This hat pattern, with its bird-like slipped-stitch pattern, was inspired by Anne Lamott’s timeless book on writing and the writing life, Bird by Bird, and her father’s advice when faced with an enormous, seemingly insurmountable task:

On January 6, 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail give the first public demonstration of electric telegraphy, sending a coded message over two miles of wire at Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown, New Jersey, USA.

This cowl was designed to match the Tussock Hat: