Instead of finding a bulky wool, I used two strands held together of worsted weight. I don’t think (at least not yet) that it was a mistake to do that but it was definitely a mistake to try to use one strand from each skein then also use one strand from the other end of each. That quickly became a tangled mess.

I haven’t seamed a hat in some time and I originally thought I would work this in the round. Silly me, I forgot that the intarsia would make that impossible. Anyway, what I did instead was work the beginning of the hat flat then switch to the round (adjusting decreasing stitches spacing to account for the seam allowance). I hope it works out like I imagine.

I misread the decrease (s1, k2tog, psso) as (s2, k1, psso) which I use more often. I figure it will be fine if I continue with it as long as I am consistent.

I set the hat aside for a few days while I worked on another project and thought about how I wanted to do the ears since I was not sure how to make them work right. The nose too seemed odd as written but I seem to have worked out something that will pass.

I chose to skip the pompoms partly out of laziness and partly out of the worry that they would fall off the ends of the cords at some point, I do not trust myself to fasten them in a way that is both attractive and secure. Instead, I tied off the ends of the cords to make tassels which are orange of course like the cords themselves.

I made the earflap linings as described but with only 4 additional rows after the earflap pattern and I did not bind off. Instead, with one strand each of white and orange I picked up the live stitches plus stitches around the inside of the hat (21 in front and 8 in back) with size 10 1/2 needles to knit a lining in the round.

I have never made a hat with a lining before, it seems really bulky and thick but it also looks pretty cool. I hope it fits him and works out okay :)

The picture of me wearing it was not a great idea, as a child’s hat, it is clearly too small for me but I don’t have a child handy to model it.

Sadly, I was not visiting my parents at the same time as my nephew, so I did not get to give him the hat in person but my father sent a picture of him wearing it which I think is super cute!

I am not confident that the amount of yarn I used is correct, especially the off-white. I weigh my yarn after finishing and subtract from what I had when I started to get the numbers but I don’t weigh full balls, I assume they come at the weight on the label which is probably a mistake. Anyway, according to the weight of my white skein, I used only 9 yards of it which I know isn’t true but I recorded that weight anyway because I do not know how else to do it, exactly.

UPDATE: In December 2014, I removed the lining from this hat because it turns out that Milo’s head is particularly big. It is probably a little less warm but he can wear it now :)