My boyfriend and I are attending a BYOBeard Art Show on Saturday, and while he already has impressive beard on his own, I was in dire need of one. What to do? Knit one of course!

I used the Mountain Man bearded hat pattern as a visual guide, but this really is my own creation. I used size 10 needles, only cast on 31 stitches, made the mouth gap 11 stitches, and just sorta kept holding the beard up to my face and kept knitting and casting off equally on each side to match the lines of my face.

I wanted my beard to be even more unruly than my beau’s, so I cut a bunch of yarn strips and tied them on with slip knots. Then I created a mustache by just bunching up 20 or so long strands of yarn, tying the bunch to the beard in 3 places, and then braiding each side.

I didn’t want a hat because it’s hot in Austin in June, so I just created little ties on either side of the beard to go around my ears.

The result is a perfectly awesome old man beard! I’m so excited to wear it! :)