Really!?  What is it about fair isle that makes it so addicting?  When I start a fair isle project, I simply can’t put it down.  My fingers could be cramping, my back hurting from sitting in one place to long, and I’d still sit there and knit some more.

I think it has a lot to do about watching the design emerge, almost like magic, as the two colored strands loop around eachother row-by-row.  Suddenly a few rows of nonsensical color-switching begin to form a design - checkers, flowers, snowflakes.

Pattern: Selbu Mittens from Folk Mittens
Yarn: Cascade 220 (in Black and Christmas Red)

That’s the beginning of my new mittens.  To be specific, that’s my new left mitten, and love it already.  That was one evening’s worth of knitting.  Even though I’d promised myself I’d take a nap or go to bed early, I just kept knitting away at it.  I couldn’t help myself.

I’m really in love with the Folk Mittens book also.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in fair isle mittens.  I’m a huge fan of traditional Norwegian and Latvian patterns, and this book has some great examples.  I have a feeling this is just the beginning of my foray into fair isle this winter…

I’m bummed.  In the process of updating my WordPress installation from 2.5.0 to 2.5.1, I managed to wipe my wp-content folder which of course holds all my templates and plugins.  I had my next-to-last layout backed up, but do you think I had the most recent backed up? Ha, no!  Of course not.  So for now I’ve uploaded this pretty temporary template while I design something else.  (Which may not be for a while, as I have several other people I need to design WP templates for first.)

Over the weekend, I finished knitting something that wasn’t socks…

Pattern: Springtime Tulip Fair Isle Hat by Deb Peterson
Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic

Cute, huh?  This was my first attempt at fair isle knitting and I have to admit I’m a bit addicted now.  I took a class at the Neighborhood Knit Shop with Deb, and this is one of her original designs.  Deb is a fantastic teacher and I got he hang of fair isle in no time with her help.  I had enough yarn leftover to knit a second hat (which I started yesterday while I was home sick) and I’m already almost done with it.  For the second hat, I reversed the colors so it has yellow hearts and pink tulips.

I also had a class with Julie on Sunday.  I was so thrilled to finally meet her after we’d talked quite a bit on Ravelry.  The class was for the lace scarf Gust by Anne Hanson.  The yarn we’re using for it is Filatura Di Crosa Superior, a 70% cashmere/30% silk blend.  It’s absolutely fantastic but somewhat intimidating at the same time.  Thankfully Julie taught us how to add life lines to our projects, which provide some peace of mind.

I’ve finished 3 pattern repeats so far (the lace chart is 12 rows).  I’ll try to take another picture of the scarf with some better lighting soon.  It really is lovely.

While I was at the knit shop for class, picked up this pattern book that I’ve been wanting.  There are so many patterns in that book I want to knit… some of which I actually have the yarn in my stash for already, I think!  I can’t wait to get started.

My Bombshell sweater is at a temporary standstill because I’m a little confused on the directions.  I need to sit down and figure it out.  Maybe tonight…

Excuse me while I toot my own horn a bit, because I’m feeling pretty darn smart right at the moment.  Look what I did over the weekend:

Okay, so it’s only ribbing.  But it’s ribbing with purty colors.  Thanks to Deb’s class at The Neighborhood Knit Shop, I’m learning to do fair isle!  I’m really excited because that’s one of the goals I’d set for myself this year.

I’m typically a “thrower”, as were the two other people in my class.  Deb taught us to knit Continental style as well, so that we can carry one color on our right hand (English/throwing-style) and the other color in our left hand (Continental/picking-style).  It was extremely awkward at first, but once I got through the ribbing, I had the rhythm down.  After it “clicks”, the idea that you’re knitting with both hands really makes you feel smart too.

The bit in the picture above is where we were supposed to get to for our homework this week.  We’re going to get into the rest of the hat pattern next Saturday.  It’s an adorable pattern that Deb designed.  It has a row of tulips and a row of hearts.  I’m really itching to keep knitting on it because it’s really, really fun.  But I’m going to be a good girl and wait so that I don’t screw it up.  I just hope mine fits!  (I have a fat head big brain.)  Heh.