Addicted to test knitting

A few weeks ago I decided to try test knitting. I joined the Testing Pool on Ravelry and immediately signed up to do two projects.

First, there was this lovely cardigan (Latte Baby Coat by Lisa Chemery):

It fits Bobby perfectly and must be pretty comfortable as he refused to take it off for some time after I finished it. It’s knit top down in one piece, with the woven basket stitch edging knitted on at the end, which means minimal sewing (yay!) And because it’s knit with chunky wool it knits up really quickly, even in the biggest size (which this was – scary).

Secondly, there was this very cute, but inappropriately coloured for James (obviously my choice of yarn, nothing to do with the pattern), hat (Garter Rib Hat by Brooke Snow):

This was a really quick knit. I did it in a single evening after the boys went to bed. I used about two thirds of a skein of pink Artesano Alpaca Aran that my sister-in-law kindly left for me after the knitting part of my hen weekend. Goodness that was a long time ago. I was planning to give this hat away, but I think all my potential recipients are either too big or too small. Hmm. I guess the smaller ones will grow. Anyway, it will be super easy to knit another one. In fact I could knit a whole family of hats as this pattern gives a range of sizes from newborn to large adult. And I wouldn’t even need to buy any new yarn, as the pattern is multi-gauge, giving you different options for fingering, DK or aran weight yarn, so you can use whatever you happen to have in your stash. Genius.

Then, having caught the testing bug, I signed up for a third project: this amazing and somewhat less inappropriately coloured hat (Pippa Toque by Kate Bostwick):

This again was knit with aran weight wool, although on 3.25mm needles, so it is really thick and warm, especially with the colourwork too. And the pattern comes with some nifty pompom making instructions. Unfortunately Bobby’s pompom no longer looks quite as splendid as it does in the picture as he discovered that it was quite fun to pull bits out. Not amused.

I absolutely loved test knitting. Not only did I get the opportunity to knit wonderful patterns before they were published, but I actually got to do some serious thinking. Well maybe not serious, but definitely thinking. Looking for mistakes and helping the designers to make their instructions as clear as they possibly could be was surprisingly satisfying. I’m definitely keen to do more test knitting. Not this year though. I have far too much Christmas knitting to keep me busy right now.