And just in time to watch his hometown Olympian Seth Wescott race in boardercross, the Aftermas hat for a snowboarder is now complete, including the lining!
I used this awesome free pattern from Knitty—called Swell—for the hat and the green waves detail. (Yeah, so… I sort of didn’t notice I’d skipped blocking or making any effort at all to make the waves lie flat until the lining was half sewn in and the snowboard cross semi-finals were underway. Erm, yeah. Please move along. These aren’t the magazine-quality photos you’re looking for…) I used yarn I’d referred to as “kiwi fuzz” and matched it up with the only other yarn I had in its weight class: a slow variegated green I picked up at a yard sale. They’re both super scratchy, but I knew this sucker’d be lined against this snowboarder’s sensitive widdle head. My only regret is that the green doesn’t show up well against the tan, but I do like how the very tippy-tops of the waves end up a darker color.
The subtle peace signs in the flaps are part of the original pattern, but fit in exceptionally well with this snowboarder’s sensibilities. 🙂
The (very long) tassles were requested to spiral in two blocks of colors, rather than with the colors mixed. And of course, the hat had to be lined. The whole point of this hat is for this head to be comfortable in it, and you can’t enjoy the top of Sugarloaf without the proper warmth. So lined it is, including the flaps. It’s my first lined hat! (Yeah, yeah. So we don’t do much skiin’ on the bayou…*)
The flaps were the catalyst of this hat: they couldn’t slip off the ears when the speed gets high on the snowboard trail, and of course they had to be long enough to cover the ears in the first place. Done and done! What a great pattern this was.
Now, since Seth Wescott won gold (for the second time!) only a few moments after this hat was finished and donned, I insist it must be lucky.
So there.
Note Sugarloaf shirt in full force: supporting the home team!
*I’ve been just bursting to use this quote from Gambit on the old Fox animated X-men, ever since I tried snowboarding a few weeks ago (at Sugarloaf no less!). Texans on skiis is funny enough. On snowboards is high-larious. Only my superior athletic abilities** salvaged me arse from a more severe bruising. But in this context, yes: I don’t do much knitting for folks who actually need to wear knitted things to, like, stay warm or some junk.
**Double ha-ha. Oh, it is to laugh. I’m a nerd turned athlete turned WoW nerd turning back to athleticism, so once you do the math there, you might get a better picture of me not so much “snowboarding” as “falling down a mountain with a snowboard strapped to my feet”.
Geekcrafting and Uberdorking 