third in the series

One last gift knitting report. All gifts were finshed on time, just barely . There's one more hat that was knit enroute to Washington DC in the car and gifted upon arrival so it won't be making an appearance here. It was just a simple beanie, anyway.
Having knit a swell Swell, I needed a differerent style earflap hat for my favorite bro-in-law, a guy who likes some flash and funk in his handknits. Here's what he got:
I considered every earflap hat pattern I could lay my tired eyes on. I liked Fathom's Snowball Fight for her graphics but bro-in-law wanted a point on top, and a point he would get. I cast on for the visoppskrift earflap hat I found at the Garnstudio site. It was plain but I figured I'd add graphics, making them up as I went.

I was completing the O's on the earflaps with absolutely no plan or idea of what to do next with the colors when the winter Knitty came out and there was Center Square. It was a chanukah miracle- the repeating pattern divided neatly into my stitch count and oh man, I knew I'd thrown the gimmel dreidel (meaning, I win).

The main modification to the hat was my limey green lining. I have become a devotee of The Lined Earflap. Besides, the hat needed the kick of bright.

I thought all was just right until my younger son, a fan of his uncle's style, declared the need for a very special tassle on top and offered to use his mad gimp skillz to create the chinese staircase embellishment.

As soon as it was unwrapped last weekend, bro-in-law declared it the perfect hat and plopped it on his head, flipping the earflaps up to form kind of pointy side panels. Does he have style , or what? (yeah, I know, no photo. Guilty. Cobbler's children syndrome, y'know).