the secret project..

...... that I was keeping quiet about was this which has reached a bit of a full stop at the moment, but I have high hopes of restarting it very soon (today hopefully).

AND a big hello to my secret pal who has contacted me twice already. Nice to hear from you.

In the meantime I have knitted this ....
which is a hat by the way (I would have taken a picture of it on my head, but it's a bit small I think, and the colour is what Ro would call challenging).

Note the detail (new camera!!!!). I started this off knitting one of Woolywormhead's hats, but having got halfway up I went off on one and just winged it instead.

It's probably not an original pattern, but it was to me. It was going to be an experiment anyway, I'd tried knitting up some Texere mohair with some Rowanspun Aran (I think) to knit a big baggy jumper a la S&B handbook cable fronted job, and I liked the effect. I have a cone of recycled cashmere (?) stuff from Texere left over from my last cable fronted biggy, and thought I'd try that out with some mohair too for a slightly more feminine effect. (Yup that's me, feminine through and through!). The only mohair I could get at the stall on the indoor market was the rather unfortunate shade of ginger you see in the hat.

I quite like the effect if not the colour. Knitted up on size 6mm needles it gives a good stiff fabric, which is what made me decide on a hat that stood up for itself. So I continued knitting in the round until it was about 6.5 to 7 inches, then did a row of purl to give it a definite edge, then did a double decrease thing (k2 tog, sl sl k, or should that be the other way round. Damned if I can remember) at each quarter of the hat every other row. When I got to the middle and ran out of stitches I cast off. I was hoping for a rather rounder rather flatter top, but it had a pokey up bit in the middle and was decidedly square, just crying out for a tassel, so behold, it got a tassel too. I probably won't wear it but I am inordinately proud of it. please don't anyone post a picture of one exactly like it and I will continue to believe I have designed a hat.