Note - the ribbing is a little loose - this fits my daughter with the dreadlocks perfectly. Next time I will go down a needle size.

I’m making this hat (I expect this will be the first of many) for my brother-in-law, who has 3 grandkids. I can totally see him wearing this, both with and without the beard, to entertain them.

I think this is probably the perfect yarn, at least for the beard and hat border. The red has been thick-and-thin, but the white so far has been pretty even.

The loop stitch is easy. I keep my thumb in the loop while knitting the second stitch, then I do the YO by a counter-clockwise loop, and pull one stitch at a time over the YO. I give the loop a little tug.

pattern gauge is 12 st = 4 inches on 6.5 mm needles.