first fair isle FO

Last Saturday, I took my first knitting class, to learn Fair Isle.

I have a hard time committing to classes when I get the brochures--they always seem like a lot of money, so I put it off. Then when I get the impulse, there's nothing interesting open. But this time the knitting angels were with me--I've been feeling stressed and punky and really needed to do something fun, so it was fortuitous that there was a class the very next day.

It was a good class, and I've now finished the hat (all but weaving-in, so no pics--there's an in-progress picture in my OTS sidebar). It was a lot of money and would've been even more if I'd used the 4 colors recommended for the pattern. But I had this vision of a very simple Christmasy hat, something for our annual trip to the cut-your-own-tree lot. I used Nashua Creative Focus Chunky yarn in Carmine and Natural, a nice single-ply wool/alpaca blend that makes a nice halo.

I definitely could've learned it from a good Fair Isle book, but it was fun to be with other knitters, and I made a lot of progress in the 3-hour class. I was glad I've been practicing Continental knitting.

Sprout is very kicky these days. And grandparents bought him his first shoes:


I get ridiculously happy whenever I look at these.