Knit Your Comics: A Pussyhat of Steel

Knit Your Comics Banner, comic by Rachael Anderson

I’ve been a big fan of the Supergirl TV show since it started.  I’ve always been a Supers > Bats person, and few people embody the spirit of the Supers the way this show is allowed to. It’s been my weekly joy for two seasons now, although less so now that James and Kara aren’t together. I’m just saying, Greg Berlanti, that you better be playing the long game with James and Kara (Ephram and Amy style) and also if Tyler Hoechlin came back to play Superman again I would not at all be sad.

Anyway. This isn’t about Superman. I was inspired by Melissa Benoist’s protest sign at the Women’s March to come up with a pattern for the Pussyhat of Steel for this Knit Your Comics.

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?#womensmarchonwashington

A post shared by Melissa Benoist (@melissabenoist) on

And I knew there were Kryptonian animals, so I started doing a little digging about the Kryptonian cats, and apparently one of Kara’s favorite Kryptonian myths involves a woman defeating a Kryptonian cat known as a Dramonicus. Kara thinks he’s adorable.

What a big kitty!

 

And that really sealed the deal for me. This hat is for all the Supergirls out there, and for the Supergirl who helped bring my favorite Super-Family back to life, both in live-action and comics form.

Yarn Selection

I made more than 20 traditional pussyhats in the weeks before the Women’s March, so I was already familiar with the pattern. And I can vouch that there was, indeed, a pink yarn shortage, and when I was looking at alternative pink yarns I came across this metallic yarn called Metallic by Patons. According to the website, it does come in a darker fuchsia shade in addition to this rose gold, but as mentioned, there was a pink shortage, so I only found the rose gold.

Burnished Rose Gold on the left, Pewter on the right.

he construction of this yarn is interesting–it appears to be a fabric mesh that’s filled with some kind of polyfill to make it thicker. The looseness of the stuffing makes it soft and have a nice amount of squish, and it’s definitely metallic, and soft to work with, so I decided to try it out.

The yarn knits up fairly nice, with some uneven-ness due to the stuffing in the tube. It’s also a soft yarn, rather than a stiff yarn, so after knitting the hat I knew I was going to have to line it with fleece in order to help the ears stick up as they’re supposed to.

I also anticipated that I would need a Superman or Supergirl patch. While Jo-Ann’s has Superman patches at the physical stores, the Supergirl patches are only available online, and take nearly two weeks to arrive, but they are officially licensed and affordable.

Supplies

  • 1 Skein Metallic Yarn in Pink (there will be a small amount left over)
  • 1 Supergirl Patch
  • 12” square of fabric for lining. (I used black fleece)
Hat supplies (and knitted hat)

This pattern is a super easy pattern, good for beginning knitters or people who want something fast and easy to do while watching TV. The only non-beginner bits are working in the round, picking up the cast on edge to make the doubled brim, and using the kitchener stitch to seam up the top of the hat, all of which you can easily find tutorials for if you need extra help. As such, I’ve rated it A for Accessible.

This hat is sized L. To make a smaller hat, decrease the number of stitches by multiples of 4. Cast on 108 stitches on 4.0 mm 16” circular or size to gauge and join in the round.

Knit in 2 x 2 rib for 36 rows (Knit two stitches, purl two stitches, repeat).

Pick up cast on edge to create double ribbed band. You do this exactly the same way you do a picot edge, so please see the Harley Quinn fingerless mitts pattern for details.

Continue to knit in stockinette in the round for 36 rows.

Use kitchener stitch to seam hat together (54 stitches across). If you’re wondering how long to make the tail to stitch with, I’ve found that eyeballing three times the hat circumference gives me plenty.

And the knitted portion of the hat assemblage is now complete!

Finishing

Trim the 12” square of fabric down to the dimensions of the hat. My finished hat was approximately 11” across and 8” high. The doubled over brim is where you will be attaching the fleece lining, so take that into your calculations.

You can see the fleece beneath the hat. A 1/4″-  1/2″ seam allowance is plenty.

Sew the sides of the fleece using a sewing machine or by hand, and then hand stitch the fleece to the edge of the brim using whipstitch or another stretchy stitch.

Now, your ears will stay kitty-shaped!

One final touch: Iron on your S-patch. I was worried about how well the iron-on backing would attach to the metallic yarn, but there was no problem. As instructed, I covered the front of the patch with a towel while ironing and the lining serves as another layer of protection from direct heat when you iron on the inside of the hat. No melting, and it’s stuck on good and proper!

 

The “S” means “hope.”

And there you have it! The Pussyhat of Steel. And if Melissa Benoist (or anyone at Supergirl) would enjoy this hat, please do let me know where to mail it.

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Kate Tanski

Kate Tanski

Recovering academic. Fangirl. Geek knitter.

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