Hats, Hats and more Hats…

This week I have spent most of my time trying to make some Egyptian hats for my sister-in-law’s husband, Mahmoud. They live in a traditional mud-brick house beside the canal on the West Bank of Luxor and it gets pretty cold there, due to  the fact that they are surrounded by fields of sugarcane. For some reason, once you leave the main road to walk along their dirt road it suddenly becomes really cold, as though the plants ‘hold’ the cold there.  

Mahmoud wears the traditional headgear of the older men, which consist of a small hat, around which is then wound a white scarf to create a turban effect. I had no idea how to knit, or crochet one of these hats so I had to trawl the internet to find a pattern I could somehow manipulate. Nearly all of the hats I found were knit with Aran/sports weight so I had to design my own; as I was using 4-ply yarn and 4 double pointed needles. I then had to try and use another design for the top! I finally achieved it after a few false starts and interesting hats!

This is the top of the first hat. I used a pattern from ravelry  to get the top shaping as I had no idea how to do it; but I modified the design to get the decreases right. I decided not to use two colours for the design but to alternate knit and purl stitches to create the pattern instead. It turned out quite well.

When I finished that one I decided to make another, this time using the two colours as stipulated in the design. I wanted to see how it would work and I liked the effect in the end. This one was nice and warm and we gave it to my father-in-law, who loved it. It was ‘halwa’, he said, ‘lovely’, as he shuffled his 83 year old body down the stairs, God love him.

So…having achieved a knitted hat, which I really enjoyed, I wanted to see how to do a cotton version, crocheted. I wanted to try some tapestry crochet but found it difficult to do as I was increasing for the top. But, with a few mistakes, I managed something resembling a hat! I didn’t quite manage to get the maths right, I’m dyslexic, but it wasn’t too bad for a first!

• Last night we brought the hats over to Mahmoud, where I was eaten alive by the mosquitoes; but he liked them and they fit, which is more important! Now my brother-in-law wants one. At this rate I might even find time to finish my crochet skirt!!

But…I still had the proto-type hat I had made, which had turned out to be way too small; so I decided to make a hat for Omar’s 10 year old niece Ahalam.  This morning Omar had been downstairs with his nephew and had brought up a doll’s head! I know…they are all a little strange here..I think it is because they watch too much TV! 

However, the doll’s head is the size of a baby’s head so I thought I would keep it and use it as a model! Bingo…works brilliantly! 

So finally I can get back to my cotton skirt, which I have been making for months! Every time I get stuck and can’t quite figure out how to manage the next bit I distract myself by making something else. Works like a charm…and I usually learn some valuable new technique which helps me with the tricky part I have been trying to avoid!

A win-win situation all around!