Viktor The Viking Hat

Got an order for a new viking hat for a graduating student of my husband's school who has been the school mascot for a few years now. As a present that would remind him of the school and his position there I tried to make this new hat look like the one the mascot wears... I guess I should have gotten some fur yarn, but I hate that stuff.

Hubby in his hat and Victor The Viking!

I used a basic beanie pattern, and taking notes from the last one I made, incorporated the studded band into the last three rows of the pattern. I used four leftover yarns I had on hand to make this hat, a dark brown for the body, a light specked gray for the brim and horn bands, white for the horns themselves and a light golden yellow for viking braids!

Top: completed horn unstuffed, Center: stuffed, Bottom: closed off

I also went back and used the same horn pattern I had rewritten based on one by Cheyenne Crochet. Just as a note to self: I used 6 dc popcorns for the brim and 5dc popcorns for the horn bands. At the base of the horns I did three rows of the light brown and added the same studs around, but put more of them closer together. Last time I just stuffed and sewed the horns on to the hat. This time I added a 24stitch circle to the bottom to close them off and then sewed them on a little lower. I'm hoping that makes them a little more sturdy and less floppy.

The viking braids are detachable, since I was unsure if they would read like girl hair to anyone who doesn't know our mascot. They button to the inside of the hat on each side. Basically I just made a tab and attached the long "hair" to that, braided it and tied it off. For a minute I thought about making a full face mask with mustache like these, but Victor doesn't really have a beard per-se and that might have been a bit much. This way it's more wearable.

Left: Tab with strands attached, Right: Braided

Tab pattern:
chain 6, turn
sc, dc, chain 1, dc, sc
chain 2, turn, dc in top of sc, sc in top of dc, chain space and next dc, dc in top of last sc
chain 1, turn, 5 sc across
bind off.
Cut 18 long strands of yellow (mine were about 24 inches long) for each braid, so 36 total. On each tab you have 5 stitches. Attach 3 strands to the first, 4 to each of the center three stitches, and 3 to the last. I folded the long strands in half and attached the hank like a tassel, pulling up a loop of the strands, through the stitch and pulling all the dangling ends through it and tightening it off. Then separate out your strands into three sets of 12 and braid. I wrapped the light brown around it and tied it off.

I hope it does a good job of reminding him where he came from as he moves on to college. And when he returns for Homecoming and Alumni events, that he remembers to bring it along. :)

Go Vikes!

Difficulty: Easy
Time to complete: 10 hours