I made another lunch bag for work today with my Amy Butler pattern and some Grand Revival fabrics (see beautiful inspiration here) and realized how much in common they had with the same vintage colors from the Debbie Bliss cashmerino, so my hat in progress gets its own little carry-all instead.  I like having something that helps the anticipation build during work so I look forward to working on this during lunch, or if I wake up early or have some energy at the end of the day.  If I’m in the middle of a really boring meeting or a very difficult situation at work, it also helps to have something visually stimulating to reflect on as a way to stay relaxed.  As I work on the hat, I am trying to experiment with various colors and patterns while dreaming of making a whole sweater one day out of this yarn.  I tested the Debbie Bliss snowflake design from Vogue Knits (12/07) on another Fair Isle hat I finished yesterday (see the middle picture)  and didn’t like the large one color sections that made the knitted fabric uneven.  (I’ve never managed to get those sections to stay nice and flat no matter what I try, a little embarassing to show you since I know it is possible from the gorgeous photo of this finished sweater.)  I thought I would play around with the design a bit with knitting graph paper but then I found another snowflake pattern with the exact fix I was looking for, with two peeries between the snowflakes.  It came from a previous design for a snowflake scarf from her Celtic Knits book.  One day I’d like to take that motif and place it in her Fair Isle cardigan for a very soft, feminine Fair Isle design.  It seems so obvious now but I was reflecting today on why people still knit Fair Isle in flat rows, its very useful if you want to use soft yarns that do not felt and can’t handle cutting using steeks.  It rarely gets cold enough where I live for me to be able to appreciate Shetland wool for its many wonderful qualities because it is just too warm.  I tried knitting with it all last winter and I’m relieved to have found a few soft, less warm alternatives, so as it gets chilly there is excitement in the air again!