Intermission.

Well, the Beard Hat has been moving along at a slower pace than I really wanted. I got all the stuff together that I needed - planned out what I was going to do, and knit the hat itself.
When I made the original, I took the design that I found online, and altered the beard a little. But the thing I changed the most was that I decided to knit the hat first, and then pick up the stitches for the beard on the bottom of the hat. This allowed me to have a fold up brim, and give the hat itself more of a home knitted look.

So, I finished the hat for this project fairly quickly. But then I realised that I didn't have the yarn I wanted for the beard, so I put it on hold for a few days. Then I realised that I'd actually knit the hat using needles that were far too big for what I wanted, leaving me with too few stitches to pick up the stitches for the beard around it. Right then. Back to the drawing board.

I couldn't face starting the hat from scratch right away, so I took a little break to knit my daughter a hat for these cooler fall days.
I found the pattern in a Pattons spring book, and the original was knitted as Fairisle. I felt that a deep red would be a better option for the season, and I was right.
This is the best earflap hat that I've knitted. It's knit from the top down, and I find that decreasing on the earflaps is far better than trying to increase on them - you get a much smoother curve on them.
Now I need to work on a bigger version for Beth...

Right, back to the Beard Hat.

Beard Hat

It's been a VERY long time since I posted on here, but it's time that I started again. It must be. My wife said so.

Since I last posted, things have changed quite a bit. Our little girl is getting bigger and bigger. Beth (my wife) is juggling school and a fabulous new job, and I'm about to start full time as a tattoo artist. When I last posted, we were living downtown Toronto, and I was taking the subway to work every day. I like knitting on the subway. It's relaxing, I have nothing else to do, and it doesn't make me feel sick.

Then we moved to North York for a bit. I had to take the bus to work from that house. I don't like knitting on the bus, because it DOES make me feel sick. So I pretty much stopped knitting.

Now, we've moved again, and I'm back on the subway. So I've picked up my needles again.

Something else has made me take up my favourite hobby again. There has been renewed interest in a project I worked on about a year ago.
A friend of mine had seen a picture online of a beard hat. He wondered if I could make something like that. I searched the internet for some ideas, and found a pattern that someone had made.
I adapted the pattern for my own purposes, and knit this little beauty up.

I've had a lot of requests for these, but I've not been in a position recently to do anything about it. But now I am.

The only thing is, I never saved my version of the pattern. And I remember that I changed it significantly. Ah well, back to the drawing board, I guess. I'll let you know how I get on. And then I'll save the pattern and post it here.