Bryan’s New Hat

Two years ago I knit Bryan this hat for snowboarding. It has felt pockets in the ears to slip his Burton headphones into (they’re on the larger size – around 2.5″ across), and an elkhorn button to hold the chin strap in place.

This weekend, I got a lot accomplished. Among my list of satisfying achievements was knitting Bryan a new snowboarding hat. I dragged him with to my new favorite yarn store, the Fiber Gallery up in Greenwood. As a reward for helping me pick out yarn for a baby sweater, I agreed to make him a new beanie for riding. He found two patterns and I helped him find the right weight yarn, so he’s actually getting TWO beanies out of me.

This is the first, and I worked on it most of Sunday. I’m getting faster at knitting! I also have the patience to sit around and knit the same thing in one long sitting (movie + Olympics + no TV). Hopefully, cranking out a couple of quick beanies will prepare me for a sweater from my Vintage Knits book. I am preparing to knit a hoodie that will fit a 12-18 mo-old.

Showing the neck closure

Showing the cables and alternate ribbing

The button for closing up the neck part is a piece of a dyed nut that I got at Fiber Gallery. I didn’t see what type of nut but I liked the texture around the colored part. The hat is actually knit deep enough that the earflaps came around to close almost on their own. I extended one of them about 1.5″ with a garter stitch, and other than that they are just earflaps stretched!

Showing the button detail on one of the earflaps

I did alter the pattern. It said to do a two-stitch cable in-between the C6′s and I thought that was too much twisting, so changed it to be just a k2 rib. OH! The first time I got about 3 rows in to the full loop and realized it was WAY too big. This was knit on a size 9 needle, and it called for a total of 120 stitches – it was going to be about 5″ too wide! So I reduced it down to 90 and it fits Bryan just fine. I remembered it being kinda big on the model in the shop, but couldn’t tell just how big it was until I got a few rows in.

Still have to get the felt pockets in the earflaps – that’s a must for Bryan, he’s gotta tune you out while riding (JUST KIDDING!). Really, the guy listens to music all.the.time while riding. So I have to dig out some soft fabric and get those in, and then this beanie’s all set for snowboarding in.