Two years ago, I made similar baby alpaca hats for Andy and I: http://www.madhuknitsandcooks.com/madhu_knits_and_cooks/2007/04/great_lightweig.html. Andy loved his hat so much that he asked me to make another, using some beautiful brown alpaca we picked up at the 2007 Midwest Folk Art and Fiber Festival. This natural-colored alpaca is from Frontier Fiber Mill in Indiana.
Although we initially purchased this yarn with the intention of making Andy some gloves, Andy decided this past year that he wanted another hat instead. I used the same design as the 2006 alpaca hat, and ended up making the hat in the round on two #1, 24-inch Addi Turbos. I ended up having to frog the first version of the hat that I made because of course I ended up getting my gauge swatch a little wrong by not knitting my swatch in the round and using bamboo DPNs. I ended up re-casting on with 120 stitches to make a hat that after blocking was 10 inches wide by 8 inches long. Despite the wear of frogging of the first hat, the yarn produced a wonderfully soft, strong hat and I definitely look forward to using it again.
And despite finishing the hat in April, part of my longstanding "tradition" of finishing knitwear in the wrong seasons, Andy was still able to get a few uses out of it before putting it away from a hot D.C. spring and summer! Now I just need to figure out what to do with the other skein!
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