~The Weather Outside Is Frightful....

Hat of the day is my first ever attempt at a Fair Isle hat created by myself
adapted from a mitten pattern. Of course I had to monkey around with the
stitch count and play with motifs I wanted to use and add some extras,
but overall thrilled with outcome...
I took the basic premise of the skull hat by knitting a lining, then
you do a purl row (your turning ridge) then you go into pattern for
front.
The fair isle portion with floats actually creates a double layer of
knitting and since this is wool, double thick warmth...with the added
lining, it now has 3 layers...thus even warmer!
I am proud to claim that this hat is for me!

I got the original idea by pouring over patterns on Ravelry for mittens
and came across this clever designer, Kathleen Taylor who took a knitted vest
and turned
it into mittens.

see here on Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stranded-snow-mittens-child-size
I also did a blog peek of her blog back on November 10 which can be found here:
http://kathleen-dakotadreams.blogspot.com
Below is her mitten pattern, which is available for free.



This is my version done as a hat pattern, which I just emailed to Kathleen.
She asked to see any finished mittens, so thought she'd like to see the hat
as well.





Photo was taken while blocking and came out more fabulous when completely done,
but was anxious to get photos out, so just assume it tightened up nicely
and stitches were no longer loose as they are during the blocking process.

I did not cast on same number of stitches as in skull hat nor follow any of
pattern, nor use decrease finish, just created my own...I did however use
same needle size and idea of added liner. I also added beaded eyes and mouth
felt it looked better than the embroidery floss.

Speaking of the weather...it's 26 degrees farenheit outside right now in
Massachusetts where I live...I have a feeling it's going to be another long
cold and snowy winter again....We have no snow yet, but I drove by the local
small ski place a few miles away and they have been making snow for some time
by basically spraying water up in the air from pipes and because it's so cold,
it turns to snow, crystalizes before it reaches the ground.
I am thinking when finished Hats 30 days of posting...my next 30 days of
knitting had better be set aside for knitting woolen mittens...perhaps even
the snowman/snowflake pattern which could
match my lovely new hat.



Blog of the day is: Kathryn Ivy
She has loads of great patterns and ideas...check out the homemade mitten blocker
which could also be fashioned into a sock blocker pretty easily...I first found
her sometime ago for her delicious mushroom patterns...but I like the how to on
the little knitted felt patches, also ruffled scarf pattern, dyeing tututorials,
and particularly cool how to go about making your own yarn scrapbook/knitting
journal...I keep one of these myself, and sadly...do not post every project as
I should, but the ones I have posted are a great resource whenever I want to
revisit them.



http://kathrynivy.com/