A Special opportunity for YOU!

I just finished one of my most favorite hats/tams. It is way cute, and it is just finishing being blocked before I attach it to my head! While I don't have any pictures (quite yet), I have the pattern written up and am looking for a couple of 'test knitters'! THIS COULD BE YOU!

Details:
Intermediate to Advanced (if you can do lace and bobbles and can follow a pattern well, you are good to go!)
knitted on US 4 needles with dk weight yarn (I used Elsebeth Lavold's Silky-Wool)
It requires between 225-250 yards (used just barely 200... too close for comfort)

The only requirement is that you look for my mistakes, and tell me how I can make it more understandable. If you want to help me out with this pattern before it is unleashed on the public, you can contact me here in the comments, on facebook, or Ravelry (BrookeBowen).

How I learned to knit

Surprisingly (to me) I get asked one question more than any other when I am knitting, "How did you learn to do... that?". It must be an age factor, most people thinking you should only learn how to knit when you are of a certain age. My journey of learning how to knit is different than anyone else's, so I thought I would share. (Disclaimer: If you are already bored I suggest you don't read on and get back to your crafting!)

Do you remember when those fun fur scarves where "like totally" in? I was somewhere between the ages of 12-15 when my sister and I wanted one! When we learned that we could make one ourselves we were immediately on board. My Mom went to JoAnns and bought some (now hideous) fun fur yarn, and two pairs of aluminum size 10 needles. I knew how to crochet at the time and thought knitting would be just as easy. After getting through a foot of the scarf, with half as many stitches I started with, it became a small monster that hid in the corner of my closet.
*(While it is widely believed that monsters live in the closet or underneath the bed, the origin is now thought to be from a mixture of abandoned crafts and dust)

Fast forward to a year ago... I am now working at "This is The Place, Heritage Park" enjoying my incredible job. As the summer dies down and there is more down time, we are asked to continue doing 'pioneer crafts', keeping the park authentic. Long days in a pioneer dress is perfect to try and pick up knitting again (the truth is that I wanted to learn to spin, but needed to find a craft that I can use all the yarn for...). After a few days I had it down, I am not dropping stitches, but I am also going at a turtle's pace. Some guests comes into the park, an older woman and her husband, and they come to see what I am doing. I learn very quickly that they are visiting from Germany and don't speak a word of English. She proceeded to motion to my needles, and I hand them to her. For the next five minutes she teaches me without words, how to knit with the yarn in my left hand, how to hold my needles better, and how to quicken my pace. What an incredible experience! I learned from someone I will never meet again in this life and got to feel the history in her knitting, that she probably learned from her Mother or Grandmother! It led to greater self-confidence and soon to an addiction I might never satisfy.

P.S. I couldn't find a picture of me knitting, but here is picture of me at work!