A few years back I watched a television show called Firefly. Unfortunately it had already been cancelled by Fox by the time I watched it but those 14 episodes had such an impact on me that I continue to rewatch the dvds every year and started my love affair for all things Joss Whedon. It's a real shame it was cancelled because it had so much potential with the great cast, witty dialogue and good plot development. It was a good science fiction show that delved into deeper issues. And I'm not alone in feeling this way. Firefly became a cult classic with such a gathering that Fox ended up developing a movie called Serenity to help provide some closure to the abruptly cancelled series. Even to this day, Firefly has a huge following, as noted at various comic and scifi conventions. Fellow fans refer to themselves as Browncoats. And the best part is the cast still reminisces about their great time on the show and provide Firefly references in their current projects (aka Nathan Fillion in Castle with his Malcom Reynolds Halloween costume).
One of the more common unifying symbol is the Jayne hat. This is a specific knitted hat that a character named Jayne wore in one of the episodes. It is a kind of ridiculous looking hat, knitted in bright orange, red and yellow but it works because Jayne is this gun toting manly man and loves this hat because his mother knitted it for him. Ever since I watched that episode, I knew I had to knit that hat. Too bad it took me around seven years to do so.
I ended up using the My Jayne Hat Pattern by Erika Barcott. The actual pattern can be downloaded for free on Ravelry. I ended up making a few changes to better fit my head:.
1. For the body, I knitted 13 rounds in both the orange and yellow versus the 12 rounds recommended for XL hats.
2. For the decrease rounds of the body, I did an extra K2tog, k2 and 2 more knit arounds before binding off.
3. For the ear flaps, I did 14 rows of stockinette.
4. The decrease of the ear flaps is where I made the most modifications.
a. K1, K2tog, K6, K2tog, K1
b. Purl across
c. K1, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K1
d. Purl across
e. K1, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K1
f. K1, K2tog, K2tog, K1
g. Bind off purl wise
For the yarn, I used Knit Picks Brava Worsted with the size 10 and 11 circular needles as the pattern recommended. The yarn is super squishy and really doesn't feel like acrylic. The only negative is I wish it wasn't so shiny but it works.
Lastly, this was my first time making a pom pom. Who knew it was so hard. I tried using a pom pom maker that my mom had from the 80s but that was a big failure. After watching a few YouTube videos, I made one using my fingers. It's not exactly the nicest or poofiest pom pom but I kind of like the way it flops around and is a bit uneven.
One of the more common unifying symbol is the Jayne hat. This is a specific knitted hat that a character named Jayne wore in one of the episodes. It is a kind of ridiculous looking hat, knitted in bright orange, red and yellow but it works because Jayne is this gun toting manly man and loves this hat because his mother knitted it for him. Ever since I watched that episode, I knew I had to knit that hat. Too bad it took me around seven years to do so.
I ended up using the My Jayne Hat Pattern by Erika Barcott. The actual pattern can be downloaded for free on Ravelry. I ended up making a few changes to better fit my head:.
1. For the body, I knitted 13 rounds in both the orange and yellow versus the 12 rounds recommended for XL hats.
2. For the decrease rounds of the body, I did an extra K2tog, k2 and 2 more knit arounds before binding off.
3. For the ear flaps, I did 14 rows of stockinette.
4. The decrease of the ear flaps is where I made the most modifications.
a. K1, K2tog, K6, K2tog, K1
b. Purl across
c. K1, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K1
d. Purl across
e. K1, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K1
f. K1, K2tog, K2tog, K1
g. Bind off purl wise
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| In progress |
For the yarn, I used Knit Picks Brava Worsted with the size 10 and 11 circular needles as the pattern recommended. The yarn is super squishy and really doesn't feel like acrylic. The only negative is I wish it wasn't so shiny but it works.
Lastly, this was my first time making a pom pom. Who knew it was so hard. I tried using a pom pom maker that my mom had from the 80s but that was a big failure. After watching a few YouTube videos, I made one using my fingers. It's not exactly the nicest or poofiest pom pom but I kind of like the way it flops around and is a bit uneven.
