just casting off a gift-knit for the boyfriend. he saw jane richmond's christopher pattern and fancied it, and i thought, why not give it a try? it presents a number of neat challenges for me, like working a top down hat in the round, seamlessly, and also involves stripes, which i've really enjoyed knitting lately. i did have to buy a new set of size 7 dpns and circulars, susan bates only offers 4 needles sets at the nearby craft shop, and my circulars measure up to something like 30" around, way too much for me to comfortable knit a hat !
the yarns i'll use for this project will be knitpicks wool of the andes yarn, in coal and cobblestone heather--guy-friendly colors if i do say so myself. actually, this yarn was the first pure wool i've ever purchased, and come the binding off of this hat, the first wool yarn i will have ever used to knit something ! it definitely feels much different on the needles than acrylic or cotton, sometimes i look up at what's forming and realize that [no duh?] it's hair that i'm making this hat with. a sheep's fur. wow. this definitely won't be the last time i'll knit with wool. i just might get used to the different care instructions for the stuff too in time.