FO: prAna Thorpe

I'm pretty excited that I'm at a point with my knitting that when I see something in a store or catalogue that I want, I can usually figure out how to make it cheaper (or at least more customized with much nicer yarn). Case in point when I saw this hat in the winter prAna catalogue:

I loved it- squishy and multi-colored with tassels and cables. I didn't like that it was made out of acrylic, and I really wanted the cables to go all the way down the earflaps. Therefore, using my hardcore knitting skills and the Thorpe hat as my base pattern, I took a few days to ponder and knit and came out with this:

My very own prAna Thorpe hat!

Pattern: a heavily modified version of the Thorpe hat, originally created by Kirsten Kapur

Yarn: Two skeins of the uber-squishy Baby Alpaca Grande from Plymouth Yarn- one in a pretty dark purple and the other in an ivory white with strands of sparkle through it.

Needles: Bamboo size 9

Made for: Myself! (Weird, with all the Christmas knitting to do...)

Timeline: Dec. 5-8, 2011

Modifications: Quite a few.

On increases, I worked the increases to eventually be (K6 P3) 8 times in a round (to the number of stitches required for Thorpe size Medium). Once I finished increasing for the crown, I began this cable pattern:

R1- (Put 3 stitches on cable needle, K3, K3 from the cable needle, P3) 8 times.
R2 through 5- K6 P3
Repeat and keep with pattern as you follow the Thorpe pattern. Instead of doing the Garter Stitch, I just kept with the cable pattern until the hat measured 8” from the top, then did the BO row for the Thorpe Hat.
At the bottom of the ear-flaps, I stranded through a bunch of extra strands of yarn and braided them and knotted them off to kind of look like the picture. :)

The only thing I differed than the picture on was the edging- It looked almost like a Latvian braid, and since I was impatient and didn't feel like figuring it out I did the Half-Double crochet that the pattern calls for in the contrasting color.

Best Part: I now have a hat that I love in yarn that feels like a cloud- and it only took a couple of days to knit up!

Worst Part: Figuring out the sizing for my head and number of increases.

I have my new favorite hat for the winter season. :)