FO: Ravenclaw Pride

Whew, 2017 was a doozy, wasn’t it? Maybe it’s just me, but I was pretty excited at the prospect of starting anew in 2018. And of course I made a couple resolutions for this year; I’ve decided to keep a bullet journal to help keep me focused on tasks that need to be done, including posting regularly in this blog again.

So, for my first post of the New Year, I want to share an FO from the end of 2017 that I think is my favorite project ever!

This was my first ever stranded knitting project, Hogwarts During the Holidays by Emily Gaynier. It’s a free pattern that includes color charts for every Hogwarts house. Of course I had to have one to show my Ravenclaw pride, but I enjoyed knitting this so much that I almost want to make the other houses just for fun.

For this project, I used Patons Classic Wool Worsted; one 100g skein of each color was enough to finish the hat, add a cute pom-pom on top, and still have a little left over. I also altered the pattern a little. It called for one of those tucked brims, but I added visible ribbing instead. I liked the way it looked and it made the hat a little slouchier, which I thought was cute.

I was so excited to try stranded knitting for the first time in a project. I’ve done little swatches to practice the technique before so I had a little confidence in my ability by the time I started this project. It still came out better than I thought it would! Even the inside of the hat came out nice and neat!

If you are interested in stranded knitting, but aren’t sure where to start, I highly recommend the following videos:

VeryPink Knits Learn to Knit Fair Isle (3 part series)
Positioning the Yarns and Catching Long Floats by Knit Purl Hunter

I watched them when I was first dabbling in colorwork and again when I started to do this project. They really helped me wrap my head around what I was supposed to be doing.

I already have another couple projects lined up so I’ll be back soon with those!

Thanks for reading and happy new year! ❤