Fair Isle

Started a new hat tonight! I am using hand-spun wool from 'roving' that I purchased from Cindie at Eweniquelyewe Fibers in Grants Pass, Oregon.  The white skein is Falkland Wool Top and the Turquoise is Merino Wool

Top Roving is wool that has been combed and then slightly twisted to hold the wool together...it is a smooth type of roving and slicker, at least for me to spin. This wool is from the Falkland Islands. Wool is the leading export from the Falklands.

The turquoise skein was spun from "Ashland Bay" commercially dyed Merino Wool Roving, also purchased  from Cindie from her Etsy Shop site

Here is the started hat.  It is a stranded knit hat (Fair Isle), knit in the round on a size 10 16 inch circular needle.  I am still teaching myself stranded knitting and this pattern taught me how NOT to twist the strands while knitting.  I kept one colored ball on one side of me and the other on the opposite side of me.  One color-in this case Color #1 Turquoise was always kept on top when moving back and forth between the two colors.  That way not only do the yarns not get tangled on each other, but it makes the back side of the article being knit looking neat and tidy!