Like so much of what I knit, this design grew from a functional idea.
When winter's chill deepens, and a breeze begins to blow, the ears get painfully cold, and a regular hat doesn't quite do the trick. Unfortunately, neither do standard earflaps - left to dangle at the sides of a hat, they tend to funnel, rather than repel, the wind, which rather defeats the purpose.
Griflet features a knitted on border that pulls the flaps and hat brim together, snugging in the edge just a little to create a secure cocoon. The increase in warmth is dramatic, providing enhanced protection for the face and back of the neck as well as the ears.
The original prototype was created for my son, whose love of all things brave and knightly led to the graphic, textured design, and later the name - Sir Griflet was one of King Arthur's lesser known knights.
His sister immediately wanted one, being an active, outdoor soul:
and it turns out to be eminently appropriate for adventures of the grown-up kind:
The pattern is written for three sizes, to fit head circumferences of 20 (21-22, 22-23) inches, which equates roughly to toddler or young child (child/small adult, average/large adult.)
Yarn: 190-220 yds of worsted or light aran weight wool (though admittedly, those estimates are generous - both a tester and I knit the largest size from a single 190 yd skein of Merely Worsted - there wasn't much leftover, but it was quite do-able). My own hat is knit from Merely Worsted in Beary Surprise; my son's from Merely Worsted in Blueberry Skies, and my daughter's from Merino Whisper in Alpenglow Xtreme.
Skill level: intermediate or adventurous beginner. The bobbles around the border are not onerous, as they are constructed after the fashion of i-cord and therefore do not require the work to be flipped back and forth.
The Griflet pattern PDF is available for purchase and download via Ravelry, though you do not have to be a Ravelry member to purchase.
Enjoy!
Great pictures - especially the last one!
I really recommend this hat, I love mine!
(I'm trying to link my testknitting project to your pattern page on Ravelry, but haven't succeeded yet... :-( .
Have a nice week end!
Posted by: Annepålandet | 06/08/2010 at 02:14 PM
Beautiful hat- I think it will go on my list of things to knit!
Posted by: Deb from Kingston | 06/08/2010 at 02:52 PM
Wonderful photos! And what a great pattern for keeping ears warm!
xo
Posted by: Cookie | 07/08/2010 at 10:31 AM
Yes! Yes, yes yes. I love ear flappy hats, but hate how they funnel the wind *right* into your ears! And I don't always mind tying the strings under my chin, but sometimes you want to feel like a grown up wearing an ear flappy hat, not a kid. Thank you so much for designing this - it went directly into the top 15 of my queue.
Posted by: Rora114 | 07/08/2010 at 01:59 PM
Great design! And your family makes wonderful models.
Posted by: LaurieM | 07/08/2010 at 02:25 PM
Love the hat, the models and the background! What a place for the photo shoot!!!
Posted by: Mom | 07/08/2010 at 07:07 PM
Marvelous! I'm so miserable when my ears get cold.
Posted by: Lynn in Tucson | 09/08/2010 at 09:00 PM
Ditto what LaurieM and Mom said -- great hat and gorgeous people wearing them! I'm going to go find that on Ravelry for my own Sir Liam....
Posted by: Elizabeth GM | 10/08/2010 at 07:14 PM