A hat for A

On New Year's Eve we went out to a Brazilian BBQ place in Astoria. A came in with his hat and when it came time to leave.... no hat! The hat was a brown cabled, fur lined ear flap hat with a short strap and snaps to either hold the ears up over the head or under the chin. And it was gone.

To be honest I wasn't the biggest fan of this hat since I think certain shades of brown aren't so flattering on A's Omar Sharif complexion (he's half Egyptian), and it was a touch too small and left marks on his forehead. So! I knit him a replacement!

I chose a free pattern from Drops (Rocky Mountain) and knit with the very, very last two balls of Filatura Lanarotta Chaco in a tweedy purple (purchased in 2006!). I held the yarn double and went up a needle size to get gauge. The construction is a little odd on the hat; you knit a strip that goes over the crown front to back, then pick up and knit two strips on either side and finally seam into a kind of open box shape. 

For the fur lining I bought four balls of Lion Brand Lux Fur from a Ravelry destash, eventually using the camel color. The pattern calls for just a few rows of crochet around the edge of the hat plus the panel in front, but I also crocheted shapes to cover the inside of the ear flaps so that they could be pinned up. I need to tack down the left one a little bit because its a touch too "sticky-outy".

 I added a couple of purple snaps on the sides so that the flaps can be held up and away if necessary. They aren't the most secure on there, I might have to add a circle of felt on the inside if they come loose and need replacing.

A's verdict? Well, he has worn it but I'm not sure it will ever replace the brown hat in his heart :)