Third time's the charm

This will be the fourth winter I have known my sweetie.  We met in November of 2005--it seems like I've known him forever, but it's really been a short time.  When Christmas came, we had been dating about seven weeks, so I didn't know what to give him.  I knit him a hat.  I had only just started knitting, and the hat was the first thing I ever just made up.  Alas, because I didn't know him well, I did not yet know he is a pinhead: the hat was wayyyy too big for him.  When he wears it, he looks like the kid from Fat Albert, whose pink hat comes down over his face and all you can see are his eyes and mouth.  

The second winter, I knit him the fabulous Mets/Rangers hat.  I still love this hat, but again, it was too big.  Not too big around, at least, but too deep: my sweetie could easily pull it down over his eyes.  Even my doormen made fun of him when he wore it.

Last winter, I didn't knit him anything because I had a sore shoulder and was trying not to knit.

This winter, my sweetie requested another hat.  God knows why, since I clearly don't have the knack for fitting his head!  But I took a deep breath, knit it in the round, and made him try it on periodically while I made it.  Things are easier when you're not trying to keep it a surprise :-).

I made it out of Noro Kureyon; I have a few balls lying around from a moment of madness.  I was inspired by the Noro scarves the Yarn Harlot has been knitting: you alternate balls every two rows in order to get a graduated striping effect.  Since I didn't want to use two halves of two balls, I simply alternated ends of my single ball, which made for some more subtle striping in the middle, especially as this particular colorway is not as wildly varying as many Noro balls.  I think it looks very masculine, no?

Happily, my sweetie loves it.  And I have to admit, I do like the Noro colors.  Kureyon is not the softest of yarns, but my sweetie is not sensitive that way.  And it knits up into a nice dense fabric, so it is pretty good in the wind.  I guess the third time's the charm.  I'm sure it helped that this time, I wasn't overly ambitious: it's a pretty basic hat :-).

One ball Noro Kureyon, knit on size 7 needles.  About 4 stitches per inch.