A Touch Of Class.

I just have to share with you the fantastic book I found in our local secondhand bookstore on Friday. I was just browsing the Norwegian section (for the first time in fact) and came across this wonderful book of traditional stranded knitting charts, published in 1947!

Not only is the book beautiful to look at but it is full of absolute treasures for a former Norwegian resident and Fair Isle knitter. I feel like I struck gold!

This is helping me deal with the fact that my cold is so bad that I don't have the energy for anything. Just breathing seems to be taking the best from me today.

To top it all, on Saturday I decided to knit up a quick hat to wear down at my sons soccer game next weekend. Center Square by London Nelson is just such a knit. I cast on with Patons Classic Wool Merino from my Canadian delivery and made the whole thing in one day. Should have checked my gauge first though. It came out too big. Double stranding the yarn made a good chunky hat, but my knitting seems to have been quite loose. I should have dropped a needle size.

As I tried to peer out from beneath the cast on edge, I debated whether to just turn up the brim. This would lose some of the Fairisle pattern though and reveal the stranded underside. Instead I decided to felt the hat. This was the first time I'd felted in my American washing machine and I have to confess that I prefer my old one where I could set the exact temperature for the wash. Still, it was a quick knit I reasoned, so I'd take the risk. I threw in the hat with some Norwegian Grønnsåpe and hoped for the best.

The result was a little tight, but after some serious stretching and shaping, looks pretty cool I think. It's lovely and warm and will certainly keep the cold wind out, but at the same time has a classy look about it.

Move over Audrey Hepburn!