A Tale of Two Hats (and more reckless knitter behavior)

Once upon a time I wanted a beautiful hand-knitted hat. I wanted to venture into colorwork and stranded knitting to produce something I could look at and love every time I wore it. With Cascade 220 yarn, size 4 circular and double-pointed needles, and the book Hats On! 31 Warm and Winsome Caps for Knittersat my disposal I was ready.

It was quick. It was pretty. The fit was perfect. Meet Lusekofte.

November 2010 should be thanked for giving me time to make something so right for myself, a hat that I would go on to wear almost daily for the next 6 or 7 months. There you have it.

Fast forward to Autumn 2011 and imagine my utter devastation when cold begins settling into my bones (or nose tip to be accurate) and my favorite knitted hat is nowhere to be found. I turned this apartment upside down looking for it. The office and car were also approached with a scrutinous eye. I racked my brain back to the breakup and wondered if there was some way it got shoved into a backpack on some camping trip and moved on with my ex. Regardless, I spent hours searching and finally had to accept this was another lost hand-knitted item and now only had anger and frustration to warm me. It was time to move on and move quickly because a farm trip to Eastern Washington was only a couple weeks away and I needed something to protect me. They have winter on that side of the state, you know?

Armed with the leftover yarn from my favorite hat and the same book and the same knitting needles, I decided to make something similar but slightly different so I could justify keeping and wearing both when (yes, when) my favorite hat turned up. Meet Fana.

November 2011 was a let-down in the knitted hat sense. I inverted the color scheme and found the yellow color looked drab against my skin tone, the fit was wrong and it felt/looked too large, and it wasn't my favorite hat, *sigh*. So I lost it within one week. I KNOW, I'M STUPID. How many projects can this knitter carelessly desecrate and lose/almost lose?!?

The good news is the Fana Cap was left at the farm in Eastern Washington and the kind farm-lady mailed it to me last week. Now I'm trying to decide the best way to love this hat.... do I gift it? Shrink it a bit in hot water? What do you think?