DIY: Marled Classic Cuffed Alpaca Hat

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These photos were taken a while ago! Doesn’t the snow look beautiful now that we’re officially out of winter? The Marled Classic Cuffed Alpaca Hat is the winter accessory of my dreams. I knit it with hand spun alpaca from a farm boutique called GN’R Alpaca, that Meinhilde and I visited a few years ago. The boutique relocated to BC, but we visited in Ontario, before the owners moved across the country. I hope the alpacas like the west coast!

The Marled Classic Cuffed Alpaca Hat used up almost all of the 150 m of worsted yarn, so I couldn’t make an entirely matching pompom. Instead I added some other local wool to make my fluffiest pom ever. The white yarn is BFL x Romney Lopi from Twin Oaks Farm, the loftovers from the white Fidra hat listed in our Etsy shop.

How do you make an extra poufy pompom? Use a thick one-ply yarn and then steam it! For the first time ever, I used a clothing steamer to fluff up the pompom and make it this full and dense. I had a lot of fun and proceeded to steam all of the pompoms on our other shop hats.

The pattern is the Classic Cuffed Hat by Purl Soho. I haven’t made many of their designs, but I love browsing through their library of modern projects. I chose this uncomplicated hat because I wanted the marled alpaca yarn to stand out. The Marled Classic Cuffed Alpaca Hat turned out exactly like I’d hoped.

My small adaptation to the pattern is that the pompom can detach. We learned this trick from Hunter Hammersen, another designer we admire. It involves using a set of toggle clasps, which can be found in shops that carry jewelry making supplies. We found these ones in the bead stores on Toronto’s Queen Street West. The clasps allow you to attach and remove the pompom very easily.

For anyone that doesn’t have to live through freezing winters, you may not know that the best way to keep yourself warm is to wear a thick hat and then pull your jacket hood over on top of it. This becomes more difficult with a bulky pompom– removing it on really cold days allows my ears to stay warm.

FYI- I am wearing the Treelight Sweater, which you can purchase in our Etsy shop.