Project Beard

So what do you do when you can't sleep at night because your brain is on hyperactive mode, and can't be switched back to sleepy mode?  Well late last night after four hours of trying (and failing) to sleep I decided to pool my energy into . . . becoming a Dwarf.  (Yes, I'm in my jammies.  It was supposed to be sleepy time.)

Now this has been a few months in the making, so there is a progressive storyline leading up to me as a Dwarf.  It all started with this hat here.

I had originally made this hat as a Christmas gift for Dustin.  If you are interested in making one yourself here is the pattern I used.  I found it on another woman's blog called Knit for Your Life.  As it turns out this hat was too small for Dustin's head, so I had to make a new one.  I used the same pattern, but I increased the needle size by one size.

So, now we both have Viking hats.  I need to line mine with something.  Since I was making this as a gift for Dustin I made it out of wool.  I'm allergic to wool, he isn't.  So, that would explain some of why you haven't seen us walking around in our matching Viking hats.

We ran into someone at Naka Kon that had this epic Dwarven beard.  It was all mutually agreed on that the Viking hat and the Dwarven beard would look incredibly awesome together.  So, I set about finding a beard pattern to make for Dustin.  I came across this pattern that I used to make a base.  I don't crochet.  I can do it, but I have this strange phenomenon that if you put a crochet hook in my hand my ability to count is drastically impaired.  It took me 8 tries to get the base started correctly for this beard.  So, have some heart.  If I can do it, so can you.  (Oddly I don't have issues counting in any other situation.  I have no issues counting while double knitting, watching a movie, and talking to Dustin all at the same time.)  I opted to stylize the beard a little bit more like this one.  Yet, either way once you have a base you can style the beard any way you want.  :D  The yarn I used was a mix of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice, and Yarn Bee Soft Secret.  I made the base out of the Lion Brand yarn, and then I used a mix of both yarns to make the rest of the beard.  I used a total of four different colors to give the beard a more natural look.

Dustin wants the beard.  He just doesn't want to go to the store and pick out yarn to make it.  I opted to get the yarn for me, and make a beard.  The hope was that if Dustin saw the beard in real life that he would want it more.  This didn't work out too well for me.  Once he saw me with the beard his reaction was, "Hmmm.  I don't like having a girlfriend with a beard."  Well, at least I have a totally epic accessory to wear to the theater for the next Hobbit movie when it comes out.