Sunday, September 28, 2008

Little Did I Know

Little did I know that a post I wrote almost a year ago would become interesting again. How do I know people are interested in it? I've gotten a few comments, a few emails, and some Ravelry love, but mostly I got clued in because of this and this. Also, the day before yesterday my blog had about 45 hits and then yesterday it jumped to over 1100. Yikes! Y'all like your Mega Man.

Many of the commenters have mentioned that they would buy a hat. I'm flattered, but in the spirit of DIY, let me elaborate a little on how it was made, so you too can knit your own Mega Man Helmet.

In the original post, I said:
I used the Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap pattern as the basis for the hat and then added the point on the front and the contrasting pieces on the ears and across the top. The yarn is Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Blue Boy and Spruce.

To make your own hat:

Knit Aviator cap using the pattern linked above
  • I used size 6 needles, but I tend to go down a needle size or two for everything I knit.
Make forehead peak
  • PU sts across the forehead (I picked up approximately 16-18 sts)
  • knit these sts in garter stitch while also decreasing (k2tog) at the beginning and end of each row
  • when you have 2sts left: k2tog, cut yarn and pull through rem st
Make top piece*
  • CO 20 sts
  • knit in stockinette stitch for 9 inches
  • fold in half lengthwise and attach** to hat using your choice of stitching. folding it in half gives the strip a raised look without having to use stuffing.
If you really want to be fancy pants, you can knit this in the round to make a little tube. That might have been what I did (I freestyled it and made this a year ago, so I am reaching way back in my memory here to recreate these steps), but it would work by knitting it flat too.

Make ear pieces
  • co 3 sts using dpns. you are knitting this part in the round.
  • kfb into each stitch to make 6 sts
  • continue increasing at 6 points until it measures about 3-1/2 inches in diameter
  • BO
  • follow steps to make a second one
  • attach** them to the hat
Finishing
  • weave in all ends
* The real Mega Man Helmet has two top pieces but Paul and I determined it would look goofy with two, so we deviated from the original a bit.
**It might be helpful to pin your pieces into place before attaching them. It took a little bit of fussing to position them correctly.

Paul and I would love it if you posted links to photos of your version.

Have fun!

10 comments:

Keff said...

ooh! Nice! My girlfriend already bought all the stuff for making me one! exelent exelent \o/

Sal said...

YAY! You're finally getting the fame and glory you deserve, Trin.

Mrs. Taft said...

How cool :) Thanks for the instructions

Keff said...

Here is Niina's version of that:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2599/mega03mj0.jpg

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8349/megawi9.jpg

Trinity said...

Ohhh! Keff! Your girlfriend made up her own, crocheted version. That is awesome. Thanks for sharing those.

EmilyTbM said...

Thanks for the inspiration!

http://emilytbm.livejournal.com/1048925.html

Jean C. said...

Thank you for inspiration for wanting an awesome winter hat. I convinced my girlfriend to make me one. We decided to make it out of fleece because she can't knit! lol. I still love mine to death! Thanks again, and GO MEGAMAN!!!

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l332/HylianKing/Photo427.jpg

Lauren said...

Thanks! You've inspired me to crochet a hat like this for my friend. I hope it turns out okay :)

Amigurumi Girl said...

very awesome! thanks for sharing it!

Hunter said...

Umm, I will pay for one ( dont know how to knit )

Hunterpronovost@aol.com