WIP Wednesday

On Sunday morning I received an update on my Facebook from Craftsy- their entrelac beanie workshop was on sale.

I have always wanted to learn entrelac, and the one time I tried- from this pattern in Hip Knit Hats- it was an utter disaster. In fact, I have often looked back on that failure and thought of it as proof that I am not a "Real Knitter."

So what did I have to lose? I signed up for the class. I have taken one other Craftsy course (also during a sale) and enjoyed it quite a bit. The $9.99 for the workshop was only $4 more expensive than buying the pattern, with the added benefit of being able to take part in discussions and asking questions of the designer (in my jammies, no less!). For a normal pattern, I don't think I would shell out the ten bucks, but this was entrelac!

As it turns out, entrelac- just like cables, just like kitchner stitch, and just like short rows- isn't as hard as I made it out to be.

Skeeter Beanie

I am really enjoying the workshop, so far, even though when I first signed up I was under the impression it was a video class like the one I had taken before. (Fit Your Knits class with Stephanie Japel.) It is not a video at all, just a series of well-taken, well-described photographs with very clear details to what your next step is. Not what I expected, but still useful.

I think my favorite part is that I learned how to knit backwards!

Project Stats:

Cascade 220 Wool

Yarn: Cascade 220 from the partial-ball bag
Needles: Size 6- down one size from the pattern
Mods- I did one extra tier before starting the decreases, because I thought it was looking short. Now that I think about it, that may have been a mistake because the rate of decreasing is much different in an entrelac hat than in a plain stockinette. If it turns out to be a bad idea, I'm not sure I will go back and fix it. It would be much easier to find someone with a big head.

Holy crappy webcam Batman!

I don't know. I'm barely at the first set of decreases and it is already pretty big.... And I know from experience that Cascade blocks out huuuuge. But I was thinking I wanted it to be sort of slouchy. We shall see. It is not, after all, about having a knit hat. It's about learning new techniques and facing up to your challenges.


So does having entrelac under my belt make me feel like a "Real Knitter"? Sorta. But only because I made the effort to learn something new. I love that about knitting!


Thanks for reading and check out more WIPS at Tamis Amis. ^_^