Intention

My hat keeps blowing from my head and landing in the mud! I need a hood!

Plan

Using Cubics. In pink stripes, using reflecting thread for safety in the winter. Making the face-facing and neck-hugging parts in soft Nuvola.

Method

Turkish cast-on 30 sts, then inc every 4th row (white knit row) 2 sts until cap is at about ear level. Straight on from there. When chin level reached, pick up sts around the face using softer yarn, k2, p2 rib using short rows to make the hat protect both forehead and chin. Then continue stripes pseudo-in-the-round down the neck („seam-as-you-go“, which is a technique I unvented) ending with a k2, p2 section at the bottom.

Conclusion

Yarn:

• Nuvola: Unbelievably soft and the perfect choice for next to skin. I am fairly sure it will pill like crazy, though.
• Léttlopi: Sturdy, fuzzy, very warm, but scratchy. Only use on not-so soft parts (ears)
• Hand-spun Bluefaced Leicester/Mohair mix: a perfect match to Léttlopi in weight and sturdiness. A lot softer, though. Can be worn next to skin. Good amount left. Very nice self-striping effect.

Techniques:
Unventing „seam-as-you-go“ was fun, but the look is not as even as when you seam well. I never seam well, so it‘s more or less the same outcome. But it‘s fun to just be done the moment you stop knitting, so I will try to improve the method a little bit. Not having to knit in the round is worth almost all the trouble!

The Fit:
I improvised this as i knit along. The fit is almost perfect, - a little too much bulk in the chin area, but nothing major. Overall I am delighted that I made a fitting and functional garment all by myself. If I would do this again, I would not pick up 1 st for every row in the chin area (in the forehead area and at the sides it‘s ok)
Now that I‘ve made a ski mask, I need to make a „normal“, more urban, everyday hood, which is what I had planned originally, but then, while knitting, a new look took shape and I liked it :)

The Look:
Dark balaclavas in my eyes bear strong military connotations, making them insufferable. But: The balaclava fit (or more closer to my heart, the Lambhúshetta fit - which is Icelandic for „sheep pen hood“) is superb in frosty weather. Using bright, cheery colours and stripes I wanted to get as far away from the military look as possible, and I think I succeeded!
It would have been great to have stripes in the face area as well as on the back of the head, but I didn‘t trust my handspun to be soft enough. I kind of regret that now.