This hat was completed today. A how-to video tutorial will soon be uploaded to YouTube. In the meantime, I have uploaded these photos to share with my Raverly community.

I did not stick to the exact instruction which I have to admit, Drops is notorious for being quiet a bit more than hard to interpret even for the so-called “easy” patterns. This one is one of those patterns.

UPDATE a/o March 7th 2016
Before reading the changes made below, I wanted to add that the male hat did not get a strap added as mentioned on the photo. In the end, I decided it would out better to just add a button on the side as oppose to a strap. I made it for my son who work on an ice skating r8nk. I felt the strap could present a safety issue or just a nuisance of getting in the way so I,did add straps to close straps around the neck. The other changes mention below apply only to the woman hat.

I made the following changes:
Materials:
Size 11 US circular knitting needles 30” (from tip to tip).
Size K US crotchet hook
Yarn: I substituted the Drops Eskimo yarn (used for the main body of the hat) is an Acrylic blend from my stash that I was able to buy unlabel at the local thrift store. I also substituted the Drops Puddel yarn for Boucle’ for the fake fur trim and edge.
The larger needle gave me a slighter larger hat so the ear flap could work like a small cowl/collar and fit completely underneath the chin; a complete draft free back of neck and all of my head.

As far as the pattern goes and any hiccup along the way.
I never use two strand of yarn where the pattern call for it while knitting the body of the hat with the Eskimo yarn. The I yarn used is bulky enough to be knit throughout with just the one strand (for my taste). I did however use two strands held together where it calls for using Puddel yarn. I held two strands of the Boucle’ together but only knit 3 rows and not 4 when creating the peak with a size K (9mm) crotchet hook. I do not own a size 15mm hook. The 9mm work great. I also did not understand why one would need to sew on the braid. I just thread the 3 strands of yarn for the braid through the bottom of the ear flap and then braided it while holding two of each stand together and tie a knot close to the end leaving a 1” of loose yarn at the end of the knot unbraided lIke a min tassle. After that, I crotchet an extra row around the whole hat with two strand of Boucle’ held together again. Both time I started my border at the back of the hat between the flaps and mid back of the hat. I did not like how thin the border look by only crocheting around the hat with just 1 row. When I did this I made sure to move the braid out of the way toward the inside of the hat so where it connect to hat could only be seen from the inside giving a nice finish to the hat (see photos). If it were not for these few hiccups, I would rate this an easy knit but the working around some of the interpretation and the fact you have to use two kinds of tools (knitting and crotchet) may actually throw a beginner off which I think is what may separate an “easy” pattern from not being easy for a beginner (or even experienced) crafter can do without having to question anything in the pattern or be confused by it. Drops Design pattern tend to always make a person question or cause confusion on a regular basis. But they do have wonderful patterns and even some good tutorial as well to help. I hope they can work kinks out of how patterns are written and will continue to add more how-to videos to the inventory too.

In the future I plan on purchasing their yarn as well to try out and do a review on my blog. When I knit (or crotchet) a project using their yarn, I will be sure to add another video on my YouTube channel as well knitting one of their beautiful patterns. Drop Design patterns are very beautiful as I,am,sure their yarns are probably just as nice. So I really hope I get to try some in the future.

Until next time…“Craft happy”
A step-by-step how-to video:
link How To Knit Earflap Hat (left-handed)