Fair Isle Hat

For a bit of a change I thought I would have a go at knitting Janet of Yellow, Pink and Sparkly's Fair Isle hat pattern. I haven't done much Fair Isle knitting recently, (unlike Janet who seems to be able to regularly knock out a Fair Isle garment) and had forgotten how very pleasing it can be. I know this probably looks very tricky, but you are only working with two colours together. The knitting is not the hard bit, compared to the running in of ends when you have finished.

I just picked out these colours from my stash of wool at randon, trying to mix it up a bit with some light, dark, brights etc. The pattern really usefully tells you exactly how many grams you need of each of the eight colours, which explains why I was there in the kitchen weighing out my wool before I started.

My little model has become quite reluctant these days. (I can't understand it, as she always seems to snapping pictures of herself or her nails.) So the best way to get a photo was to pop the hat on her head while she was distracted with homework. We also ended up with some "why are you asking me to do this?" photos, but I really like the one below. We decided to go for the slouchy look. You also have a rare thing; some photos of me at the top and bottom of this post.

My only problem when it came to the knitting was that I only have a black and white printer, so had to spend a while marking on the pattern chart which colour was which. Perhaps if I am going to more Fair Isle I will have to invest in a new printer.

I am really delighted with my new hat. Thank you for the free pattern Janet. Having blocked my socks last week, I thought the hat might also benefit from being blocked. I am not sure if a slightly deflated football is an accepted method, but it seemed to work, and smoothed out some of the stitches. I am thinking of taking it in to wow school knitting club next week, as they have been asking me if you can mix up colours when you knit!