The Grey

Who ever would have thought we'd be putting beards on hats?  I bet Gran's looking down at us and shaking her head, having a good laugh.  But the truth of the matter is that adding some kickass details to a hat, like - say - a beard, can turn it from a functional piece of gear to a costume.

Bear loved his Striking Viking so much that he tasked me with the creation of a Gandalf hat based on the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films.  Kind of a tall order, considering the assymetrical nature and wide brim.  Not always the easiest things to do with yarn, but I thought I'd give it a shot.  Gotta say, I am pretty flippin' proud of this one, y'all.

For those of you who haven't already Googled "Gandalf hat," here's what I used as my reference:

To start off with, I had to get the point right.  It involved a bit of finagling here and there, but I was happy with it pretty much from the start.

At this point, The Hubbs wasn't too sure about it.  He had lots of questions, and every time I asked for his opinion, I was answered with copious shrugging and the shifty eye.

Lots and lots of increase rounds...felt like each little piece took forever and the spacing of the increases was a challenge.  Too close together and I'd get these weird little bumpy things.  Too far apart and the shape wasn't right.

Somewhere along the way, it got big enough to start modeling, stitch markers and all.  Hot, yeah?

The brim posed the biggest challenge of all.  Now that I'd engineered the body of the hat to stand up on its own, I was faced with adding a wide brim and preventing it from flopping.  At first, I wasn't so sure it was going to work, but I kept on increasing.  As the brim grew, it became apparent that some sort of reinforcement would become necessary.

Not wanting to put any kind of crazy wire or mesh frame inside the hat itself, I decided to stiffen it.  I mixed Elmer's School Glue and water into about a half and half solution and used a foam brush to apply it liberally to the brim.  Then I let it dry and went through the process again.  While the glue solution was drying, I made the beard.

The Hubbs does a way better job at modeling the finished product than I do.  I guess I make a better Viking than a wizard, eh?  When all was said and done, even he was on board with the design.

Most importantly, Bear and his buddy loved the finished product.  Here they are together, The Striking Viking and The Grey:

I'm uber-happy with how these new costume hats have been turning out, and I will most certainly be making more of them in the future.  My Etsy shop has had quite the nice little rest recently, and I think it may be about time to dust off the shelves and get some new products in there.