Stitches, so many stitches

 NOTE: This post is out of order from one posted earlier today.

So I knit one more Boston Flip.
It's the current KAL For America's Knitting for the month of March. 
I have to say it again. If you are new to Fair-Isle knitting and want to get used to colorwork I highly recommend this pattern.
The repeat is easy.
You don't have to worry too much about securing your floats*
It's super cute on any head you slap it onto.











Now onto my latest and greatest Fair-Isle project.
It feels like a doozy.
It's Dollheid
I have wanted to knit this tam for quite a while.
My 2018 Fair-Isle challenge seemed like a perfect excuse.
More to the point I have wanted to knit Paper Dolls  long before I even knew how to knit Fair-Isle.
However, the idea of a fingering weight stranded yoke pullover has been a little intimidating.

The good news though is the more I knit these Fair-isle hats the more confident I am getting that a yoked pullover will be a breeze. Plus I'm going to knit it for my niece who is seven and this will be adorable on her.

Dollheid is for a friend who is heading to Scotland next winter.
Guys, there are so many stitches on the main body of the hat I am tempted to switch to a 24" circular.**

I have worked thru the corrugated ribbing.
Did the increases. A huge number of increases.
Chart A is complete.
I have moved on to the actual doll portion of the hat.
I have 216 stitches on size 3 needles.
It's moving though. I think once I get to the dress portion I will really hit my groove.

The legs though. There are about 9 stitches between sets of legs.
Hence I had to learn how to catch my floats.

I googled.
I googled my heart out.
I found diagrams and written instructions but none of them were clear and it was getting frustrating and I knew if I didn't get this figured out I would be hating life when I got to the skirt portion for sure because there are HUGE stitch counts between color changes.

I know if you aren't super familiar with Fair-isle at this point you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about...

This is where my googling paid off.
I stumbled upon a video posted by Jimmy Beans Wool that I was able to watch while practicing at the same time.
Special thanks to my coworkers who got to sit thru the video with me.

Catch your floats video click here

I have to say. Jimmy Beans instructional videos knock it out of the park every time.
Thank you so much for posting them!

I also finished another BA Cool Hat by Joji Locatelli and it's a part of her Authentic Collection.

I think this is my fifth one.
The twisted rib is really fun.
The chevron repeat for the main body is easily memorized and this hat looks good on everyone! I promise.

Happy Tuesday Wednesday


* When working with more than one color of yarn at a time, long strands of yarn are carried between each of the color changes called “floats.” Over the years, a series of rules have evolved creating a sort of standard that knitters are encouraged to follow. Traditional Fair Isle (or stranded knitting) color knitting specifies no more than two colors per row and sequences of no more than six stitches of one color. This method leaves floats, which are lengths of yarn carried across the back of the work that can be easily snagged. Thanks to Interweave knits for this excerpt 

**I did switch it to a 24" circular and it's much easier to move around the chart.