Skip to main content

Fair Isle Toque #2

The second Fair Isle toque is complete.


Drying on it's own balloon mold

This is a free Classic Elite Yarns pattern called DIY Fair Isle Hat designed by Meg Myers.   As you can see if you click on the link, the pattern is made with a taupe background and variegated red foreground.  When I was visiting my LYS last week, Helen recommended the cream and light blue I used.  These colours represent a classic Fair Isle colour combination.  What I love is the play with the diamond design and the different-to-me decrease that creates a dramatic set of lines creating a flower at the top.



It is called a DIY Fair Isle pattern because attached are two grids for you to use for designing your own patterns.  Perhaps some day I'll try that but for now I'm quite happy to successfully knit this complicated looking toque.  There feels like one more Fair Isle toque in me before I move on to other things.  Today I did some shopping in my own LYS, upstairs and lo and behold, I think I own a variegated yarn that will work with the leftover charcoal Rowan Tweed I had from my Selbu Modern.  One more and then it will be time to move on to something else, perhaps Fair Isle, perhaps not.  More about that development later.

Another Christmas gift rolled in over the weekend, Clara Parkes 2013 book, The Yarn Whisperer.  Clara has made a name for herself in the knitting world by founding and publishing KnittersReview.com, a free weekly online newsletter about knitting products (tools, yarns, books, etc.)  The book I received traces her life, with that of a life with yarn drawing parallels as skills in both develop.  Of course, I've begun devouring it and truly love the approach Clara is taking.  Lee, thanks for the great gift.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or h...