Hats for Little Boys

I was in Denmark last month and saw a wonderful exhibit at  National Museum of Denmark called Vikings.  The Danes seemed so orderly and socially responsible that I found it hard to believe they had ever been Vikings. But a thousand years, give or take a century, will change the culture of a group of people.  Today the descendants of Vikings are peace loving individuals known more for their incredible design sense and self-assembly furniture than for carnage and pillage.

Now I find that history duplicates itself in odd ways and patterns emerge that seems to repeat down through the centuries.  Hitler and Napoleon’s invasions of Russia come to mind.  Another example is my step son Maxwell who was a Berserker as a child.  When he grew up and left home,  Max calmed down a bit and  married a lovely woman who taught him to eat with a fork.  They went on to  have two sons who are apparently carrying on the Berserker tradition: hell bent on  toddler destruction, mayhem, refusing to share along with occasional biting  and kicking one another under the table when they think Dad is not looking.  But Maxwell, being an ex-Berserker (or maybe just a closet Berserker) is rarely  fooled.   Mom is never fooled even though from what I understand she was not a Berserker or even a member of the Women’s Auxiliary.  But I digress.

I do not want to encourage such barbaric behavior and yet I think that little boys need to get down with their inner Norsemen.  So I made a Viking helmet and a crown for them so  they can reenact the Battle of Edington until they leave for college.  You don’t need to thank me Max. Their precious smiles are all the thanks I need.

I made the helmet out of a wool sweater I felted in the washing machine.  The horns are purchased felt stuffed with fiber fill.

I used recycled sweaters in the crown too.  The yellow felt is purchased.  I added pom poms for jewels.

The cap is half blue and half purple

I didn’t have a pattern for either hat.  The helmet was not too difficult to plan but I had to study  pictures of crowns  to figure out how they were put together before starting the felt crown,

I stitched the horns on the sewing machine and then turned them out, stuffed them and sewed them to the sides of the helmetn

I had to hand sew the helmet because the wool was so thick.

Now if you ever wondered what those strange Ikea names mean, press here.  Press here for a list of movies about Vikings.