Salty Dog Hat for my love

The traditional gift for a seventh wedding anniversary is wool. So this past summer, I was excited to have an excuse to try my hand at knitting something out of wool for my husband. I found this pattern for a salty dog hat and fell in love with it. I like that it is masculine and simple, yet still has personality with some subtle cables and interesting ribbing.

Here is what the top looks like.

I made this hat using a skein from my favorite yarn maker: Quince & Co. This is their owl tweet in otus. It is 100% American wool, soft, beautifully textured and warm. This is not a hat you would want to stay outside in for hours in below freezing weather; the hat isn't thick enough. But it is great for walking to and from work in winter and for all those cool fall and spring days.

The pattern was designed by Jessica L'Heureux and is available on Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/salty-dog-mens-hat). This pattern uses a size 5 circular needle and double pointed needles. After finishing the hat and blocking it (I let the wet hat dry on my husbands head one warm summer afternoon), we found that the hat wasn't snug against his ears. If I was to do this again, I think I would start the hat on smaller needles then switch over to the size five to create a tighter fit. I'm a little bummed its not exactly how he and I would like it to be, but we love the look of it and it's definitely still functional!