I added some bulk to create the illusion of a wrinkly forehead. I just knitted the pattern and then picked up stitches, knitted a patch, grafted it, and stuffed it with extra yarn.

11/20: hat part is done. I decided to boil felt it and machine felt the ears, then sew them on and needle felt to clean up the stitching. Odd, yes, but it will let me get the sizing perfect. Boil felting is about half done.

11/21: hat felting is done and I am so happy with how my added brow ridges came out. Starting the ears.

11/22: almost done knitting ears. I wanted the tops of the earlobes to curl over so I cast on 23 stitches, then decreased on the top side of the ear every knit row until I had 17 stitches. From there I followed the pattern starting with the decreases for shaping the bottom edge of the ear. I’ll sew them on in a curve. I also wanted some bulk so I picked up stitches around the edge of the ear to do an icord bind off. That extra thickness in the felt should help hold them up without glue, too.

11/22: ears are done and drying. I used a bit of starch but they are standing up on their own just fine.

Aaaaand done! Just waiting for the starch to dry.

Had to take advantage of this opportunity to humiliate the cat.