This knit is so old that I have even forgotten which year I made it in!  My best guess is either 2010 or 2011.  Although I may not remember finishing it, I do remember purchasing the yarn.  I bought it in Istanbul in February 2010.  I try every holiday to buy some souvenir yarn and this was one of a few “souvenir skeins” from Istanbul.  I bought it from a place called Kürkçü Han, a market square near the Grand Bazaar. (See this wonderful blog post here, with pictures and details of how to get there.) The whole square is full of stalls selling clothes and yarn, mostly cotton and acrylic.  However, upstairs on the right is a yarn shop where I found a wider selection.

This yarn is a bamboo cashmere blend (35/65) by Nako in a lovely dark red colour.  I made a terrible attempt at bartering; my husband tried to help me, but I ended up too embarrassed in the end and paid full price.  Nevertheless, I remember it being fairly reasonable.

When I got back home, this yarn was duly added to the stash, not to be picked up again until I was looking for suitable yarn for a travel project.  I thought it would be rather apt to use souvenir yarn for such a project, it was the correct weight and I loved the colour.  With hindsight, using a bamboo blend for a hat was perhaps not the best choice, but the hat does have lovely slouch.  The pattern is Snapdragon Tam by Ysolda Teague from Whimsical Little Knits 2.  I had previously made the Snapdragon Mittens (still yet to be photographed and now worn so much they are literally falling apart!) so decided to make the hat to accompany them.  It was a straightforward knit and didn’t take too long.  I remember blocking it over a plate to help set all the cables nicely.  

And there you have it!  I don’t actually wear it that much as I tend to have my hair out these days and so wearing hats is not usually an option.  However, when I do have it braided, my head gets cold, so a hat is most useful.  The pictures accompanying this post were taken on the south coast near Portsmouth on a sunny but chilly February morning earlier this year.