a sweet little hat

I am not very good at coming up with Halloween costumes. Every year, I tend to throw on some black clothes and call it done. A couple years back, I got the idea that I could knit something that would turn my black clothing into more of a “thing.” You know the (in)famous Hallowig pattern on knitty.com? I thought I would knit it in candy  corn colors. Then all the neighborhood kids would remember the wacky lady on the corner with the candy corn wig. It would be weird, but fun.

So a year ago, I acquired yarn in the right colors and started knitting. For the record, Kris and Judy thought this was (a) ugly, and (b) crazy. But I knit on anyway. There must be something off with the pattern, though, because it did not come out right at all. See how the wig smoothly covers the crown of the head? Mine didn’t. I guess the bangs weren’t deep enough, so the "hair part” part (which is achieved with a 3-needle bindoff) had pointy ends. This picture isn’t great but you can see how NOT great the wig is working. It had to go! (By the way, my mom made the Crazy Jack quilt in the background.) Out came the yarn. Here it is, all excited before its bath. I still wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of a candy corn hat, but I went for something a lot more literal. I found this pattern (free Rav download) but I had to modify it because it wasn’t big enough for my head/gauge. No problem. My mods are recorded in Ravelry. Here’s my model, whose head (I assure you) is every bit as big as mine (which is 21.5” around). It’s really cute, isn’t it?

I think it provides an extra boost for raking leaves, too.