AngiPants Design

So lunch on Wednesday, after all the excellent suggestions from the crafties on Craftster, I just went with the Tunisian thing. I wanted to do a whole skein of a swatch before I made any judgment calls. So here is the Tunisian:


After skein ran out, I just sat and stared at it. It looks REALLY close. It has the "bubble rib" thing going.


So then rina was fabulous enough to go and swatch a single crochet round and post her pic. That got me thinking again, and I undid a few rows and chained a small round of 14 stitches and SC from the inside, so the WS appeared on the outside. (Is that what you were thinking rina?) So here is that.


My only issue with the SC is that the ribs slightly twist. I noticed it on my swatch (even is the picture didn't bring it out) and on rina's swatch. So I think I will pick up another skein of the Grey Wolf and try out an entire crochet pattern. Which ever one I don't like will be toaded (frogging is for knitting, I decided toading is for crochet, who's with me!?) and will become the ear flaps.

Also did some 8-strand braiding.


This is the ties coming down from the ear flaps. I know it's not exact, I suspect they used a 6 strand version, but I like it!

I got busy again. So the hat was pushed off to the side a bit.

Anyway, I went to La Petite Knittery in Ladera Ranch on Sunday looking for some bulky, rove looking yarn. I had in mind something like Rowan Big Wool, but thought it looked to "spun". So then I was thinking something like Rowan Big Wool Tuft, but couldn't find any. I think it has been discontinued?

Anyway I did find some Blue Sky Alpaca Bulky. I had originally wanted a Merino Wool, but as soon as I spied this and touched it, I was in LOVE! It is perfect! I bought a skein each of Grey Wolf and Porcupine.

So now that I have the perfect yarn, the perfect stitch search began in earnest. I printed out the pictures my co-worker emailed to me and have been pondering them for two weeks now. Thinking through each stitch possibility in my head. At first glance I thought Knit. The website also lists the hat as "a hand knit item." But as most yarn crafters know, many times items are just listed at knit when they are definitely not. I was also thinking knit because of the edge above the eyes. That looked like a knit bind-off. I was also thinking knit because of the stitch uniformity. So I tried some knit stitches, and nothing seemed to look like the picture.

Then as I looked a the actual stitch, it looked more crochet. Like the hat had been crocheted sideways, instead of from the brim up or the crown down. So I tried some crochet techniques, and again, nothing seemed to look right.

Then I posted for some help on Craftster. Early posts are suggesting tunisian. After looking at the pictures Amalas posted, I have to be inclined to agree at this point. I have some experimenting to do doing my lunch today, but I think we have a winner! Good thing I brought this project along with me today. I don't think I could have waited the rest of the day to try this out!