Viking - Paloosa

My lovely Valkyrie wife Stephanie modeling the first Viking hat.

So ... my latest project, or as it turns out projects, has been making crocheted Viking hats. What started as me thinking I really want a more realistic looking Viking hat for days when I'm not wearing my Jayne Cobb hat, has turned me into a Viking hat producing madwoman!

The first one that I made was pretty simple. I made the beanie portion in Caron Simply Soft light gray yarn paired with Simply Soft pale yellow for the horns. I trimmed out the edge of the horns with variegated cream/brown/gray fun fur. The edge of the beanie has bobble spaced all the way around to resemble rivets. The line of rivets is bordered by two cables to make it appear as if this section is raised. On later ones, I also did a vertical cable to mimic the center seam on a metal helmet. 

Here is a picture of the horn before I attached it to the hat.

Here is an up close picture of the riveted edging along the cap.

Since I finished that first one, I've been playing with other variations in the same basic style. My first variation was doing top portion of the hat in a different color and then trimming it out in the silver to make it resemble the leather helmets with the metal band around the edge. 

I have done a few different colors so far. I did a dark purple one made from Red Heart Eco yarn and trimmed it out in the same Simple Soft gray. I've also used a Simply Soft brown for another and added ear flaps to it. I even made a red one with black edging and horns trimmed in black fun fur for my best man as part of his thank you gift for being in our wedding. I wish I had a picture of it. I think his and the brown one below are my favorites so far.

Now as Halloween and then Christmas approaches, I think I have 10 or so hats to make for family members and friends. By New Year, there will be a Viking invasion of the Southeast US!