Unveiled: The Force Geek

Time to present what I teased you with last week:

My adorable little brother, the LEGO genius and hard-core life-long Star Wars fan, turned 15 last month and I, of course, had to go all out on his birthday present. He’s the only person I’ve made something for that actually wears it all the time (a hat for him, knitted 2006—aka he was long overdue for a new one). He is a knitter’s favorite person to knit for.

So when I stumbled upon the R2D2 hat a long, long time ago, I knew I would someday knit it for my brother, despite his being a pretty big teen boy with a much bigger head than a 6-year-old’s. I would just have to adjust.

I tried to get the lady at the yarn shop’s help; she suggested worsted weight on size 6 needles. So I bought the worsted weight. Then I went down to size 3 needles after a bit of trial and error.

Yeah, I knit somewhat loosely.

Still, it turned out and I’m pretty proud that I was able to whip this super cool hat up. Being worsted-weight AND stranded it’s definitely a WINTER hat, but I don’t think that’s going to be such a big deal for my brother. He thinks he can wear it in Minnesota in June. Who am I to stop him? ;)

It may not be the best thing in the world, but I’m really happy with how my stranded knitting is progressing. I’ve been weaving one color behind the other, and I’m pleased with how well that works:

Oh, and that’s my first ever lining. I even sewed it in. I have to admit, I’m pretty pleased and proud of this hat. :)

The Force Geek (Ravelry):
Pattern: R2D2 Hat
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted
Needles: US 3/3.25mm
Modifications: Cast on 120 stitches instead of 140 to try to compensate for different gauge. Also only knitted one row of R2D2s, since that was more than enough to deepen the hat.

Ta-da! What do you think?