The Story of the Yak Wool Hat

Somewhere along the way, during the final six month stretch of her 14 year journey, Alexandra David-Néel came across a fur hat in a patch of woodland. Much to the dismay of Yogden her adopted Lama son, she decided to pick it up.

Yogden was wary of the furry thing, believing it was a bad omen and advised her to leave it where it was. Not being one for superstition, and spurred on by the freezing temperatures, Alexandra decided to keep the hat, and placed it on her head, where it firmly stayed for the remainder of their journey.

The hat appears in many of the famous photos of Alexandra, so obviously I just had to have one myself.

Luckily, my mum is what you would call an "expert knitter." She can knit absolutely anything you like, for example check out the dungarees below she knitted for my little nephew. Apparently these were "just chucked together" from "a spare old bit of wool" she had lying around.

The feedback I've had so far is that "the yak wool is incredibly hard to handle" but on the plus side "it's very soft and warm."

Here's how it's coming along, I can't wait to put it on!