Earwarmer hat with simple matching neckwarmer

The hat in this set has a few minor changes to my basic pattern.  The yarn used is Bernat Denimstyle in Sweatshirt, and I used a larger than recommented 6.00mm hook.



The body of the hat was worked in alternating rounds of dc and sc stitch.  I changed my basic hat pattern of a flat disc for the crown by doing the usual increases in the sc rounds, but no increases in the dc rounds.  The sides are just alternating rounds of sc and dc, ending on a sc round.




The ribbing was done by doing a round of dc stitches, then alternating front post double crochet (fpdc) with back post double crochet (bpdc) for a couple of rounds.  Then I started working back and forth for the earflap portion, ending the rows with a fpdc.  Each consecutive round started and finished with a hdc intead of a dc, and skipping stitches at the start and end to reduce each round.  When the earwarmer portion was as deep as I wanted, I worked sc around the entire hat to finish it.




The neckwarmer is just rounds of dc worked from a foundation chain long enough to go around the head, but not so long it gaped a lot at the neck.  I never counted how many stitches that was.  It's wide enough to be pulled up over the nose and mouth and still cover most of the neck.

This is a good hat and neckwarmer set for cooler weather, but it won't cut any wind.  For windy days and colder temperatures, it works great layered under a hood.

Surface braid hat and cowl set

Time to go back to some pieces I made before taking our Christmas season break.

First up, a matching hat and Moebius cowl set.  The hat is inspired by one I saw on Ravelry.  The free pattern and an instructional video on how to do the surface braid stitch is available at The Laughing Willow.



I didn't follow the pattern on the site, but worked it using the same basic pattern I use for most of my hats.  The crown is a flat disk (I started with 8 hdc in the ring) worked in a spiral, then when it got to the diameter I wanted, I stopped increasing to do the sides.




The cowl is done in the same surface braid stitch (which is just a half-double crochet worked into a bar on the back of the previous stitches, instead of the top loops).  I don't know that I even counted how many stitches were in the foundation chain; I just worked the chain until it was long enough to fit around the neck as close as I wanted it to, then closed it up with the Moebius twist and worked as many rows in surface braid stitch as it took to get the width I wanted.

The twist can be moved to the back so that the cowl can be worn over the face to better protect from the elements.



When finishing off the ends in the hat, I made sure to hide them well so that the hat is reversible.  You can see what the inside texture looks like in the bottom half of the cowl.

This stitch makes for an amazingly stretchy and flexible fabric, and is very comfortable to wear.  I think it's a stitch I'll be using a lot more often.