It all started when my boyfriend needed a hat way back when. I had made a simple touque for myself while in Fernie while giving my friend a ride for his sister’s graduation. Having nothing to do, knitting seemed like the best thing to do since Fernie houses a small yarn boutique. My boyfriend wore that one for about a year and decided to throw that in the wash. We all know what happens to wool in the wash. The second had I had made for him was made out of acrylic so that one lasted a lot longer.
Last week, my boyfriend and I mysteriously started to lose all of our winter gear. I had lost 2 pairs of mittens in 2 days. Ridiculous. Anywho, he lost the hat I had made him. It made him sad, but I didn’t feel too bad since he didn’t pick anything out in particular when I decided to make it for him.
I decided that I would let him pick what he wanted off of Ravelry and this is what he came up with. A free pattern from the Seaman’s Church Institute. Here’s the free pdf.

© Kristine Byrnes
So, upon reading the instructions, I was unfortunately very confused. Lots of terms I had no idea about. I figured it would mean I would have to navigate knitting it and just figuring it out along the way. I decided to google it just in case someone else had blogged about the process. To my surprise, the creator of the pattern had uploaded a video since there were others in the same boat as me.
Lucky me.

Working on the headband
So here’s progress of what I’ve done as of last night.

Headband sideways, see how it doubles over
I’ve used size 7 needles, in Lion Brand’s Fisherman’s Wool in Maple Tweed. I’m quite impressed with the pattern itself. At this point it seems well engineered for knitting ease. More than 95% of the stitches are knit. My only advice at this point if you’re starting this pattern is to USE MARKERS. In the video she says that you can get away with not using them after you’ve established that section, but for me that created a headache and mistakes. Markers made it easy for me to know when to pay attention to what I was doing.

Fisherman’s Wool in Maple Tweed from Lion Brand
Look at my pretty homemade markers. It’s nice to have your piece always looking special, even in the middle stages. Definitely insures motivation for me to work on it.

DIY Markers from odds and ends from home
Hopefully I’ll be finished the headband, probably tonight, and I’ll start the crown of the hat tomorrow. Honestly, I do not look forward to picking up 84 stitches.
Part 2
Completion