festoon:

or.. Knitting in the Years Before Ravelry.

Just after the holidays, I missed my favorite hat.  It isn't a particularly special hat, but it is my take anywhere, roll up and stuff in my pocket, throw in my bag, wear when I want to go walking, hat. It is soft and lofty and fits like it should.  I made it about eight years ago, I think.  I missed it terribly.  Guess it IS pretty special to me.  I searched and searched, looking in all my knitting bags, a suitcase I'd used, and under the seats of the car.  Nothing. I'd need to make another.  JUST. LIKE. IT  I remembered that a friend had ordered some of the yarn, in exactly the same color, several years ago for her yarn shop.  If there were two skeins left, I'd be able to make another.  I couldn't have told you what the yarn was, other than an alpaca boucle, if I hadn't found it.  Lucky, huh?  Then, there was the problem of the pattern.  How many stitches, when did the brim roll, how long??  Surely, I had written it down.  Before Ravelry, I kept notebooks, with pictures.  I went through notebook after notebook.  Finally, I decided to wing it.  You'd think that I would have the hat memorized, after wearing for so many years.  Funny how we stop seeing things. 

The final hat was similar.  Not the same.  Maybe, if I washed it.  But, no.  I wore the hat once before finding my old one.  If that's what it takes to find something special, it was worth it.  The hat was tucked inside my laptop case, waiting for me to need to pack up and go somewhere.

The old hat is on the left.  Chris has decided that he likes the new one. 

2 skeins, Plymouth Alpaca Boucle.

Here's the entry I made for the hat.  I'm going to look for some more of that yarn in a color to over-dye.  I want a blue one to match my new mitts.

Not these.  I made those for my niece when she was about 5 yrs. old. 

Susie's Reading Mitts by Janelle Masters  These were a present to me.  Knit in a mink / cashmere blend that I dyed in a color for me.  Yummy!  Several other presents were knit from the same yarn, each dyed specially for the recipient.  I used Susan Lawrence' cowl pattern, Forest Canopy, for one, (no pictures) and two more cowls (one in natural and another in black) knit with Anne Hanson's Ivy Vines.  Again, no pictures.  What was I thinking?  I've knit several cowls form both of the patterns.  Love them.

Aviatrix baby hat by Justine Turner   Cute pattern, can't wait to meet the little one.