I've finally finished the hat I had been working on--starting, then tearing out, then starting again...--seemed like it took forever. But, I was able to finish this weekend when we spent some time at a little Buddhist temple. Our friends Peter and Aruna (a former Buddhist nun) are close friends with a nun, Dongki Su-nim, who built and runs her own temple in the Gyeonggi region (just north of Seoul). We took them up on their offer to stay there for a weekend, to get some fresh air and enjoy the fall colors. While the boys (Jack, Oliver, and Ronan and Peter and his son) went to the bath house, the girls stayed behind and drank green tea with Dongki Su-nim. I decided to work on the hat while Aruna and Dongki Su-nim caught up on all the latest Buddhist news (as you can imagine, very exciting). While finishing the hat up in the kitchen, the temple's cook's eyes lit up. She disappeared for a moment and then re-emerged with a gorgeous shawl she had crocheted and a cute little hat that matched the shawl and was a similar style to the hat that I made (although her's looked way more elegant and French-artiste-like, you know what I mean). This exhibition put my overly-large chunky hat to shame (the hat turned out larger than expected--note to self: need to use smaller needles). I asked her how long it took her to make her hat and she said she usually only needed a day to do a hat and 2-3 days for the shawl (my hat took me almost 2 months). Ah, show off--her work was really good, though. The shawl had these little pom-poms on them and, after admiring them, she asked if I'd like her to make a pom-pom for my hat. I said, 'sure' and she whipped one up without the little pom-pom making gadget she normally uses to make them. First, she wrapped some of the yarn around newspaper (this took quite a bit of yarn--my hopes for a second hat with the same yarn were dashed).
Then, she pulled the wrapped yarn from the newspaper and tied it tightly in the middle. After that, she took scissors and snipped the looped ends off to make the pom-pom. To fit the chunky nature of the hat, she left it a little shaggy. To get a smaller, less chunky-looking pom-pom you just cut the ends more closely to the core.
Then, she sewed the pom-pom into the end of the hat. While she was at it, she also crocheted a little band that she looped into the ribbed part of the hat so that I could tighten it and actually wear it (again, it was pretty darn big). And, voila, the hat was done.
On the way home from the temple, we stopped by halmoni's house to have dinner with her and komo (the youngest daughter in the family lives with Jack's mom). I showed my mother-in-law the hat and she asked who it was for. I asked her if she wanted to try it on and, well, the rest is history. She wore the hat to the galbi restaurant and back. It was now, officially, a gift hat. I think it suits her well and is perfect for her. She has a perm and the hat fits nicely over her hair without crushing the curls. Well, here are some shots. I really like this yarn. I got it at the Piedmont Avenue knitting store before leaving for Korea specifically to make this "Autumn Hat" (the pattern name). I think the colors are so perfect for autumn.
I've finally finished the hat I had been working on--starting, then tearing out, then starting again...--seemed like it took forever. But, I was able to finish this weekend when we spent some time at a little Buddhist temple. Our friends Peter and Aruna (a former Buddhist nun) are close friends with a nun, Dongki Su-nim, who built and runs her own temple in the Gyeonggi region (just north of Seoul). We took them up on their offer to stay there for a weekend, to get some fresh air and enjoy the fall colors. While the boys (Jack, Oliver, and Ronan and Peter and his son) went to the bath house, the girls stayed behind and drank green tea with Dongki Su-nim. I decided to work on the hat while Aruna and Dongki Su-nim caught up on all the latest Buddhist news (as you can imagine, very exciting). While finishing the hat up in the kitchen, the temple's cook's eyes lit up. She disappeared for a moment and then re-emerged with a gorgeous shawl she had crocheted and a cute little hat that matched the shawl and was a similar style to the hat that I made (although her's looked way more elegant and French-artiste-like, you know what I mean). This exhibition put my overly-large chunky hat to shame (the hat turned out larger than expected--note to self: need to use smaller needles). I asked her how long it took her to make her hat and she said she usually only needed a day to do a hat and 2-3 days for the shawl (my hat took me almost 2 months). Ah, show off--her work was really good, though. The shawl had these little pom-poms on them and, after admiring them, she asked if I'd like her to make a pom-pom for my hat. I said, 'sure' and she whipped one up without the little pom-pom making gadget she normally uses to make them. First, she wrapped some of the yarn around newspaper (this took quite a bit of yarn--my hopes for a second hat with the same yarn were dashed).
Then, she pulled the wrapped yarn from the newspaper and tied it tightly in the middle. After that, she took scissors and snipped the looped ends off to make the pom-pom. To fit the chunky nature of the hat, she left it a little shaggy. To get a smaller, less chunky-looking pom-pom you just cut the ends more closely to the core.
Then, she sewed the pom-pom into the end of the hat. While she was at it, she also crocheted a little band that she looped into the ribbed part of the hat so that I could tighten it and actually wear it (again, it was pretty darn big). And, voila, the hat was done.
On the way home from the temple, we stopped by halmoni's house to have dinner with her and komo (the youngest daughter in the family lives with Jack's mom). I showed my mother-in-law the hat and she asked who it was for. I asked her if she wanted to try it on and, well, the rest is history. She wore the hat to the galbi restaurant and back. It was now, officially, a gift hat. I think it suits her well and is perfect for her. She has a perm and the hat fits nicely over her hair without crushing the curls. Well, here are some shots. I really like this yarn. I got it at the Piedmont Avenue knitting store before leaving for Korea specifically to make this "Autumn Hat" (the pattern name). I think the colors are so perfect for autumn.
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