hat for the guy

Before we get too far into it... that red was not my choice!

Mr Badskirt had some hat envy going on. Back in January, I promised him one for his birthday. I gave myself a two month buffer despite needing just a couple of hours to whip one up. He requested something plain and not-girly.

His birthday is tomorrow, so I've finished off one for him using the free Skater Beanie pattern found on Ravelry. (Not a member yet? go ahead and join. There's a brief waiting period for processing, but it's worth it!) I followed the directions until the stripes and then modified the stitch because I wanted spotted stripes instead of solid ones.

I used Malabrigo Twist which I picked up in San Francisco at Imagiknit. I knew he'd love the camoflauge look. I wanted golden stripes but couldn't find the right shade after two months of looking locally. Last weekend in Spotlight, Craig handed me a red skein of Jet (alpaca/wool) and said he wanted red stripes. Insisted, in fact. Thankfully he choose something in the right ply and non-synthetic.

So I finished it last night. One of yesterday's many small projects. It looks an awkward shape, but Mr Badskirt has a really round head. Huge... like extra-large helmet size. It fits him perfectly. He was in no mood to model.

I've overestimated a bit and have a skein and a third of Malabrigo left. I've asked if I could make him a matching scarf. He just grimaced. He also balked at an iphone cover, camera case and socks. I'm guessing a little camoflauge man-bag is out of the question.