Earflaps

I finished my colourful hat over the holidays, it was a quick and easy knit. Now I wonder if we’ll get any frost so I can try it on without boiling my ears! I normally wear fleece headbands in the cold because it’s easier to fit with long hair; what usually troubles me is wind hurting my inner ear, not so much the temperature, and knit fabric tends not to block the wind. But they are also very boring – so what else to do with all that chunky, funky handspun? (yes, I’m asking!)

The brim was 45 g which is about 1/3 of the entire hat, so a lot less yarn than I anticipated. This means one could get to use up small fun skeins for the brim and perhaps something more subdued for the hat itself. I have a few things which could work. I like the flaps because my ears are placed so that a straight brimmed hat will not cover them properly unless I pull it way down over my eyebrows.

I made a hole for a ponytail, but it’s really placed too high for me, so I’m thinking another hat would either have to be a slouchie for loose hair buns or a narrower brim to place the hole lower. It’s also an interesting challenge to take selfies of the back of your head. I don’t do the frontal version, sorry.

Short hair + hats would not be an option for me since it would compress to look like it’s painted onto my scalp, besides I have no patience for excessive grooming and styling and greasy products. I’m getting to an age where simple pulled back hair makes me look older, but I think it’s too late to turn me into a lady, I’ll just have to head straight for cronehood. (and whoever invented that concept, aging gracefully? Aging dis-gracefully sounds so much more fun)

Another option of course it to let it come out the top, what do you think? A bit too silly somehow?

Pattern link

This + this?

24 thoughts on “Earflaps

  1. Yes, wear your hair as you wish. Spend your time on things which you choose. Etc. Etc. Etc.

    And don’t mourn youth or your 30’s even. And prepare to ease into each new decade. Prepare ahead of time. It helps, I found. So that even now, when I am 80, I’m (mostly) content with it.

    I say mostly, because I wish I weighed less. -sigh- Not my 20’s figure. Just what I feel now, to be “the best” for me. But here again, moderation always. Try for health, but do not obsess.

    Consider our health to be our most precious possession. Work to preserve it. Stay fully aware, of all the good things, in our life. Doing so, brings peace of mind, and contentment. Which become more and more important, with every minute which passes. 🙂

    Didn’t mention knitting did I? Nope. ‘Cause I am not able to knit. :-))))))

    Gentle hugs from an “Elderwoman”…

    1. Nah, don’t need my 20 yo body back – I’ll settle for the 30 yo! hahaha (29 actually, before I broke my back)

      I’d want to keep my 51 yo mind obviously.

  2. I love this hat, and I love your hair, so rich and such a beautiful colour. I wouldn’t know what to suggest about making hat and hair go together, except perhaps plaits?

  3. Den hue kan jeg gotd lide. Både farver, lay-out (eller hvad det nuu hedder, når man er en hue og ikke en tekst) og især plads til hestehalen. Mine ører sidder også for højt – eller er det mon øjenbrynene, der sidder for lavt? til at en lige kant nytter noget. Jeg har en ækel kunststof-dims til at holde mine indre ører varme og især blæsten ude af dem, når jeg cykler. Den kostede en tier i en eller anden discount-forretning. Og der er hele tre grunde til at jeg købte den. Den kan holde blæsten væk fra ørene, håret væk fra øjnene og alligevel være under cykelhjelmen.
    Kunne du ikke bare lave hullet til hestehalen nede i kanten? Jeg synes det er en ganske herlig hue – meget bedre end mine hjelm-forsøg 😀
    Hvis du har en opskrift, må du da gerne lægge den her, så jeg kan stjæle den 😉
    Ældes med ynde og sjov alligevel, ja tak. Jeg ser gammel ud, når jeg laver en knold eller sætter håret op på hovedet, så det gør jeg ikke så tit, men jeg vil stadig sidde på gulvet og lege.

