Mike's ski hat

for lack of any new knitting to talk about I decided to show you this creation which I made about.... um... 2 years ago, maybe?

Mike is a big skier... he raced tons as a kid, and almost joined the National Team when he was 18... something about not a sudden reduction in spaces on the team due to mis-management of funds... I forget (sorry mike!). Anyway, he still races in the Master's league here in Ottawa (at least he does when the hills are open!), and when he does he wears a red and yellow and black ski jacket, and what used to be a similar coloured ski suit (he just bought a new one, and I forget what colours it is). In my attempts to make Mike colour-coordinated, I decided that his teal and purple and black hat just wasn't appropriate head gear for skiing... so I made him this hat instead:
I knit this sucker in the round - can you see the jog in the stripes where I changed colours? The colour pattern is based on Mike's other (machine knit) hat, although after a few rows I just started making it up as I went along. This was my first project with fair isle-esque knitting - not that I knew that it was fair-isle when I started - I just decided how I wanted it to look, and worked things out from there. As for the pattern itself, I just made that up too, based on some patterns I found on the internet... In some ways I think that I was more willing to experiment back before I gained all this extra knitting experience!

Initially, this hat just had a basic stockinette brim - I just cast on and started knitting several black rows... I made the brim more solid by sewing on the polar fleece lining (which only extends about 3 inches into the hat) in such a way as to force the edge to roll under a few rows. Looking at it now, I can't remember how I did it exactly, but it worked... the hat has survived 2 winters of skiing, and is still holding up strong! I knit this from Paton's Classic Merino, a good quality yet low cost yarn that's 100% merino wool. These days it tends to be marketed as a felting yarn, but its great for sweaters too!

but now I must go pack! (my next post will be written from my Mom & Dad's place in Vancouver!)