Fair Isle Hat

Anyone who has read my blog may have correctly surmised that I love to make hats. I guess because they can be as challenging or as simple as you want, yet they are small enough to complete in a relatively short period of time. I so love having a sense of accomplishment.

This hat was made for a cap exchange I am in. I hope my partner does not come and look at my blog here as I have not yet even put her hat in the mail! I was just so pleased with the result though that I couldn't wait. I've done very few fair isle projects, and this was certainly the largest attempted. I really enjoyed it and even though it may look difficult, I enjoyed that it still only used four colors.

The pattern was free on-line at http://www.johnnysstew.com/pattern/fihat.html and the designer worked very hard to try and make the pattern as simple for beginners as possible. I did find some descrepancies in the pattern and have e-mailed the designer. Unfortunately, I haven't heard from her, but as you can see, I still managed to complete the hat beautifully.

Now that I have made this hat, I am ready to start designing my own. Not my own Fair Isle patterns of course, just the hats. Once I find a Fair isle pattern that I like, I will incorporate it into a hat. I'll need to check on what the copyright laws are about posting a hat with another's fair isle pattern, but if I can post what I design, I will.

If you read this then you might be interested in a new project I am starting on January 15th. In my charity knit/crochet group I will be posting two KALs (knit-alongs) a month, only a few lines a day for a total of 5-6 days until the recepient has created an afghan square. The idea is that the recepient might be learning a new stitch, and at the same time creating a square that could later be incorporated into an afghan for the needy. Either for one of our charities, or a charity in their own home town. If you would like to join our group so as to join in on this monthly afghan square, then click on the "Join Membership" over to the right. It is free to sign up and the group is called From the Heart of Texas. Because there are so many needy charities, we will focus on one charity a month. January's charity is focusing on a homeless shelter.