Earflap hat

Last week when we were having brutally cold temps, I was having a hard time keeping the bottoms of my ears covered. It has actually been an ongoing problem, I just noticed it more in -45 weather I guess. If I had the hat on low enough to cover the ears, then it was too low on the forehead and I couldn't see. So I whipped up a hat with earflaps.(Photo is pre-blocking.)

It sits about mid-forehead but completely covers the ears. Perfect.

The yarn was from my early days of dyeing. I was experimenting with dyeing techniques in the crockpot, and felted the heck out of the dark part of the roving. Parts of it wouldn't draft at all, so I just made a really thick/thin yarn. Those ties aren't I-cord, they're just the thick parts of the yarn. It really worked out well, the thick part of the yarn on the bottom making very thick ear flaps, and the yarn grew thinner as I knit up, forming a natural decrease. I decreased until I had six stitches left, then did a couple of inches of a six stitch I-cord, ending in a tassel.

Yep, that's a gigantic tassel. It went against my frugal nature to make it, since it seems like a waste of yarn. But you know what? Being frugal all the time can be a gigantic pain in the ass. The feel of that gigantic tassel bopping me in the head as I navigate the drifts makes me smile. Well worth a few yards of yarn.