I’m always on the hunt for great knitting patterns for guys and whilst searching through Stephen West’s patterns on Ravelry this pattern called Windschief caught my eye. With my personal beanie challenge (to knit everyone a new beanie/hat) I set to work making one for my husband the animal lover.
These donkeys belong to our neighbour but we get to enjoy them through our connected fence. I think my husband has a special bond with them. They are such gentle and beautiful creatures we all love feeding them and they almost sense as soon as we’re coming over with some banana skins to give them.
This photo shows the little ribbed section with has a bit of a swoosh to it adds a unique edge to a simple beanie.
The rest of the hat is pretty plain so it was perfect to knit it up in some Madelinetosh Vintage yarn (in the colour Terrarium) which I purchased online from Wool & Flax especially for this project.
You can see the love for my husband in his eyes in this photo. He knows he can trust him. Such amazing creatures donkeys are. Did you know that they really mourn another donkeys passing? They almost cry for them and you can’t remove the body until they have properly grieved which can take days.
I think this donkey whose name is Patches looks exactly like the donkey from the kids book “The Wonky Donkey”. We used to read that book all the time when the kids were little, I remember it came with a CD of the song and we listened to it over and over and over one holiday car trip! Until it was sending us all a bit wonky!
I made my husband another hat 2 years ago out of some Noro yarn which you may remember but it has stretched over time and this new beanie has a lovely spring to the wool and it was just a dream to knit with. Although Madelinetosh yarn always is.