A New Hat
Pattern Specs:
Pattern and Inspiration: Prof M --who had been searching high and low for a good hat pattern-- looked over my shoulder as I was reading Brooklyn Tweed's blog, and immediately exclaimed "I want that hat!". You have no doubt recognized it as The Girl From Auntie's Shedir hat.
Yarn: Chocolate alpaca purchased at Rhinebeck. Oh, this alpaca is so soft...
Needles: US 2 Addis, 40" length (the best for magic loop!)
Mods: How did you guess? The original pattern calls for Rowan Calmer. You cannot find Calmer anywhere in NYC! (Except at the Yarn Connection, but Jane only had pink left). I decided to use my Rhinebeck haul. Yay for stash yarn! It turns out that my alpaca is much thinner than Calmer, so I used needles one size smaller than called for (2s instead of 3s). The hat turned out just a smidge too big, so I ended up hand felting it. Lucky for you, I took this picture before felting, so you can see all the lovely cables.
This hank of alpaca is huge (700 yds!!), so huge that others have called it "never ending". But I haven't given up! I'm still knitting the alpaca! Just a little scarf -my own pattern- to go with the hat. 
I have a little over 2 feet of this scarf, and, boy, am I sick of it. Size 4 needles and a chart which I cannot for the life of me memorize.
(Maybe that's why I cast on for Panache last night...).
