One of the two hats I made is to the left. I actually made two of the same pattern with the same yarn because I worried about size issues. I gifted both to the same person, so they can decide which one fits them better. If you don't count the witch hat I made, this is my first hat ever.
The yarn was self-striping, which made things easier for me, but I kind of freaked out about the "bind off" at the top. I'm still a little concerned about it, but if you look at the picture below, I don't think it turned out too badly
I also made a shawl. The pattern came from the company that made the yarn and was designed specifically for this yarn, but I was disappointed in my results. I thought the self-striping would break at the rows because the picture they had appeared to show that, but that didn't happen. If I'd realized before I was deeply into the project, I'd have bought more yarn and cut at row ends to keep the yarn the same color for the length of said row.
Sadly, though, I had no idea until I was too deep into the shawl to 1) start over and 2) buy more yarn that is actually part of the same dye lot. All I'd need is different dye lots and then the colors would be off from each other. Potentially at least.
But overall, the shawl turned out well. It also was mostly interesting to knit while not being too complicated. Lots of lace, but not complex, and I liked the notched edge.
Now I'm back to trying to figure out what to knit next.
