My 2nd Tam

These are addictive little projects. I started this one at the Saturday Charlotte Purls meeting and just wrapped it up. This one was made with Cascade Ecological Wool and Noro Kureyon. Both were great in this project - and it knitted at a larger gauge than her sister did. It could also be that I held the yarn a lot looser this time too having learned my lesson with the 1st project.



I like how the color work emerged. Here is #2 with her sister #1.



I think this pattern is a bit easier than the first one since there are many rows early on that have just one of the yarns. But that said - knitting with the two yarns isn't too bad. I did trip my self early on by trying to talk and knit and lost count. I had to frog a few rows because I didn't realize it until later. But once those rows were in place, I could knit the rest with less concentration.



I have to now start #3 - I'm thinking about making this with 2 solid yarns. I saw a hat that TurtleGirl made with Silky Wool that I liked the photo of. I have some of that yarn, so I may try it with that yarn. But I also wanted to try a sport or fingering weight and see if I can adapt it for my 14 month old. I think she would be so cute in a baby Tam. I'm headed to Seattle next week with lots of time to knit - so, I will have time to experiment!

2008 is Shaping up to be a Year of Knitting

This week I've been on a hat obsession. You saw my knitted and crochet Tams. But the I saw the pattern Three Tams on Knitty and it fit exactly what I was looking for for my first Fair Isle project. Easy Fair Isle!

I used King George a Wool, Alpaca, Cashmere yarn for the Black solid yarn. It was a very soft and luxurious yarn. I had never seen it before, but could see myself using it again.

For the Colorwork - I used Colorchanges by Ironstone. Again, another new yarn to me. Very, very soft - a wool/acrylic mix. I really liked the vibrancy of the colors and pace of the color changes worked well for this hat.



It was my first time knitting with two yarns. I had been practicing trying to knit American style so I could use both hands when I decided to plung into Fair Isle. It did make it easier than picking up the yarn each time, but it took a while to get used to. Especially in the ribbing, it seem very slow at first.



But once I started knitting and didn't have to purl it speeded up quite a bit. I found it was very addictive because I wanted to see how each row built out the pattern. Plus - you uncover new colors in the yarn and it's sort of exciting. As a result - I finished it in a couple of days pretty much knitting only on this hat. It was faster than I thought it would be. I'm very happy with it and will make the other 2 versions.

Here is the hat post blocking on my daughter.



I also wanted to make a hat for my sister but she said she would prefer Calomitery another Knitty pattern. Now this was a fast knit. I started it today while at the hairdressers and made most of it there while getting my hair done! I only knitted a few more rows at home and cast off tonight. I like it and will have to make one for me too. But this one is for Doreen, the new mom.