Project Information:

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Heathers

Color: Charcoal Heather

Pattern: Ribbed Watchman's Hat (free!)

Difficulty: Super freakin' easy

View this project on my Ravelry page.

Life Updates:

Fritzy got groomed over the weekend and is now hairless. He kind of looks like a rat and I feel like a bad mom. But his Bark Box shipped yesterday, so that makes it slightly better - because love can be purchased, amirite?
I'm going to Philly this weekend with my friend Megan to see Camera Obscura, a band I was obsessed with eons ago. It's okay to relive one's youth every now and then... whilst also finding an expensive nearby gastropub in which to gorge ourselves beforehand.
I think I'm getting back into my blogging groove. Brace yourselves.

So here's how old this photo is: I didn't even have my "new" backdrop yet.

I was approached by a young woman in a sorority to make a knitted slouchy hat displaying her letters. As a former sorority member myself, I jumped at the opportunity. When you're a sister, there's no greater feeling than wearing your letters proudly and feeling like you're part of something. I know the opinions on this vary greatly, and that's fine; I just know how I felt and how I still feel on occasion at the ripe old age of 31. Basically, if it could be lettered, you kind of put letters on it.

Her organization's colors are a navy blue, gold, and white, and she requested this style based off a similar hat she'd found on Etsy. I found some Greek letters online and charted them out, using my standard gauge and hat size to figure out how many blocks each letter should be. I'm glad I no longer hate math as much as I used to because I've been able to use it for tinkering with patterns like this a lot this past year.

I made this back in February. Yes, February. And it's taken me this long to post about it. Which I suppose is okay, since I had a lot of things to take care of at home, though I also feel like my blog updates (or lack thereof) make it look like I haven't done much. I mean, I guess I haven't done much in comparison to previous months, but I'm still chugging along as much as possible.

Overall, I'm proud of the way this project turned out, considering I needed to Fair Isle my way through the lettering. If you're not familiar with Fair Isle, it's a technique where you're working with only two colors per row to create a pattern. This varies from intarsia, where you're working with multiple colors per row.

If you're interested in learning more about Fair Isle knitting, the talented Kristin Nicholas offers a Fair Isle workshop on Creativebug that's FREE with a 14-day trial membership, where you can learn how to make hats with geometric patterns.

What are your experiences with Fair Isle? Have you tried it? Love it/hate it? Let me know in the comments below.