Madelena's Touque

My Italian mother in law, Madelena Favro was an incredible person and a super intuitive knitter/dressmaker. She only had to look at a picture of a sweater or garment, to create it. No pattern, no fuss, just great skill and patience. It has a nice deep 4 inch rib that covers the ears with a double thickness. 2 by 2 rib is my favorite stretchy stitch for cuffs and hats, rather accordion like.

My father in law, Alessandro enjoyed working in the garden in all seasons, so Madelena asked him to get her some yarn (from Towers) and she would make him a Canadian hat.. a toque. It kept him warm for many years as well as protecting his head from the low beam in the cellar.
Madelena used only double pointed needles, sometimes 6 or 7 in order to accommodate the number of stitches she needed for a sweater. I am pretty sure she only used 4 for this hat, and so did I, in her honour.

Byron fixed these needles for me. They are actually 2 pairs of my precious Clover Bamboo. He cut off the knobs and sanded the ends to a point. Beautiful!

I used vintage Alafoss Flos wool mohair, 100 meters per 50 grams, on a 4.5 likely about 80 grams not including  a pom pom, which Madelena included in the original .

If you wish a copy of (my best guess of) her pattern, please email me and I will happily to send you the PDF.