Hat from Homespun

This is a really sweet hat I spun and knit! The gray is merino, purchased at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in Boulder this fall.

I used the Navajo ply on the fly technique and it sooooooo soft. The white stripes, my own creative addition to the pattern, is Brown Sheep wool combed top which is from my very first spindle spinning. Actually, the original spinning was so bad (thick and thin) that I re-drafted it to achieve some fairly consistantly even yarn.
This hat was a gift for my hairdresser, Lee, who is so atypical of male hairdressers: married, 4 kids and plays ice hockey! He loved the hat and showed it off to all his clients when they came in. My buttons were busting with good feelings at this..... and considering what I have been going through lately, it was so nice to be appreciated for my skills and talents.