Quite contrary

I love snow.

Flakes are falling as I write.  I keep stalking the windows to make sure I'm not missing anything.  It is an absolute mystery to me why hardly anyone else loves snow as much as I do.  To me, the more snow there is, the better!  Snow is perfect for listening and singing to pretty little snow songs, for drinking hazelnut chai tea, and for knitting all that's warm and woolly.

Nonconformist snow-lover, nonconformist wool-lover.  Ah, such is my life.

I never explained in a former post from over a year ago what the last hat pictured was.  The hat was a commission requested by a very good friend for her mom, who at the time was going through chemo therapy.  I chose a soft alpaca of a fingering weight, something that will be soft and warm without having any bulk to it.

Now, a year later, I got a second commission for a similar hat.  My friend's mom knows a lady at her church who is now going through chemo therapy.  I was only too happy to make another alpaca hat, modifying it some, but keeping it principally the same.

The brushed suri alpaca that I used is very soft and silky (I haven't dropped so many stitches in a LONG time).  There is hardly any stitch definition to it.  Around the middle, the garter stitch stripes that I included are visible, but the other herringbone stitch pattern seems non-existent.

You can tell the difference by comparing the alpaca hat to the Wending hat that I made recently, which uses the SAME herringbone stitch pattern.

Of course, made in sturdy wool as my Wending hat is, the pattern is easily distinguishable.  In the alpaca hat, the pattern seems to disappear.

Yet, even though you may not be able to see the pattern clearly on the alpaca hat, I think it does give a great texture to it.  Alpaca is such a smooth and silky fiber, and it needs texture to tame it into something casual.

The brim of the hat was fun.  I was originally going to do an i-cord, but I felt I ought to give the hat just a little bit more length.  I thus edged it with garter stitch, using an ssk (slip 1, knit 1, pass slip stitch over) to attach each row to the hat.  I really like how it turned out, and how it draws a connection to the garter stitch stripes around the middle.

I also took the opportunity to get better photos of the sweater I made last year.  October of last year was before my transition into the self-timer pictures.  I have more pictures of it on Ravelry, of course, so if you have an account there, you can check them out.

It was hard to jump into the realm of self-timer pictures.  I didn't like the thought of it originally, since I'm not really a "selfie" kind of person.  Unfortunately, they are the only way I can get the pictures I want of my knitting.

And did you know that it isn't easy?  I had no idea until I had hundreds of bad pictures of myself.  The keys are to have good lighting (which is hard to find indoors) and a pose that you don't look like a buffoon in.  But most importantly, you have to make it a KNITTING picture, which means that the focus must be on the work itself, not you.  You might want to look good, but your knitting better look the best.

Very tricky.  But interesting.

Cheers!