The Greenhouse Effect

Without going into too many words about climate change, global warming, and our slow destruction of the planet (this ain't no newfangled politickin' blog, ya heard?), I'd like to say the weather has officially gone buckwild, too hot for tv crazy.

I'm located in NYC and for the last few weeks I've watched the city that never sleeps go narcoleptic. NYC proper was without power for a week, my bff in Long Island has been without power for 12 days and counting (and doesn't expect to get power until after Thanksgiving), and Staten Island and New Jersey are partially under water. Hurricane Sandy was not common doings for the tristate area. This city wasn't built to handle this kind of weather. After the blizzard of 1888, all our above ground power went underground (lots of snow piling on power lines = massive blackouts) because heck, NYC doesn't flood!... except now we do. Hmm.

This week, we had Athena, a weird Nor'easter that brought in 6-8" of snow, which wouldn't be so weird except today, three days later, it's in the 70s. This weather is buck. I don't care how you lean politically, it is kuh-razy.

I left the house the other day with my hat on, because I thought it was cold out. For some reason my house holds onto weather like a refrigerator/oven—if it's cold outside, it will stay cold in my house for 3 days, if it's warm outside, it will stay warm in my house for 3 days—so being that it was freezing in my house, I stupidly thought it was freezing outside. It wasn't. It was just mildly cold. I wore my hat for about three blocks before I buckled under the matted-hair sweat brim developing around my head. Took off my hat, and my Mickey Mouse ears reached out from either side of my head and grabbed whatever cold was readily available to them.

I needed a hat that wouldn't trap and redirect heat to my head, and frankly, I'm also pretty lazy about my hair and wear it up far more than down.

Hence, the Greenhouse Effect. A hat with a hole at the top—a hat donut, if you would. I added a little mock cable, did some decreases so it would follow my head shape, and there you have it. I also like that it sort of gives me a 60s mod look (although I might be imagining that.

I made this in Noro Kogarashi, a bulky wool/silk blend yarn that I had lying around (remember how I'm trying to eat through my stash?). It's discontinued, but any bulky weight stretchy yarn will do. I only used half the skein, so I may design some matching fingerless mitts to use up the rest.
The pattern is free, because I love you.