A Swatch Cap

 The next installment of my EZ and PJ challenge for myself from Knitting Workshop was a swatch cap.

The real purpose of the swatch cap is to use it, as the name implies, as a swatch.  When finished, then I have a cap (which this one fits me nicely) for walking later this year and so that I can  use the same yarn for an EPS sweater that I would like to knit as part of my EZ and PJ quest.

I will admit here that my color work is definitely something that needs a lot of work.  I readily admit that and acknowledge that it is my hope over the course of the rest of the year to perfect it. I am pretty stubborn that I have tried knitting with two hands, knitting with one hand and both yarns in the right hand ala Meg who does it in the left hand and with a flick of the finger has the alternate yarn ready for the stitch, but the method that works the best for me, and causes me to least likely throw it across the room, is to knit with one yarn at a time in right hand, dropping and picking up and on and on.

Yes, it is a bit slower, but for me, it helps me to keep my tension a little looser than the other methods.  And tension is where I need the most work.  

For my cap sample, I did not employ any of the many techniques out there taming the jog in color, as is evident of my finished hat, rather I just knit it.

My hat still needs to be blocked, something I am off to do after this posting.  I am hopeful that with blocking, the shaping of the top will come to less of a point than mine, shown in the above picture.  

But from the top, I do like the way EZ has us shaping the hat.

The interesting thing about this first knit in the Knitting Workshop Book and Video, is that right after you finish the hat, EZ is ready for you to move on quickly to knitting a sweater, she believes anyone is up to the task right away.  Isn't that a lovely thought for new Knitters?!  One of my favorite things EZ has said and I think Knitters, new and old can benefit from it "You don't know, what you know." In other words, just do it, right?!