Hufflehat Pattern!

Yes, now you too can look as good in a hat as Henry, my westie/papillon mix.

Alrighty, I know I promised this pattern a long time ago but I got distracted by life(that and I had never written up a pattern before and I wanted to make sure it was understandable). So here it is.

Materials: I used medium weight yarn in 2 colors(Paton’s Canadiana, actually, in black and buttercup(which is discontinued), 1 main and 1 contrasting, ie: yellow and black. You can get two hats out of a 200yd/100g ball of main color. The contrast color doesn't take up much at all (I think I had about over a half a ball left after 2 hats).

Gage: 4 or 4.5 stitches to the inch on size 7 needles(I believe the ones I used were 16 inch ones)

 Directions:

 CO 84 stitches in main color (MC)

 - 1x1 rib (knit 1 purl 1) 3 rounds

-Switch to stocking stitch 2 rounds

-Switch to CC for 3 rounds

-Switch back to MC for 15 rounds

-CC for 3 rounds

-MC for 5 rounds

-CC for 3

-Switch to MC and place stitch marker every 12 stitches

-Start decrease by knitting 2 together before every stitch marker

-Continue decrease until you have about 12 stitches on the needles (this is a rough number as this was the least amount of stitches I could manage on my circulars)

-Cut the string from the main ball making it at least 6 inches and pull loose end through the stitches on your needles (you can use a needle or crochet hook, heck, in a pinch you can even just make as though to knit but pull the string all the way though) So, now it should look like you’ve just strung a necklace of sorts. Pull the string tight to close off the hat and pull the end though the middle to the inside of the hat (a crochet hook is helpful here). Weave in end.

 Now for the earflaps:

-Count 13 stitches from beginning of the round. Pick up 18 stitches using the main color.

-Work in 1x1 rib for 3 rows, if you’re a perfectionist like me you’ll make sure the ribbing lines up with that on the main part of the hat.

- Now it’s time to decrease. You’re going to knit 2 together at the beginning and end of the row.

- Knit one row 1x1 rib

-Continue one decrease row and one normal row until there’s 3 stitches left. Bind off.

-Do the same for the other side.

 Embelishments:

1. There’s a pom-pom at the top of the hat using both MC and CC. The real basic way of making one is take a playing card and wrap the two strings around 50 times the short way (so if you’re holding the queen of hearts she’s laying down, not standing up and you’re going to wrap her in a blanket). Carefully remove the loops from the card and tie the “working end” around the middle of the loops (you can kinda make a figure 8 to secure it decently so nothing is going to move around on you). Once it’s tied sew it to the top of the hat and cut the loops. A little trimming and you’ve got yourself a poofy pom-pom.
2. The tassels are real easy. Figure out how long you want them to go down on your head and double that length. You’ll have 2 strings of the main color and one of the contrast color. Then you’re going to fold them in half and loop them on one by one just like you would for a Potter scarf (the two yellow on the ends and the black one in the middle) then you just braid them together and tie a knot in the end.

Make sure all your ends are woven in all over the inside of the hat and it’s done! It’s not really as complicated as you might think. And if the pom-pom instructions confused you there’s far better instructions somewhere on the internet.And just to give you a better idea of what they'll look like on you...