My dad and stepmom have an alpaca farm, and whenever my son and his cousins visit they have such a blast running around the farm together. When I came across the most adorable hat pattern with alpacas on it (Chetwyn Alpaca Cap by Sam Lamb), I knew right away that I wanted to knit one for my nephew for his fourth birthday. (Continuing the alpaca hat love… it all started with that hat I knit for my stepmom.) I searched for alpaca yarn at the fiber festival where I was at, the skeins that I found that would work for the pattern were alpaca blends. They were blends with merino wool, so they were really soft, and I loved the way both yarns felt. The brown yarn is from our friends at Shaggy Bear Farms (they don’t sell online), and the grey yarn is from new-to-me Abundant Earth Fiber. We met their family for the first time at Knot Another Fiber Festival, and their beautiful yarn is a true joy to knit with.

I knit the brown hat first and it was looking too big. While I was knitting it, my boy asked me to make him a hat like that. I decided to knit another hat with grey as the main color for my nephew, and am glad I did because the size was a better fit for him. (Even though it arrived just a wee bit belated by the time I finished it.) I gave the first one to B, and he was happy with it. I really like the pattern, and am pleased with how the hats turned out. I promised I would cool it on the hats for my nephews for awhile, because I’ve knit so many for them over the years that I thought they might be getting an overabundance at this point, but first there was one more I wanted to make because I couldn’t help myself with the alpaca hat!