Maple Leaf Rag

Those of you who are in the know and keep up with all the goings on in Knitlandia know the above picture to be of Caro, the beauty and brains behind Splityarn and Knitting it Old School. Can you even stand how cute she is, both here and in general? I haven't had a model round these parts of such stature in quite a long time. Let's not share that tidbit with my kids, because they are just looking for an escape clause in their contract and a way to get off this blog as soon as possible. But, come to think of it, child laborers don't even HAVE contracts, so pfft!

About a month or so ago, a group of friends gathered in the wilds of Michigan to have a lost weekend of bacon, fizzy lifting drinks and knitting. Sadly yours truly was in France, so I wasn't able to make it. Yes I was crestfallen, but I had duties to attend to that involved hot, fresh croissants, shepherding students around Paris, and watching hours and hours of DSK analysis on late-night talk shows. Luckily I was still able to participate in the hat swap that these knitpals had organized. I had the great fortune of being able to knit for Caro (although each and every one of these ladies has her own special charms). After my initial excitement suddenly it started to sink in: hello, you are knitting for a published knit author and all-around extremely skilled crafter. PRESSURE MUCH? Luckily for me, the hat turned out reasonably well. These things can go one of two ways: either the recipient truly likes what you've knitted her or she does an extremely good snow job and graciously makes you feel that she liked it. In this case, I do believe it was the former--whew!

The Specs

Pattern: Maple Leaf Rag by Kristin Hanley Cardozo (Knitting Kninja)

Yarn: Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran in #137, two skeins.

Needles: size 4 and 6

Size: M/L

Mods: None!

When I set out to find a pattern for my partner, I had some very specific criteria. I knew I wanted to make cloche as this is the recipient's favorite hat shape. Check! I wanted the pattern to have a special detail and maybe a fun stitch pattern? Check! I wanted to find a color to accentuate the otherworldliness of Caro's mesmerizing eyes. Check! And lastly, I wanted the pattern to have a name that signified Caro's country of origin. Check! Ok, just kidding about that last one. But Maple Leaf! Caro's Canadian! Get it? Kismet, pure kismet I tell you.

This was such a pleasant pattern to make because of the the clarity of the directions and the general versatility of the pattern. Directions are given for both a cloche and a slouch version. You will see that on Peeper (seen above and below) the hat is much larger, and if you squint and mentally photoshop your face on to her picture, you start to get an idea of what the slouch version might look like on you. Cute, right?

Stay tuned for a veritable cavalcade of FOs here in the next week or so. As you know, I had loads and loads of knitting time while I was in France and have some beauties to share with you...