As some of my readers know from the adventures of Boo-Boo, the amigurumi tiger, I recently got to go to New York City. In addition to finding photo ops for the crocheted tiger that accompanied me and a tour of the exhibition, “Before Pythagoras: The Culture of Old Babylonian Mathematics,” I also got to see The Addams Family, a new musical currently on Broadway.

It was a birthday gift for a birthday ending in zero, and not only did I thoroughly enjoy myself, it was the perfect musical for this particular birthday. Adding to the enjoyment was the opportunity to meet on of my online crochet peeps, the accomplished actress and crochet designer, Eileen Tepper.

I first became acquainted with Ms. Tepper when I discovered a pattern she had designed for a Nubby Brim Cloche (the pattern for which is available as a free download at ravelry.com). The directions were precise and easy to follow, and the result was a great looking hat.

This weekend, I got to try at Ms. Tepper’s “Newsboy Hat.” She had said that once I got going it would take about an hour-and-a-half, so I multiplied that by 2 and set aside three hours this afternoon to see what I could do.

Armed with an L hook which I dug out of this case:

my newly purchased Clover “bent point” jumbo yarn needles from Knitty City in New York:

and Ms. Tepper’s pattern, I then sorted through my extensive stash of Red Heat yarn for the perfect color. After much rumination, I settled on two skeins of Red Heart Classic, capri blue.

While a Cartier red might have been more appropriate for this particular birthday, when it comes to expensive sparkly stuff, Tiffany & Company is my favorite retailer, and while both the Red Heart Classic capri blue and Red Heart Super Saver Aruba Sea are not an exact match (they both seem to have a bit too much gray) they are the only yarns I have found that come remotely close to resembling the famed Tiffany Blue.

After I had collected all of the materials I needed to start the project, I got to work. By the time an hour had passed, I had gotten this far:

By the time another hour-and-a-half had elapsed, the hat was completed:

Two notes about the pattern.:

First, I repeatedly misread the directions for a special stitch that Ms. Tepper uses in this hat, but wisely (I guess for people like me who repeatedly misread directions) she has included a picture of the stitch, and when you click on the picture, it takes the viewer to youtube.com where she has a video that demonstrates how to make the stitch.

Second, I decided to go for some extra poof and followed the directions for that option.

Ms. Tepper’s directions are excellent, and should you decide you need to make this hat for yourself, you can purchase the pattern from Ms. Tepper’s etsy store.

I can promise you won’t be disappointed.