I loved the Firefly series and have been thinking about making a Jayne Hat for ages.  Today I finally did

And since I’ve been asked for instructions here’s how I did it.

You need a ball of red, orange and yellow wool.  I just used cheap basic DK because I am a cheapskate and was just playing around but posh stuff would probably make it nicer.

I used 6.5mm needles.  If you’re so inclined you could use dpns and knit in the round, but I just went with what I had handy.

Start with the basic hat.

1. Using the orange wool. Cast on 70 stitches using whatever cast on method you like.
2. Knit 4 rows of K1 P1 rib
3. Switch to stocking stitch and keep going until you have about 4.5 inches of knitting.
4. Switch to yellow and continue in stocking stitch for another 3.5 inches
5. Start the decrease – k5 k2tog, repeat to end. P next row
6. K4 k2tog, repeat to end. P next row
7. K3 k2tog, repeat to end. P next row
8. K2 k2tog, repeat to end. P next row
9. K1 k2tog, repeat to end. P next row
10. K2tog, repeat to end.
11. Cut your wool leaving a fairly long tail, thread through the remaining loops and pull tight – use the tail to sew together the seam as far as the orange, use orange to sew the bottom part.
12. Now you need to add the ear flaps – The flaps want to be about half the width of the hat (a quarter each) Find a point half way down each side and using the red wool pick up stitches evenly either side of that. You want to pick up 17 stitches so 8 either side of your central point.
13. Knit about 3 inches
14. Knit/Pearl together the first and last two stitches of each row until you have just three stitches left. Cast off leaving a long tail.  Thread through an extra piece of red and tie the strings together to leave three dangling strings
15. Make a pom-pom from all 3 colours and attach to the top of the hat. I find wrapping the wool around the prongs of a large fork easiest but it doesn’t really matter how you do it.
16. Weave in all the ends.

And that’s it.  Your cunning hat is now ready to wear.