I returned about a week ago from an unexpected several-week stay in Wisconsin. While I am adjusted to Alabama winters (see the first line of this post), a proper handspinning alpaca owner does not miss the opportunity to test his wares in a proper climate for them!

When I arrived in Wisconsin, it was -6F and blowing. Perfect weather for testing my alpaca goods.

While I was visiting, mom mentioned that she wanted an earband or maybe a hat. Mom has been a scarf wearer as long as I can remember – scarf goes over the head, around the ears, and around the neck. In extreme weather, the parka hood goes over the whole thing. It’s all I ever remember mom wearing for cold weather. Because mom likes scarves, I’ve made sure she has some very nice alpaca scarves. Hearing mom mention that she wanted something else was a bit of a surprise. I listened and mom said she wanted a loose hat that won’t mess up her hair too badly.

I decided to attempt a hat. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the proper yarn with me in Wisconsin, so it had to wait until I got back.

Blue Onion Dome hat.

This is my first attempt. I started with a loosely-knit 2-2 ribbing to go around the head. I made it large enough that it fits loosely on me. Basically, starting part is a narrow earband. You can see the ribbing at the bottom of the picture above, or in the detail picture below.

Once the ribbing was complete, I switched to a crochet hook. I picked up the edge stitches loosely with a double-crochet. Picking up the knit edge evenly without constricting the expansion of the ribbing was a little tricky. It took about five false starts before I was satisfied. I think I worked two double crochets into every other turn stitch – my fingers know what I was doing, but I’ll have to repeat it to describe it here.

After the first round, I started working a front post double-crochet every fifth stitch to give the hat some texture and interest. I then crocheted a number of rounds and started a decreasing spiral to the to.

Stitch detail showing the knit ribbing with the double-crochet picked out of the top edge. If you look closely at the top rows of crochet, you can see the front post double-crochets that give the hat some life.

All in all, it is a very simple pattern. It looks good on me – but it’s not really a guy’s hat. It looks cute on Pam – and I don’t call very many of my finished objects cute.

The point at the peak is caused by the final decreases. I think I tried to squeeze too many decreases into too small an area and it gathered a little bit. I didn’t intend the peak, and I haven’t decided if I want to eliminate it from the next version of hat or not.

Mom’s not getting this hat becasue it has one other design flaw. It’s too short. There is plenty of extra room horizontally in the hat. The ribbing is loose. It’s not going to crush anybody’s hair in that direction. However, it’s a little short and it’s going to crush the hair on the top of the head. I should have made one, possibly two more rounds of double crochet before I started the decreases. Ironically, that’s about how much yarn I have left over. (Mom, I know you read this blog, so if you have a color choice, please speak up.)

Yarn is America’s Alpaca from AFCNA. 100% alpaca. Not mine. Not handspun, but good stuff.