my rip-off trapper

when i need to feel better about myself, i knit with bulky yarn. starting and completing a project during two episodes of my favorite addiction (six feet under) can make anybody feel pretty great! The rip-off hat happened all-of-a-sudden… kinda like blacking out and when you come to, you have a finished hat in your lap?




so here's the story on the hat you see above: i saw the trapper hat in the winter 2006 vogue knitting and thought it was great. Then I saw some pictures floating around out there and thought it was really great. Here’s the thing - I have to REALLY love a pattern and really want (nay, need) it in order to drop any cash on it. There are just too many great free patterns out there… and if that fails, I can usually make something up that I like even better.

so when I picked up the magazine to assess… as I expected, 98% of the patterns are ridiculous and not practical. I wasn’t about to spend my money on it. So I took a good long look at the hat, the suggested guage, needle size and yarn, and went on my way, with future plans of making my own version.

about a week later, my friend handed me a bag of yarn saying “my mom went to a close out sale at our local yarn shop and picked up some random stuff for me… can you make me a hat with any of these?” i opened the bag and out plopped a fat hank of brown sheep BURLY spun. It was just the sign I was looking for. I told her I already had something in mind for her and went on my merry way…

click on images to see detail

pattern: my own rip-off of the trapper hat
materials: brown sheep burly spun (100% wool) in "prarie fire"

needles: US 13 circulars

so this is what i came up with. i decided to leave the brim off of the hat - the more i thought about it, the more i didn’t like the brim. pulled out the big US 13’s and before I knew it I had effectively created the rip-off trapper hat. and my friend loves it… although the timing is a little off, its not necessarily a ‘spring cap,’ but hey, I figure its still cold in NYC right?

i roughly kept notes of the pattern, am thinking about posting it if anybody would like to knit this (cheaper and more practical) version of the Trapper.

PS: my roommate has a silver mannequin. It’s a great hat model.