This year I’ve been a bit of a selfish knitter. While most of my knitted items usually end up as gifts, since fall rolled around I’ve only been knitting for myself. It’s been great fun, but alas, Christmas is fast approaching and I’ve decided that I need to break that trend. So, here it is, my first selfless project of the 2012-2013 knitting season.

Once again, this pattern came from http://www.purlbee.com (if you haven’t already noticed, I love love love them!). Originally designed to fit a baby or toddler, there are instructions in the comments section on how to knit this hat for an adult, and that’s exactly what I did. As per usual, I used Japanese yarn – “make make” by Olympus, you’ve gotta love these names! – for this project. A wool (90%) and mohair (10%) blend, this yarn is sold in cute little 25gm, 62m skiens, which makes it perfect for small projects. While purl bee’s pattern uses a bunch of colours for the fair isle pattern, I stuck to two. For the main colour, I chose ivory (colour #1 for this brand), and for the branch pattern I chose a variegated yarn comprised of fall-esque reds, oranges, and browns (colour number 12).

This was my first attempt at fair isle knitting, but I quite like the end result! Overall, I’d have to say that it was a great starting project. I’d also have to say that fair isle isn’t nearly as scary or difficult as I had always imagined it to be. Instead, I found it to be a fun (albeit addicting) little challenge. It’s going to be hard to let this project go – I might have to whip up another one for myself!