A new lease on life

Last weekend I tackled this hat repair project. As a reminder, this is what Patti's adorable dachshund did to her favorite wool hat:

I combed through my stash and found a very promising match. This yarn (the color name is Pampas Heather ) is sport weight and I wish it were worsted, but it worked pretty well:

I carefully reviewed the video and started by catching the loose stitches. I decided there were 4 columns missing over 8 rows:

I worked some stabilizing stitches to provide some scaffolding over which the repair was worked (this is a super important step - do not skip!):

Then I got busy working 8 lengths of yarn to replace the 8 missing rows. You start at the bottom, and then use a crochet hook to build each row on top. That part went fairly well, though I had a hard time figuring out how to NOT twist the stitches. Some of the replacement stitches are still twisted. I decided not to sweat it, because Patti won't care and besides, I was already thinking about covering up the mended area. Here is the mended area before I finished weaving in the ends: 

Yikes, so many ends! I thought things would look much better after weaving them in. I guess they look a bit better, but this is still quite rough:

I have officially requested that if the dog must take another bite, that it be a long, horizontal bite rather than a long vertical one. 8 rows is a lot! 

I ended up covering this whole area with an embroidered flower. I didn't have any purple that was as faded as the original colors, but I decided this would do. I also had a harder time with the embroidery than I expected. This hat was made by artisans in Nepal and their skills are superior! Patti okayed the hat, so I tacked the lining down and gave it a bath. This hat repair is DONE!

I learned some new things and extended the life of a beloved garment. I'm good with that.