St. Paddy’s Hat

I was browsing new patterns over the weekend and ran across this St. Paddy’s Hat. It seemed like a good way to use up some of the wool I had bought for Christmas Balls that never got made. It also seemed like good practice for doing stranded colorwork. Even though I made several colorwork projects over the holidays, I never really got beyond the point of dropping and picking up each color separately. When I was about halfway through the colorwork on this hat, I asked a friend for some advice and watched a few videos about holding both colors in your left hand for continental knitters. That ended up making all the difference in the world. I think I more than doubled in speed once I finally got the technique down. It also did wonders for my tension. I’m not sure how clear it is in the photo, but in person it is incredibly obvious where I made that switch. I still have some trouble keeping the tension on the ends of the needles even while I am doing magic loop, but everything else looks so much better. I’m so happy with the progress I’ve made and I’m also really happy to have this cute hat to wear on St. Paddy’s Day!

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