OK, yes – I am a HUGE fan of the show “Firefly” and the sequel movie “Serenity”! I’m involved with the Arizona Browncoats group, and got a message from them to see if I would be interested in making some Jayne hats to raise money for the annual Can’t Stop the Serenity charity event. Of course!
They asked if I had a pattern, but I asked them to give me the same one the others were knitting with for consistency.
After my first one, I looked at it and thought “Wait. That orange bit looks WAY too wide.” I did an image search – EVERYONE’S looked like that!
What the heck? The pattern they gave me said to knit in orange for 4″. When I tried the one I made on, it looked just like the fan version here (and everywhere else on the internet).
I did a search for patterns & found a LOT, but they all said to knit 4″ of orange, and a few comments from people saying that it was too wide and re-made it with less orange. I wondered where they got that 4″ measurement from?
I looked at the screenshot pic, and thought that the orange stripe in the official hat looks like it’s the same length as Adam Baldwin’s nose. Zooming in and using a ruler I confirmed that that was true. I then measured my nose (I’m 5′ 2″) and got 2″. I messaged a large male friend (6′ 5″), and confirmed that his nose was indeed 4″. My roommate is just over 6′, however, and his nose was 2 1/2″!
My roommate wanted a hat, so I made his with a 3″ orange stripe. It looks good on him, but I thought it still didn’t look right. For my Etsy store, I make them with a 2″ orange stripe, with the total hat( before decreasing) still at 7″. Maybe you could measure your nose & go with that, lol.
What I was going for was the LOOK, rather than “what are the dimensions of the original?” Like my first drawing teacher said, “Don’t recreate what’s there, that’s what photographs are for. Make it BEAUTIFUL.”
(Edit: Yes, I do sell them in my Etsy store here.)
And now you want to make one as well, right? Of course! Here’s the pattern, with my adjustments.
Jayne Cobb Hat Pattern
Materials:
Yarn: “Bulky” or doubled worsted weight, ½ skein orange, ½ skein yellow, ½ skein rust red (aprox 100 yards ea) of bulky, or 1 skein ea of worsted.
I used Lion brand Wool-ease in Gold, Paprika and Chili
Needles: 16” circular size 10 and 1 set double-pointed size 10
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends
Gauge: 4 st & 4 rows = 1” (or thereabouts) using bulky weight yarn
Techniques you’ll use: Casting on (CO), knit stitch, purl stitch, knitting in the round, basic decrease (knit 2 together [k2tog] and slip slip knit [ssk]), binding off, picking up stitches, weaving in ends, making a pompom.
Sized for a 24” head. For a larger or smaller hat, adjust the number of cast-on stitches in increments of 8.
Body of hat:
Using orange, CO 80. Being careful not to twist stitches, join and place marker to indicate the beginning of the row.
Work k1p1 ribbing for two rows.
Still using orange, knit in stockinette st (knit all) until hat measures 2 inches.
At the end of the round, switch to yellow and knit ’til the whole hat is 7 inches.
Decrease:
Round 1: K2tog over entire row, switching to double-pointed needles when hat becomes too small to work on circular. (40 st remaining)
Round 2: Knit all
Round 3: K2tog (20 st remaining)
Round 4: Knit all
Rounds 5 & 6: K2tog. (5 st remain)
Cut yarn, leaving a 6” tail, and draw through remaining stitches to cinch up the top.
Earflaps:
Using rust red, Pick up and knit the 20 stitches along the cast-on edge (you’ll be working in stockinette st).
Row 2: Slip the first stitch and purl to the end.
Row 3: Slip the first stitch and knit to the end.
Repeat rows 2 & 3 until flap measures 2 ½”. (10 rows in bulky)
Row 11: Slip 1, knit 1, ssk, knit to 4 stitches before the end, k2tog, knit 2.
Row 12: Slip the first st and purl to the end.
Repeat rows 11 & 12 until you have 6 sts remaining, ending on a purl row.
Next row: Slip 1, knit 1, ssk, knit to end.
Wrong-side row: Slip the first st and purl to the end.
Repeat these two rows until 3 sts remain. Bind off, leaving a 6” tail.
Repeat with other side of hat.
Pompom:
I made mine with a pom-pom maker from the store. I used the larger size (the package came with two), and wound three layers of yarn, making it VERY thick, which everyone loves. The first layer is wound with three strands of yarn, one of each color. Then I go back over it with just the orange & red, and then a third layer with just the red. At this point, when I close up the pom-pom maker, there’s almost no free “air” in the middle of the circle.
If you don’t have one, here’s a set of directions I found in another one of the free patterns online:
“If you know how to make a pom-pom, skip these directions. Make a pompom about four inches in diameter with a little bit of yellow, some orange, and a lot of rust red and attach it to the hat.
In a nutshell, cut two circles out of cardboard, each about 3 ½ inches in diameter. Make a hole in the middle of both about ¾ of an inch in diameter. (This isn’t precise. I stuck my scissors in the middle and wiggled them around until it looked about right.) Cut a length about the size of your arm of all three colors and thread them onto a tapestry needle. Push the needle through the hole and begin wrapping around the outside, so that you’re covering the cardboard part. When that yarn is gone, cut a length of orange and rust red and repeat. Then cut a length of rust red and repeat. Keep wrapping until you can’t get any more yarn through the middle of the hole in the cardboard.
Take your scissors and cut around the outside of the cardboard circle. Separate the circles just a bit. You’ll see that you have a little bundle of yarn, with the individual pieces all lined up. Take a length of yellow yarn and tie it firmly around the middle part. Remove the cardboard. Tie the pom-pom firmly to the hat. You may want to use a tapestry needle and loop it around more than once so the pom-pom isn’t floppy. Fluff up the pom-pom.”
Finishing:
Sew the pompom to the top of the hat securely, using any color yarn (I use a long strand to tie the pom-pom while making it, and then use those ends to secure to the hat)
Weave in any loose ends, except the ones at the end of the earflaps. Cut another length of rust/red yarn about 12″, thread through the earflap and pull half-way through, knot together right at the edge of the earflap with the tail you had left after binding off. Repeat with other side.
Remember, Ma Cobb isn’t worrying about the odd bit sticking out here and there, so you’ve got some leeway if your hat doesn’t look perfect.
Congratulations! You have a cunning hat!
Tags: Can't Stop the Serenity, earflap, Firefly, geek, hat, Jayne, knit, pom-pom, sci-fi
