A special find

When myself and BabyLonglegs were spending a couple of quality days together last October, we found ourselves wandering the charity shops of Huddersfield. It's a fave past-time of mine and one I miss when I'm not in the UK. As we were rummaging around, BabyLongLegs found this Hat in the Oxfam and she graciously handed it over to me.

And I'm glad, as I was secretly hoping she wouldn't want it herself! I've always wanted a genuine Peruvian Hat and this was the first time the chance had presented itself.

Just look at the detail, the perfection of those tiny, tiny stitches...

I admire the mitre shaping in the garter stitch earflpaps - so well knitted! And the clever use of reflection and negatives in the motifs themselves. The gauge across the motifs is 44sts x 60 rows across 4in/10cm square, and 44sts x 88 rows across 10cm/4in. Ouch!

If you look closely, you can see the decreases for the crown shaping below, worked in and around the stranded motifs..

It's in excellent condition, with little need of repair. There's 2 holes, possibly 3; the one shown below at the tip of the crown is the largest point of damage and is likely to have been caused by being hung, rather than anything more sinister. These Hats are usually imported for decoration, rather than wear.

The earflaps are placed centrally, equidistant, so that the Hat can be worn either way around. Our ears aren't in the middle of our heads like this, they sit towards the back, but with such wide earflaps like these the positioning makes for a Hat that can be worn more than one way.

It's a childs size, and not really practical for any of us to wear. It's even a bit small for Aran (though, admittedly, he has a larger than average size head for his age). I just love having it; it's become one of my very favourite things.