My husband says “I’ll pack a hat” every time we go on vacation, but he never fails to forget one. This time, I bought a skein of bulky weight alpaca yarn and began knitting him a hat. It fit him perfectly, but he had a hat at home. So, when the vacation was over, the hat went into the washing machine for 10 minutes. Now it’s a felted hat, and fits me-- a perfect, alpaca compromise for both of us!

This hat, originally a Knit Picks exclusive, is a fast project on size 11 needles. The models use two skeins of Knit Picks Decadence, knitted double, for each hat, but any bulky weight Alpaca yarn that knits at 3 stitches to the inch is a good substitute.

Materials:
Yarn:
121 yards of any bulky weight Alpaca yarn that knits at 3 sts to the inch
or
242 yards of any worsted to bulky weight Alpaca yarn that doubled, knits at 3 sts to the inch

Notions Required:
Yarn needle
1 stitch marker
1 row counter

If felting you will need:
1 head-sized bowl with straight sides and a flat bottom to make a bucket shaped hat, as shown.
Top loader washing machine
Small amount of laundry detergent

Gauge:
3 sts = 1” in stockinette stitch with yarn doubled. Check your gauge before you begin.