When I knitted the first hat from this pattern for son no.1 he was tickled pink not least because the snow on the ground was at least two inches thick and he needed something warm whilst he was tinkering with cars. He proudly wore it to work and his boss exclaimed that it was indeed a very fine hat and was very impressed that his mum had knit a hat like that. I felt quite warm and perhaps just a little smug.

Fast forward four months, just breaking into spring and the ‘boys’ at work played a little game of hiding the hat, which culminated in the new boy (new that day!) putting the hat in the microwave and turning it on. The hat burst into flames in two area’s but being wool self extinguished once the microwave was turned off. We were left with a very burned hat and were very annoyed – I am being polite here!

I was asked to knit another hat that the boys at work would pay for. So I quoted the full price for yarn, minimum wage and approximate hours it would take, all that cabling does take time. The message came back via my son that they wouldn’t pay that, I think they were a little shocked at the price, and by this time we had calmed down somewhat, knowing that it was just boys being boys, so I said okay a bouquet of flowers and the cost and postage of the yarn. This was deemed fair by the boys at work and I left the knitting of it until the weather turned colder.

Son no.1 only had one request, that it must be identical, absolutely identical in every way.

Thank goodness for Ravelry as I had recorded everything I needed to be able to achieve that. Although if I am honest, I think the tension is just a gnats whisker tighter than the previous hat, although I think this may be because of the reasons above of why I was reknitting it.

Son no.1 proudly wore it into work, only to be told that only black hats were allowed these days, – back to the drawing board!

This was knit in Rowan Pure Wool Aran in Grey from a pattern called Knotty but Nice by Natalie Larson.