Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The purple alpaca hatcowl

As I typed that heading, it struck me how interesting it would be to watch a herd of purple alpacas from the window of a cosy farm kitchen, but I'm sorry to disappoint you: today we are talking about a hat/cowl combo made from alpaca yarn that is dyed purple.


I found the hatcowl at the Meadowview Alpaca Farm booth at this year's Royal Winter Fair, and of course I thought immediately of Jan, she of the purple socks.  Her birthday falls into an unseasonably bitter week of weather: great timing.  But that's not all, because the tubelike shape renders this little item suitable for a cowl if your neck is cold, and the drawstring at the top means you can tie off the end for a hat if you're worried about your head.  Perfect gift!


Too perfect, actually.  I tried it on to make absolutely sure I wasn't giving her something that looked stupid (as if purple alpaca could ever look stupid, ha!), and it turns out to look great on me.  As well as being incredibly soft and buttery.


I am telling you: alpaca is nice, but fingering weight alpaca is heaven.  The fabric you get is just so gorgeous.

Well, as you know, I am a selfish knitter, and it's natural to assume (correctly) I am also a selfish shopper. I really, really did not want to give this hatcowl away after I saw how nice it looked on me and how soft it was on my forehead, even though I knew that would be very, very wrong.  So I did the next best thing.  I got out some tools...


and measured and counted and thought and swatched...


and cast on a hatcowl for myself.  I'll tell you later how all that came out.

Meanwhile: do me a favour and give yourself some sort of treat today, even if all you have time for is to find something beautiful to look at while you take a few deep, slow breaths.  It's the middle of the week and we all need a little break!  See you tomorrow, but have a good day today if you can.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is Beautiful!! I hope you post a pattern for it. (Hopefully a free pattern, because I'm retired and on a limited budget �� ) I would love to make one (guiltfree for myself because you "said so" �� �� and for gifts)

Mary Keenan said...

And I just heard from Jan, who's been using it in both forms this week Anon: she said it works great! I will definitely experiment with this shape and any pattern I come up with (that isn't a direct copy, of course) will be free for sure. Meanwhile, check out Cheryl Oberle's free 'Goodie Bag Hat' pattern on Ravelry - same idea, and really cute too! You can get to her Ravelry page from her site at http://www.cheryloberle.com/

Laurinda said...

I have to agree with Anonymous- I definitely need this cowl! My lower face gets so much colder than the rest of my head these days. Weird, right?
And I deserve a warm cowl...

Mary Keenan said...

Laurinda, I've noticed the same thing! my nose first, and then my chin. And yes, you *totally* deserve a warm cowl :^)