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…
![Alisa's Hat 2](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v0damjJQfKSConfd5C5O76EXjvTGLj5jG2s8POEPvaOSDRd5cOT8mRbcedclUwJ6D7060PUx-dKzLJ3vU-w0iCMGNHUBOkbIQJYXKtL_IHD0THMphAEhhTcQ=s0-d)
![Alisa's Hat 1](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vr2GhFD43SOE7kiaGPdvtL8hHGyPR8jj-I4H3oKJUqFEzeSiEL3ECVtM08ksyB2M5_nV1qTB1GMe-KJG1is1tqx0iT4gagZ2ymj8T4fuT1dlqkacsSWqSd=s0-d)
![Alisa's Hat 4](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sXyYbUXxNrtNIIkMsD_pmkIwQDZHtmRP8_KYCgAY3ctFYJQ_DwgaUZATVAfk8ocNciA-I8bHqaR_QKmKT4Uxfd5acNNAwTNjWsAMsc6p9ePH31ZayOH4TL=s0-d)
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.