FO Balaklava (Knitted Helmet)

I made this balaklava for Ron for Christmas. The green one is Kraemer Summit Hill (merino supewash), made with this pattern. I made the bottom ribbing about an inch an a half longer, and the crown about half an inch shorter.

The gray one, I think I made pretty much to pattern, but I wish I had made the neck longer on it, too, because it doesn’t really do dual duty (neck warmer) like the first one. It’s Plymouth Galway in charcoal heather (darker than it looks here). I originally started it for my dad, but he didn’t seem very interested, which is just as well, because he probably couldn’t be trusted to hand wash and dry it, and it’s not superwash like Ron’s.

Living with me has made Ron very sensitive to handwashing woolens, so I’m not worried about him.

I highly recommend the pattern. Except for the face opening, it’s totally movie knitting. The only part I thought could be clearer was the decreases at the sides of the opening, and I’m not eniterly confident that I did what the pattern intended. When I make another one, I’ll probably decrease six to eight times on either side of either corner. I believe I made 4 decreases on either side of either corner here. Since I’ll proabably wear it over my nose, the extra decreases will get rid of the little gap you see on the picture with me.

It’s very comfy and toasty, and I’d like to make myself one in some kind of girly pink. Maybe that Knit Picks Swish. Oh, wait. I’m not allowed to buy any new yarn until my stash all fits in the glass cupboard. Which proabably means no new yarn this year.

The Webs Year-End Clearance sale would like to have killed me. I can’t begin to describe how tempting that was. And yet, here I am, with no new yarn.

I’m going nuts trying to figure out what I’m going to use for my We Call Them Pirates hat (3 more days to join the knitalong!). I have some leftover Merino Style and I’ll aslo have some Telemark from the Katamari muffs I knit to order, but not enough of any for the whole thing. If I find a full ball of something to use for the base color, I could do three different colors on the rows of skulls. Hm. That sounds pretty good. Black base and 3 greens for the skulls? That might be a good plan. But do I have enough black? And I don’t really wear much green. I wear a lot of red. Red and black? 2 reds? I like the popping skulls, though. Red and white? Oh, crap. I don’t know. Hm. Maybe red and light blue. I have a powder blue coat that would look good with a red hat…

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