FO: Fake Isle Hat

Lookit: pretty colors!

I have come down with my second cold of the season. An interesting thing about living in Austin is that nobody ever thinks you have a cold. "It's allergies, isn't it?" someone will say whenever you sneeze. "I know that oak/cedar/ragweed/willow/pick your favorite tree is really high right now."

I still think it's a cold. My nose once went all faucet on me (sorry) one spring in San Antonio, and I know the difference.

Yesterday was the rough day with the aches and the shakes and the whines and the moans and the short attention span that wouldn't permit one bit of lace knitting.

Instead, I tackled the decreases on the Fake Isle Hat.

Actually, they weren't hard, although my beginner's left-hand English knitting fell apart what with the two circs and everything, and I just blundered through until there wasn't a hole at the top of the crown any more.

The pattern is a great project for teaching yourself stranded colorwork. It's not strictly Fair Isle, because you don't want to jab yourself in the jugular with a #3 Addi Turbo when you realize how many ends you have to weave in. Instead, there are only two strands instead of many: the solid color and the self-striping yarn.

Several knitters have grumped a bit about how hard it is to maintain steady tension with the floats. I just sorta let it all hang out, as I am wont to do, and didn't have a problem until the decreases. Which could be the fever talking, or the escape from New Caprica on season 3 disc 1 of Battlestar Gallactica. (I love you, Laura Roslin!)

I used DK-weight yarns and followed the instructions for size L for the number of repeats, but followed the size S/M instructions for the number of rows. Don't ask me to explain, I never can.

pattern: Fake Isle Hat, once of Magknits, now found here.
completed: April 16, 2008.
yarn: MC: Classic Elite Yarns Wool Bam Boo (50% wool, 50% bamboo; 118 y, 50 g; color 1648; 1 skein; love it). CC: Rowan Tapestry (70% wool, 30% soy; 120 m/131 y; 50 g; color SH 171; 1 skein).
made for: me
needles: size 6
notes: Self-striping yarn is always fun, and I love bamboo so much I want to marry it.

As luck would have it, the hat is a perfect match with my poofy blue loveseat. I shall be sure to wear the loveseat whenever I take the hat out for a spin.