD per 100g ball. You’ll need 120 – 150 grams for the pattern but if you have enough of the contrast colour, you could do the brim in that and only need 100g in the main colour. I’ve also ordered some Cascades yarn Friday Harbour – 80% Merino, 20% Silk to make it. It’s more expensive at $17.87 CAD per ball, but at 219 yds, I can do two hats and it will feel amazing to wear. There are so many options for a fair isle hat.

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Bad Hair Day Hat

I have quarantine hair. It is longer than I’d like and it’s not so much ombre as 3 inches of roots showing. I’ve also decided there are days when washing your hair is optional in a pandemic. Fortunately I have a solution: The bad hair day hat. So cute it will distract from the tangled, oily mess underneath. Also cute enough to wear with perfect hair, if you are so fortunate.

The pattern has come together very quickly. I got the math right on the first try! I’ve just started the fair isle section, but look at those gorgeous cables around the brim.