Convertible Balaclava
Over the holidays, I knit Poppy Shop's Convertible Balaclava pattern. It's a very satisfying quick knit, and it turns out I finished it just in time: we've had a spell of cold weather (below 20F) this week in Chicago, and my balaclava has been keeping my face warm on walks and bike rides. I had some apprehension that fogging would be an issue since I wear glasses, and it does fog somewhat, but when moving briskly a lot of the warm air seems to blow away before it can condense on my glasses. The balaclava also rolls up into a hat. I've found that this works best if I position the eye hole towards the back of my head when wearing it in hat mode. Otherwise, if I wear it rolled up with the eye hole in front, my hair tends to stick out of it and looks a bit wild.
My balaclava is a little pointier on top than the original pattern; this is because I forgot the all-knit rounds in the crown section, so I was decreasing every round instead of every other round. I like the pointy look, though, so I'm going to pretend it was a deliberate style element. I do think the fit would be slightly better if I had followed the pattern as written.
Yarn used: The turquoise on top is Malabrigo Worsted Emerald, and the variegated on the bottom is Malabrigo Rios Virgo. They are SO SOFT! I am definitely keeping this yarn in mind for future projects. I had a substantial amount of both leftover after finishing the balaclava. I knit a water bottle carrier (the Water Web) using some of the remaining turquoise yarn, but I still have more leftover!
Also, both skeins I used for this project were acquired from The Dropped Stitch, which I would highly recommend visiting if you enjoy yarn crafts and are in Chicago.