    1. Tryk på pattern link nederst i indlægget – kanten er foldet dobbelt, så den er meget varm, og jeg overvejede faktisk at lægge et lag tyndt foer-stof ind mellem til vinden, men kunne ikke huske hvor jeg havde gemt en gammel stump vindjakke. (samme tanke, ved en tidligere lejlighed, typisk, ikke?)

      1. Ja, der er *så* typisk. Jeg stod på hovedet i mine kasser efter bly nytårsaften og -dag. Købt i 2003/4 og endnu ikke fundet til nytår 🙁
        Og tak, jeg troede at det var linket til den der hår oppe i toppen-hue. Og det kan jeg ikke lide. Jeg får ondt i hovedet – langt hår er tungt og når det hiver den gale vej, gør det ondt. Måske jeg er sær, men sådan er det altså. Og så duer den ikke under cykelhjelmen.
        Jeg har allerede skrevet opskrifgten ud og lurer nu på, om man kan strikke den del, der kommer inderst af alpakka eller bomuld – noget, der ikke kradser. Lad mig se … måske alle de små stumper alpakka jeg har gemt ti hvad nu hvis.

  4. Oh I know just what you mean about the wind hurting your inner ear – my face often aches as well, horrible. Maybe you could use a bit of fleece to line the earflaps?

    Your hair looks such a pretty colour!

    1. It does look nice in the sun if I do say so myself, so I’ve got that going for me! We should all find at least one feature we like about ourselves I guess.

      I considered some windproof thin layer between the double layers but couldn’t find the piece I saved, obviously, now that I needed it. When it’s really windy + frost my forehead aches too – and my front teeth!

  5. Happy New Year, Pia! Wish you loads of satisfying projects and creativity. Simply don’t stop 🙂

    P.S. Love the idea of having a hole in your hat for a pony tail. I hate wearing hats. I assume I have also reached that age when you don’t worry about looking extremely pretty, so just grab a scrunchy and form a messy pony tail/bun. And then… then you simply don’t wear a hat as you would look really stupid with a lump on the back of your head. We’ve been lucky (?) with the weather so far – it’s been mega mild, yet it’s supposed to get colder next week, so I guess it’s high time to grab my knitting needles.

    1. Yeh, that lump. As well as the hood or har not being deep enough to contain it. Like my coat. I keep having fantasies about coats with a monk’s hood kinda design.

  6. I love that hat! I have made one and found it fun and easy. I should make another…

    I have short hair, and so do avoid hats except when it is bitter cold as it is now! But sometimes i go straight to crone as well and don’t care if I have flat hair as long as I am warm!

    1. If my hair thins (who am I kidding, probably when), I’ll do an Annie Lennox on it. No time for bobs and pixie cuts.

          1. Haha – yeah, so that’s what you meant. I thought you meant to hide my Lennox do from the public eye.

  7. Love the hat – great colors! I too must have my ears covered, but my glasses get in the way and my hair flattens in a flash, so I don’t yet have the perfect shape, but longer berets work for me – can either leave hair down without smashing the top, or pin it in a loose bun and it fits under – but it isn’t the most flattering. I also have a hat made from a cardigan sweater that I can unbutton in the back so there’s a slit for the hair at the base of my neck, or I can unbutton it higher for a ponytail hole.
    I’m thinking about turning some chunky handspun into mittens too or the yoke of a sweater…

  8. I also love the hat and colors and the pony-tail hole. It’s rarely cold enough here to warrant a woolly hat, though, can’t remember the last time I put my purple beanie into action. (Do I still have it…..). Don’t be shy about getting older. I believe I am a few years ahead of you – I have a friend who is 20 years older than me and says ‘I love women my age, with their saggy boobs and their saggy butts and their WISDOM!’

    1. I don’t mind the number or the stray gray – just the decrepitude. I hate it when I see footage of 87 year olds doing triathlons (plural). But for the record, I wouldn’t want to be 18 again either!

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