I am fascinated by Krampus! As an American, I didn’t grow up with Krampus being part of my Christmas tradition, but I really love the idea. Krampus, in case you are not familiar, is part of the Christmas celebration tradition in Germany and other Alpine countries. While Santa Clause brings presents to good children, Krampus punishes the naughty ones. He is a demonic type character, and he carries particularly naughty children away in his sack.

I like the dark of Krampus bringing balance to the light of Santa Clause. Don’t get me wrong, I love Santa too – I LOVE Christmas. I love making gifts for all my loved ones, baking for my friends and family, and bringing light into the darkness of winter. But, I also thought that a little tongue-in-cheek Christmas hat, with Krampus instead of the traditional reindeer motif, was very much in order.

There are places in the chart where, unfortunately, you need to carry the non-active yarn behind your work for quite a long way. It is very important to give yourself plenty of slack while you’re doing this so that your colorwork doesn’t end up too tight! If you tend to have problems with this, consider going up a needle size for the colorwork. Ultimately, I think that this inconvenience is quite a small price to pay for having an awesome Krampus hat! I hope you agree.