The Wool Hats are DONE!

My Epic Project is finally finished. I successfully washed, teased, carded, spun, and knit the Suffolk wool and it is now in hat form, ready to wear. I didn't get a chance to document the carding, and I wanted to dye the wool, but you take what you can get sometimes.





I used a pattern for an earflap hat that I found from knitscene magazine online (the link opens up a PDF document). It was relatively simple, and they had a little glossary and illustrations for the harder terms.



They also had a little tutorial for making these adorable pompoms. I cheated a little bit and used some kool-aid dyed yarn that I bought in Arizona two summers ago for the pompoms. They actually smell kind of sweet.



I also fiddled with the pattern a bit and made a chord at the end of each earflap and put the pompoms at the end of the chords. This way you can tie the hat under your chin.



I'm pretty happy with the results, all in all. I do think they look a little bit like old football helmets. But my sister (who is modeling above) claims that all the stores are trying to make their knitwear look knobbly and handmade now, so I guess I'm right in step.

1 large bag of raw Suffolk wool, probably one fleece's worth = enough wool to make four knobbly earflap hats