The Old Dog

Day 121: Here's living proof that old dogs can learn new tricks if they have the proper motivation. Several days ago, I was browsing YouTube for something knitting-related and stumbled across several tutorials for "woven knitting," a system of preventing the floats common in working Fair Isle. Fair Isle has never been a favourite with me because of the constant need to untangle strands of yarn from skeins or bobbins, and I've always worked it two-handed in a combination of Continental/English (American) styles. I wasn't sure if "woven knitting" would prevent that, so I watched several of the videos until I chanced upon one which was pure Continental. I took a break from making hats for Joppa Flats in order to practice the technique, and when I was finally comfortable with manipulating two strands at the same time on two fingers of my left hand, I drafted a pattern and settled into making a Fair Isle hat. This method permits you to catch every other stitch without creating a yarn nightmare of the strands, and it works up almost as quickly as straight Continental. I think this old dog deserves a treat!