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.
