Three Patterned Hat

I'd been wanting to make my son Michael a hat for some time.  I tried brioche stitch, but the stitches ended up being too open for our sub 0 winter temperatures.  I love doing colorwork (two different colors of yarn knit together) and found this pattern in Charlene Schurch's "Hat's On!".  The instructions were very clear and it knit up quickly.  I tend to finish colorwork patterns faster than others just to see what they will end up looking like.

 Michael wears it most every day in cool to colder weather so it is a great success.  Some projects take a long time in the planning stage and when the time is right they almost knit themselves.

I got a useful tip from a fellow knitter on how to keep stranded (two different colors) yarns from tangling as you knit. You put both balls of yarn into a medium size ziploc bag  then close the center of the bag with each yarn coming up on either side of the bag.  When the yarn gets twisted you just lift the bag from above the twist and allow it to spin the twist out.  So easy!

Since finishing the hat and 4 pair of socks, that I'll show off after they are clean, I started back in on the half pie shawl using Helen's Lace by Lorna's Laces.  The colors are beautiful and the feel of it is soft and springy.  There's no color pooling at all.  I'm into the last wedge of the half pie shape so it will soon move on to blocking and wearing.

Even though the shawl is entirely knit stitch I still had quite a bit of trouble with dropped stitches at the start.  That's because I was using nickle plated needles that were too slippery.  Once I switched to the laminated wood Harmony interchangeable needles available through Knitpicks my dropped stitches were a thing of the past and the knitting overall improved.