Full list of modifications at bottom. Note that my pattern (v120814) includes a MC round after last CC round so that CC doesn’t show through on three needle bind off.

15 Nov 2016: Just did the three needle bind off using a needle one size larger (so I used a 9). I used Fallstrick’s project notes to solve the gap between the knitted nose stitches and the second group of bound off stitches. It took me a couple of tries to figure out which two stitches she meant to be the “last two;” I ended up having it work out right when it was the last stitch that would be part of the nose and the first of the stitches to be bound off.

I managed to accomplish TECHknitter’s selvedge on the nose! I added two rows to the nose beyond what the pattern called for. I used Fallstrick’s trick for binding off the last stitch of the nose. I went ahead and sewed the nose down using the tail; the nose button will go through both layers but won’t have the full responsibility of keeping the nose attached.

12 Nov 2016: Just finished short rows and top of hat. Used German short rows rather than shadow wraps (see comments on her post for info on converting from other types of short rows; you’ll work one more stitch than specified before turning because of the way German short rows work).

Note that I interpreted the pattern as “pick up,” not “pick up and knit” for the side joins. I.e., I did not use any additional yarn—I just put the DPN through the middle of the last stitch and worked that. I think that’s what she did in hers; if you look at the photo on page 3 of the pattern, it doesn’t look like there are any extra yarn tails anywhere or anything. However, it looks like many other people added yarn there. Maybe I did it incorrectly?

I ended up doing the join on the purl side as p2tog tbl because I misread he abbreviations section! Derp. I realized my mistake when I did the first k2tog on row 17; I contemplated doing it as k2tog tbl but decided not to. However, I think the p2tog tbl turned out a little neater, and I might try doing the k2tog as k2tog tbl when I do Henry’s hat.

4 Nov 2016: Using purl cable cast on (I used Cap Sease’s book, but here is a video that shows it… skip ahead to ~1:30) and the Baby/Kids’ Earflap hat pattern as a guide, cast on for 96 stitches total (12, 21 from earflap, 30, 21 from ear flap, 12). Here’s hoping I’ve got the earflaps well positioned. Earflaps were done on 8s, and CO was also done on 8s, but knitting ribbing on 6s.

3 Nov 2016: Modifying Foxy to add earflaps. Many people use the Purl Soho pattern, but I’m not a fan of the garter stitch… I’d rather be able to have earflaps and still have the ribbing. In addition, the Baby/Kids’ Earflap Hat method seemed much more amenable to modification in terms of how wide/deep the earflaps would be (plus their location on the sides), so I’m trying that out.

I used cable CO for the initial 7 CO stitches for the earflaps and a twisted chain stitch selvedge. For the life of me, I could not get TECHknitter’s open chain selvedge to work for me… I think it’s because I was slipping it with the yarn in the wrong position? I played around with it and finally gave up because I wanted to move on and knew that I could get TCSS to look the way I wanted it to. On the RS, I worked the last stitch as a normal knit stitch, then slipped that one pwise wyif after I turned to the WS. On the WS, I purled the last stitch and then slipped it kwise wyib after I turned back to the RS.

I increased to 21 instead of 15 for the flaps and worked six rows beyond the last increase.

Full list of modifications:

1. Added earflaps using Baby/Kids’ Earflap Hat pattern; increased to 21 stitches for earflaps. Used 8s for earflaps.
2. Used a twisted chain stitch selvedge for the earflaps.
3. Used purl cable cast on for rest of brim. Used 8s for CO and 6s for ribbing.
4. Cast on 96 stitches total (12, 21 from earflap, 30, 21 from ear flap, 12) and decreased to 92 on first round (as per instructions in Baby/Kids’ Earflap Hat pattern).
5. Used German short rows instead of shadow wraps.
6. Used Fallstrick’s trick for the bound off stitches by the nose. Used 9s for the three needle bind off.
7. Used open chain stitch selvedge for nose.
8. Added two rows to nose.
9. Used another of Fallstrick’s tricks for the last bound off stitch of the nose (i.e., after nose complete).
10. Sewed nose down using tail from bind off.

New Things
On this project, I learned…

1. How to do intarsia in the round.