Allison is a knitter and so she wanted to make her very own Nez-inspired woolhat. She used this pattern and her lovely mother, who is a knitting goddess, to create her very own woolie. The pattern is pretty easy to follow if you know the basics of knitting (this was her first project that wasn't a scarf, haha). Here are some tips:

· For yarn, I used Lion Brand Vanna's Choice that I got on sale at JoAnn Fabrics. I used two skeins and had some left over from each.

· Knitting in the round can be kind of hard at first. I found the worst part of it all was just getting the stitches on the needles. My advice is to put 32 on your first need, then transfer 16 to another needle. Then put 16 more on the first needle then transfer again until you have 16 on each needle.

· The rib stitch is fucking boring, but the irony is that you have to pay attention. I kept screwing up because I was watching football while knitting and I kept purling where I should have been knitting. EPIC FAIL. My mother had to rip out like two rows because of that.

· The shaping is the fun part and it's really easy, but just be careful to keep in mind which needles are which because when you get to the last three or four rows, they all get jumbled and the stitches get really tight.

· I don't own a tapestry needle so what I did was just take the excess strings and tie them off onto stitches inside and on the very top of the hat and then cut them. Okay, I weaved them a little, but I don't feel like weaving 12" of yarn through the hat.

· You do not need a pom-pom maker. I took this girl's advice and used a 3" piece of carboard and wound the yarn around and around and around until it was probably 2, 2.5" thick. Be careful not to wind it too tight though. I did that and had to rip apart my cardboard to get it off.

· MAJOR POM-POM TIP: When you're trimming/shaping your pom-pom, do NOT cut off the strings you used to tie it in the middle. You need these to hook it onto the hat. I did not know this and it was almost an epic fail.

The only thing I still kind of need to do is trim the pom-pom a bit more to make it more Nez-like, but it's very comfy and warm and I love it! Behold my gaity with my Magnetic South shirt. Fuck you.

(NOTE: If you don't know shit about knitting and want your very own woolhat (in any color), contact Allison and she might be able to hook you up with one for a nominal fee haha.)

And oh, oh, oh! If you ARE a knitter, and you're on Ravelry, add me as a friend and join my awesome Monkees group!