Monday, February 02, 2009

Fair Isle Headband


I had some brown yarn left over after I finished John's fingerless gloves, and I didn't have any other big projects ready, so I decided to knit myself a headband. I started with about 7 inches of I-cord as a tie, and then increased gradually (2 stitches every 4 rows) till it was as wide as I wanted. And then I decided that I would try to figure out Fair Isle knitting, since I hadn't yet attempted it.

I started with this tutorial from one of my favorite sites, knittinghelp.com. Then I looked around for interesting charts, till I found one on Ravelry and copied the snowflake motif onto graph paper. Then I went to town, holding one yarn in each hand and knitting the brown stitches Continental style and the green ones English! Good thing I already knew both ways! It took me a couple of hours on Saturday night and a couple on Sunday morning to finish it up, and I ran out of brown yarn about 6 inches from the end, so I had to knit the second tie in green, but it turned out ok in the end. When I put the headband on, my hair hides the green side pretty much.

All told, the experience reminded me of taking Symbolic Logic at WVU. It was challenging, but completely fun. So if you are the kind of person who likes to write complicated proofs, Fair Isle Knitting may be for you!

4 comments:

Cynthia said...

Pretty! I'm impressed and envious. I wish I could crochet or knit. I think I can't because "math", or similar abilities, is involved. Well, largely I can't 'cause I'm too lazy to try to learn.

Serafina said...

I think a sense of proportion and spatial relations is more requited than math skill, but you do have to pick up some sticks to get started. :) Once I started though, I just couldn't stop.

Serafina said...

I mean required, not requited. :)

Simonetta Clan said...

I LOVE that headband. Did you ever considering selling your stuff on line? I bet you could easily get $15 or $20 for those. I may have to send you some yarn.