Mr Turtle had a birthday yesterday! Maybe you remember from the cake yesterday? (It was delicious by the way, and it looked stunning when we lit the candles).

Anyway, as he is a geologist, I made him an appropriate hat. This was based on a picture of an antique miner’s hat that I found on the internet, and got auctioned off for a few hundred pounds. I couldn’t afford that (!) so JS bought me some brown aran yarn that I thought would look a bit like old leather when it got knitted up, and I found a pattern.

Miner’s Hat

The hat that I decided I wanted to make was actually a female one! I asked for some advice on Ravelry, and they recommended that I try a newsboy cap. This one had what was supposed to be a cardboard brim, which I thought would be good, so I bought the pattern (which was actually in a magazine, which means I had to buy the whole magazine…and now I can read it!) and got started.

The magazine was Simply Knitting Issue 86, from November 2011, the pattern “Beat Surrender Peaked Cap”. It knit up in about three hours, absolutely gorgeous. Putting together the cap was a dream, and I absolutely love the finished product.

For the lantern, I wasn’t sure what to do. I looked for a few patterns and couldn’t really find anything. I bought a huuuuge yellow button and decided that I would just make a little cone, which I improvised. The end product, I hated, but Mr Turtle seemed to like it. I made it detachable, but he reckons he wants to keep it on!

I think he liked it. It really suited him, and Turtle decided she liked it as well – so maybe I’ll make her one for Christmas instead of what I had planned. They even put it on Tommy! Brilliant.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Congratulations to Jenny L for winning the Knit ‘n’ Caboodle Giveaway. I’ll announce the new giveaway at the start of December as I’m plotting it and need some time to prepare!

Much love,

Corrie xx

Some More Photos