Baa-ble Hat

To promote Shetland Wool week Donna Smith has designed a free knitting pattern for download.  As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to give this a go, as I love sheep and especially these little black faced sheep which I get to see quite a lot where I live in Perthshire, Scotland.

I have only ever knit one other hat using this stranded colour work technique, and I am happily surprised that once I had the needles in my hand it all came back to me and I hadn't forgotten anything!

Technique

I used a short length circular needle for the entire hat, but when I got close to the crown and there weren't many stitches left I used the 'magic loop' technique where I just pull some of the needle cord through any gap in the stitches to make the knitting into a triangle shape.

I also keep the main colour I am using for each row in my right hand and knit as normal, and the additional feature colour I keep on the left side.  When I enter my right needle into the left to start a stitch I simply loop the yarn over from the strand on my left.  When it comes to a gap of more than 5 or 6 sttiches all I did was pick up the ball of yarn from my left side and take it under and over the looping strand on my right side.  (I should have taken a video I guess).
Here is what the inside ends up looking like:

Perfect for Scottish weather, as it almost acts as two layers!  I used the recommended yarn and colours, and bought it directly from Jamieson's of Shetland.  But there are already so many other gorgeous Baa-ble hats to be seen in an array of colours using the hashtag #baable on social media.

This will be the first pom pom I have ever worn!  And I don't feel one bit silly, instead wearing it makes me feel proud of my ability to make such a fun pattern with such beautiful wool.

Bird's eye view

Gamboling sheep in all their glory, front and back.