Thanks to the positive response from my previous post about Marian’s pretty flower pin and my rocket hat, I thought I might share my latest project with you, and the blunder which preceded it.

Now, I made a few other rockets hats for my Mum. She has been knittin’ like a fiend for a children’s charity and asked if I’d add to her efforts. Which I happily did. This was during the last few weeks when I couldn’t sleep. So, I’d sit up watching old black and white movies and churn out my wild creations.

When I had one finished I’d leave it on the kitchen table for my family to discover in the morning.

The ‘Dozer (my brother) was impressed enough by my efforts to request a hat for himself, and described what he had in mind. That very evening, I set to work on the creation. I worked fast and had it on the table for him to find in the morning. I wanted it to be a big surprise.

Alas, it turned out to be too small, (it kept sliding off the top of his head, almost with a ‘pop’) and a bit shorter than he’d hoped for.

I thought I might be able to unpick the bottom third and enlarge it for him. But that turned into a mess, which, when I got it all back together again, ended up even much smaller than the original.

Here is a scan of my blunder. I can’t think who might want to wear it. Perhaps there’s a child out there, of maybe 3 or 4 years old who’d warm to the idea of such a strange looking clown hat.

Quite crestfallen, I buried the clown hat under my basket of wool, and moved on to other projects. Now, the ‘Dozer’s birthday is in a week’s time and (having by now forgotten about the clown hat) last night I decided to make him a hat as part of his birthday gifts. I rediscovered the clown hat and recalled that he’d wanted a very long hat, and I picked out some colours, and off I started without any plan (except to ensure it’ll be big enough to wear) in mind.

This is last night’s efforts and it shouldn’t take me too long to finish. I think I’m going to add some green and aqua into the mix and brighten it up a bit and enlarge the spacing between the purl bands ( the puffy bits, it’ll make more sense when I’ve finished). I hope it’ll look masculine enough.

The only thought that does make me pause with trepidation, is the time it’ll take to stitch the two edges, of such a long hat, together.

Still, I think he’ll like it, and I look forward to showing you the finished product.