Foray into Fairisle

Is there something you always wished you'd learned how to do but every time you try you're just rubbish? Well, for me it's knitting fairisle.
Not big patterned jumpers and cardigans, just little things like hats. (I don't have the patience for big knitting anymore..)

I fancied doing a spot of knitting back in January, so decided now was the time to try again. 4 or 5 years ago I came across the Baa-ble hat but hadn't actually dared make it. I hunted through my files until I found it (it's still available on Ravelry) and went through my stash looking for some nice merino in colours that worked well together.  It didn't help that the pattern was written for aran and I only had DK!

I also looked through some of the 10k projects that had been added to Ravelry, to see what other people thought etc. (It's always worth looking through other people's projects for their comments before you buy a pattern - sometimes you find a pattern sounds like it's badly written and you think twice before buying. Sometimes it's opposite and it's an amazing pattern.)
There were a couple who added extra animals to their version - a sheepdog and a llama! I thought I'd add both to mine.

I've read instructions on how to work fairisle in the past, so (gently) jumped straight in! I tried very hard to keep my tension loose when carrying the non-working yarn across the back. But, silly me, I was working with 3 colours per row at times. Those rows were rather tight...
But you know what? My hat came out reasonably ok. Not fabulous but ok.
I like a deep rib to help keep my ears warm, although that does mean my sheep sit further back when I'm wearing it.

These pics were taken after it had been washed and dried. That has the effect of evening out the tight and loose stitches, especially the vertical ridges you get by carrying your floats on the back. Can you see the grey llama in the second pic? And the black sheepdog in the 3rd? There are ewes, lambs and even a ram with curly horns! And you can see all my floats carried inside. See the section in the middle? That's where I had more than 3 colours working, and is tighter than the rest...

A friend saw my pics on Instagram and liked it,  so I made a second hat for her. This was actually an opportunity to practice my fairisle again!
She wanted a dark grey rib and silver grey top. I also tried to be good and follow the pattern properly by only using 2 colours per row. Not surprisingly, that helped my tension no end!
My friend has a Westie, so I swapped the llama for a little dog. I placed him one stitch out though, or he would look better...
The first pic is unblocked -

And this is the effect blocking has -

The faux fur pompoms really finishes them off!

Before I'd even finished my second hat I'd chosen my next, and more complicated, pattern. A snowflake cowl. More of that next time though.

Before I go for now, I'll just mention the Three golden rules of fairisle (in my humble opinion). I have learned these from Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits -

1  only use 2 colours per row
2  keeping the dominant colour in same position
3  carrying floats

But more on them - and links - and my mistakes... - next time too. 😊🧶🧶