I hate my neck but I love my hat
I believe that Nora Ephron hated her neck because the wrinkles on her throat gave away her age.
My reasons for hating my neck are not cosmetic; I hate my neck because it is constantly causing me headaches. I have the most sensitive neck in the universe. I can't sleep funny; I can't use the wrong pillow; I can't skip a meal; I can't turn my head to look at you for any length of time; I can't doze on the couch with my neck kinked sideways (as I did this afternoon, to my regret); I can't pull my hair back in a tight ponytail; I can't pin my hair up in a sleek chignon (well, there are several reasons for that one); I can't wear a baseball cap or any tight-fitting hat. If I do any of those things--or any of a number of other normal things--I get a crushing headache that can sometimes last for days.
It starts at the base of my neck and radiates upward. I have learned to just get on with things, it happens so often. But I still hate it, and it makes me cranky. And so this is why I love my new hat. Rudee the knitting nurse made the hat. She made it for herself, initially, but it turned out to be too big and she was going to unravel it and start over until several of us blog readers stopped her, begging for the hat. In the end, she raffled it off, and I won; for a donation to her local food shelf, I got this hand-knitted beautiful warm too-big hat.
This hat is perfect. It is too big, which means it doesn't give me a headache. It has lovely braided strings so I can tie onto my head. It is as soft as a cloud and as warm as a hot toddy. I wear it in the mornings, walking the dogs before sunrise, and in the evenings, walking the dogs after sunset, and it keeps me toasty.
This picture shows more hair than hat, because it's a warm evening for December--it was 29 degrees when we set out to get our tree--and I have it shoved back on my head. But it's a fair isle knit, made of soft alpaca wool, and it has little ear flaps. It will keep me warm until zero or so, when I will switch to this:
It starts at the base of my neck and radiates upward. I have learned to just get on with things, it happens so often. But I still hate it, and it makes me cranky. And so this is why I love my new hat. Rudee the knitting nurse made the hat. She made it for herself, initially, but it turned out to be too big and she was going to unravel it and start over until several of us blog readers stopped her, begging for the hat. In the end, she raffled it off, and I won; for a donation to her local food shelf, I got this hand-knitted beautiful warm too-big hat.
This hat is perfect. It is too big, which means it doesn't give me a headache. It has lovely braided strings so I can tie onto my head. It is as soft as a cloud and as warm as a hot toddy. I wear it in the mornings, walking the dogs before sunrise, and in the evenings, walking the dogs after sunset, and it keeps me toasty.
This picture shows more hair than hat, because it's a warm evening for December--it was 29 degrees when we set out to get our tree--and I have it shoved back on my head. But it's a fair isle knit, made of soft alpaca wool, and it has little ear flaps. It will keep me warm until zero or so, when I will switch to this:
