Thursday, December 28, 2006

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:1206FamVar080
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.

dets
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).

chinese

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE it! What more can I say?
Oh, thanks for the details. ;-)

Carole Knits said...

That hat is fabulous! The uncle sounds like a lot of fun.

Tracy Batchelder said...

Love it! The tassel your son made is the perfect touch.

Anonymous said...

Kewl. Do't you love those moments of serendipity? I know that for me it is sometimes an excuse for lack of planning, but having that freewheeling approach often results in great designs.

kt said...

Uber-WOW!

Methinks I must learn to do that very neat staircase tassel!

Anonymous said...

Love love love love love the tassle. I love the hat too! But it is the tassle that makes it!
What a cute idea!
Holly

Anonymous said...

This is turely an awesome hat -- both the finished product and the process you went through to create the perfect hat for your bro-in-law.

normanack said...

Yes, the designs and the flap linings and the shape all make this a wickedly wonderful hat . . .

but it is the tassel!!!!! that makes it the ultimate in coolness!

Best. Hat. Ever.