Our colleague Helen is off home to Wales for Christmas and told us at one of our Friday afternoon “Wine and Whine” sessions. Clearly it’s going to be colder over there than it is in Queensland so she’ll need to be properly kitted out in suitable knitwear. I’ve seen Gavin and Stacy, I know what it’s like …

After a couple of yummy glasses of something crisp and refreshing, I offered to make her a hat to help with the adjustment from tropical heat to “proper” snowy December weather. She mentioned that she would like an earflap hat, in blue and white, but not too fussy. Obviously I ignored most of the brief but I did think that using Kat’s pattern would be highly appropriate, given that it originated from Wales, just like Helen.

This yarn came from last year’s Bendigo show and I thought the colours would be great for Helen, plus they are extraverted enough to make the hat fun. This new blend of silk and wool is just lush, to use a Stacy word, and the whole project just sort of zoomed along. I cast on 100 stitches to make up for the lighter weight yarn, and did the flaps in garter stitch, just for added whimsy. Whilst I’m owning up to modifications I should also note that I knitted this in the round and used the decreases from the Four to One beanie.

Helen had been pretty firmly against any sort of pom-pomery but I sneaked in tassels because I thought they looked cool.

So here we have it, the Welsh hat for a Welsh chick, home in time for Christmas. I will be raising another glass to safe travels for one and all.