Here's my sweetie with the 2006-2007 winter hat I just finished. I've made him a new one each year that we've been together. You see, he's got that adorable round bald head (hmn..seen any of those in my family?) which gets mighty cold in a Maine winter and needs covering. He plays and works outside all winter, often wearing his hat under a hard hat. Wearing a wool hat under a hard hat each day leads to lots of pilling and fuzzies. Hence, the new hat each year.
That may sound sweet and all--you know, that I make him a new hat each year. But I wonder about the price he pays for that new hat. It begins in August, when I assess the fall hat situation and start asking what kind of a hat he wants this year. "Roll brim? Cables?" And then I start pestering about colors. "Shall we go with rust this year?" Then, there's of course the trip to the yarn store, which I simply must take alone, leaving him with three babes for a couple of hours. "just a quick pop in to the thrift store on my way home! Can you start dinner?". And then we get to the knitting, which involves ignoring him for several late nights. "What's that? Let me finish this row!". And more than a few whining pleas, "Honey, can you get the ice cream? I'm making your hat!". Even when the hat is complete, there's more. "Just one blog photo, honey."
Sometimes I think he's just going to show up some September day with a store-bought hat, and be done with it. But he doesn't. He eagerly awaits the one I make him, and he properly oohs and aahs over it, and lets me take blog photos of him wearing it, tells everyone I made it, and acts like he really loves it. And I really do think he loves it. Which is just one of the many reasons why I really love him.
The hat? It's Halfdome from the fall issue of Knitty. I like that it's a rather simple-looking roll brim, but knit with the raglan-style decreases I love.
