Knitting in Class

Well, I decided it was time to find projects for the lovely yarn I bought in Japan. Not doing me much good to have it sit around looking pretty. With my two balls of nicely striping worsted wool (actually a mohair blend - sweet!) I figured I could do another ear-flappy hat. They are the best kind after all. I love the way they look like old swim caps...



I decided to try a top down hat. I usually crochet hats as it's really easy to make round things crochet, but I wanted the yarn to stripe in that way that only knit can do. I casted on three stitches each to three double points and got started. I began adding cables almost right away, making the cables steadily bigger as I moved down off the point. All of this (above) is one days knitting when you're a full time student. Makes you want to pursue an education eh?
One more day's knitting at school finished it off. The nice thing about at top down hat is you can really get a good idea of exactly how big it will be. No guessing when to start decreasing by estimating the distance to the top. The earflaps were just knit down off the bottom edge.

It's important I think, to give this kind of hat a nice even edge by casting off the entire edge in one fell swoop. I wouldn't cast off then add the ear flaps, they'll look pieced together. My other knitting goodie from Japan was a set of Safety-pin-style stitch holders bought for 100en (about a dollar, at their version of the dollar store). These made the process easier.

I love being a college student, I can get so much done in classes ^.^ Yesterday I made and published a Project Wonderful ad, I hope it goes well...

As for my next project, I think I'll flip through the Knitting Book I got for Valentine's and see what to do with a ball of yellow and green mohair.