Jayne Hat

Once upon a time, there was a television show called Firefly. If you never saw it, go Google the words Firefly and Serenity to find out more about it. Better yet, go rent the whole series. Next thing you know, you'll be a Browncoat.

But I digress. During the Firefly episode called "The Message", one of the characters receives a package in the post. Tough guy Jayne Cobb receives a hat from his mother, to keep him warm on his travels. There's just something about this hat that makes many people who've seen it want one of their own. The Internet is littered with hand knitters who've interpreted what they've seen in their own way.

This is my interpretation. I owe a debt to the designer of Heather's Firefly Hat. Heather's design was one of two I found when I started to do my first hat, and the closer to what I see when I watch "The Message". I was so obsessed with trying to match the original that I kept pausing the DVD, going over to the screen, and counting rows of stitches. I wanted a slightly smaller hat, but couldn't work it out with even decreases. I wanted a better color match, but orange acrylic yarn seems to only come in traffic cone orange. I like the wool colors, though, and prefer how the hat comes out using wool. It's a little smaller in wool than it is in acrylic, although both are fairly large. After pausing the DVD many times and looking at several still pictures, I can't determine exactly how the earflaps end. There have to be ties, because Jayne wears it flaps-up at one point.

There are more than four dozen Browncoats from as far away as Australia wearing these. Some even went to the premiere of Serenity.

Paula's Jayne Hat


Wool	Acrylic
MATERIALS:
Cascade 200 wool in gold (color 7827 or 7826)	Coats & Clark Red Heart in Gold
Cascade 200 wool in orange (color 7825)	Coats & Clark Red Heart in Orange
Cascade 200 wool in persimmon (color 4146)	Coats & Clark TLC Essentials in Persimmon
Two sets of size 11 circular needles or whatever results in a gauge of 3 stitches=1 inch with yarn DOUBLED.
Any old crochet hook you have lying around. I used a G hook, but that size isn't crucial.
A big tapestry needle
The hat is knit with two strands of yarn being treated as if they were really one strand. I knit these in a circular fashion. Use one circular needle to work the first half of the stitches, drop the first needle, then pick up the second needle to work the second half. Drop the second needle and repeat. It is a little awkward until you get the hang of it, but then it's really fast. There are no seams and no juggling of needles. If you are prone to dropping needles when you're working with double-pointed needles, this eliminates that problem.
HAT: With Orange, cast on 64 stitches, with 32 on each needle. Join, being careful not to twist the stitches. Work the first two rows in K1 P1 ribbing. Knit 9 rows. Cut the yarn, leaving a tail to weave in later. Loosely tie in Gold. Knit 9 rows. K6, K2 tog. Repeat from to end of round. Knit two rows. K5, K2 tog. Repeat from to end of round. Knit two rows. K4, K2 tog. Repeat from to end of round. Knit two rows. K3, K2 tog. Repeat from to end of round. Knit two rows. Cut the yarn, leaving a nice long tail. Run the yarn through all of the stitches on the needles. Overlap by running through a couple of the first stitches a second time. Gently pull the stitches together until they are gathered up on top. Take one of the two strands of tail yarn and put it in a needle. Take a small stitch so it is on the other side of the circle of gathered stitches. Tie the two ends together snugly but gently (you do not want the yarn to break). Drop the threads down inside the hat. I grab them with a crochet hook and pull them through. Tie the ends together again. Bring them to the outside again and tie them again. Snip the tails, leaving a little bit of yarn. These ends will not show because the pom-pom will hide them. Turn the hat inside out and weave in all loose ends.
EARFLAPS: I use a single circular needle for this, but work back and forth, NOT in circles. The first earflap is centered over the beginning/ending point of each round. I call that point stitch 8 and count stitches to the right until I get to 1. Starting at 1, pick up 16 stitches. Purl the next row. Working in stockinette stitch (k 1 row, p 1 row), work 14 more rows. At the beginning of each row from this point on, work the first two stitches together. When you're down to a single stitch, drop the needle and pick up the crochet hook. Chain about 6-7 inches. Cut the yarn and slip it through the loop and knot it. Leave about an inch of yarn hanging free. The second earflap is centered opposite the first. I fold the hat in half to estimate where to start picking up the 16 stitches. Work it like the first one.
POM-POM: I used 3 1/4" circles and three arm lengths of each color to do mine. I ran the yarn used to tie the pom-pom together into the inside of the top of the hat and tied it several different times before snipping the threads. I intentionally did not block the hat. The earflap edges curl in on the original so mine do, too.