Check out Kristin Nicholas’ New Fair Isle Hat Class

I don’t know how the online crafty classroom Creativebug escaped my notice for so long, but I was led there by something earlier this week and noticed that they have a brand-new class from Kristin Nicholas all about knitting a basic Fair Isle hat.

You should know from the outset that basic for Kristin still involves three colors, and some duplicate stitch to make it look more complex, but this really is a pretty easy pattern and, better yet, a pretty pattern.

Creativebug, it turns out, offers classes in all sorts of skills, from knitting and crochet to apothecary (soap and essential oil use), jewelry making, paper crafts, printmaking and more.

Some of the classes are available for free, while premium content (such as Kristin’s classes; she also has one on more general colorwork knitting) is viewable for $24.99 a month if billed monthly (or as little as $16.99 a month if billed six months at a time). Unfortunately you can’t buy a single class if you just want to see what their content is like, but you can look at the free stuff to get a feel for it.

Is anyone a member of Creativebug? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo via Creativebug.]

Next Pattern:

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

Next Pattern:

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