Meet Alphonse.  He’s my new toy prop.

He is a perfect example of the odd encounters that this knitting thing can lead to.

I found him on an online antique store.  I sent off a little email to the store asking what size his head was.  Instead of just answering me, the shop wrote back asking why on earth that would matter.  They went to great length to explain that this was a prop.  It was meant for display.  It was absolutely positively not for real hats.

I (graciously I hope) explained that I wanted him to be a working toy, not just something to sit on a shelf and look pretty.  They were more than a bit perplexed.  Eventually, grudgingly, they coughed up the measurement.  For the record, it was stamped right there on the underside, so it wasn’t a terribly arduous piece of information for them to ferret out.

Now normally, I’d decline to patronize an establishment that seemed to be so hesitant to take my money.  I’m polite.  I wouldn’t want to distress them by forcing them to engage in unwelcome capitalism.  But in this case, I had to succumb.  The price was right, the size was right, and I simply couldn’t let Alphonse languish in durance vile.  I had to rescue him.

He arrived a few days ago.

Alas, the shop LIED about his size.  Instead of reporting the size stamped right there on the underside, or actually measuring, they seem to have pulled a number out of the ether (I can think of another place from which they may have pulled this number, but I’m trying to be tactful).  Alphonse is, alas, slightly smaller than my head or The Boy’s head or the heads of most of my other hat victims recipients (we’re a big-headed bunch it would seem).

Never fear.  Alphonse is staying here.  I am smitten with him.  I will attempt to cultivate some small-headed friends so he can be put to good use.  For now, he still makes a perfectly fine photo prop, even if he won’t be put to work as a hat blocker any time soon.