Friday, February 15, 2013

Yup, more knitting talk!

So my birthday is just a few weeks away, and I'm getting a very different gift from Brett this year.

Since I recently shifted from "anything I'd ever need for knitting I could get at Hobby Lobby/Michaels" to "wow, there is so much more out there", I've actually found a local yarn store (LYS) and seen that there are so many more options in yarns.  While in My Sister's Yarn Shop I learned they regularly have classes - unfortunately I was bit by the bug, totally interested, AND had to choose between two classes that had an overlap in their schedule.  Argh!  Did I want to take the one-day-only class on fair isle knitting, or the three Saturday's 2 needles/2 socks class?!  (In case you're asking "what is fair isle," here's some colorful sweaters in the fair isle style...)

Since the fair isle class took pace one of the same Saturday's as the sock class, I couldn't do both. And since I'm still a little uneasy about taking a knitting class...I figured I'd go for the fair isle class and try to self-teach the 2 socks, 2 needles stuff with books/YouTube videos.  In the process of trying the 2 needle method, I came across the one needle Magic Loop method, which I just posted about yesterday...always something new to learn!

Anyhow, I've spoken with the instructor for the fair isle class, who seems very nice, and have picked up the three yarns I'll need to knit a hat:


I'm afraid that picture doesn't do the colors justice - the color on the right is a dark red (bordering on burgundy).  We have total freedom of choice for what type and color of yarn to use - it just needs to be worsted weight.  This Berroco Blackstone Tweed yarn is going to make a more rustic looking hat I think.  I'm not even much of a hat person (I overheat, and I get hat-head way too easy, especially considering how much my hair is thinning/receding!), but maybe if it's something I've made, I'll love wearing it that much more?

Hm, checking out the Berroco site, I see I got (from left to right) Ancient Mariner,  Clover Honey, and Old Brick (hence the slight purple in the red).  Oh man, I wish they'd had Cranberry Bog in stock - cranberry's one of my favorite colors...  Well, if I love this particular yarn, that'll be something to keep in mind for a future project/online order.

Once I've worked through some of the existing yarn stash!  ;-)

I've had a hard time finding many patterns for GUY stuff that I love, but the men's clothing offerings at Berroco's site look really nice!  Goes along more with my style...something to come back to!

Check back in a week and a half to see if I've posted pics of my attempts at fair isle knitting...

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