How to Add Ear Flaps to a True North Toque
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A few years ago I knit my whole family True North Toques (pattern by MbyMKnitwear). (If you don’t know, toque is Canadian for “beanie”). The year before I had made myself one and was so pleased with the buffalo plaid effect from the three colours of Lion Brand Thick & Quick, and my family was definitely interested in having their own (I may have mentioned this in my On Repeat post). I believe when the pattern was first released it only came in the one size, so we checked how the toque fit on everyone so I could modify as needed. Then came the colour modification requests. For whatever reason, the guys wanted grey brims (and needed a bigger size), while the girls wanted black, like my original one.
I had this fun idea that I would get these done for Christmas and they could be an additional “stocking” on Christmas morning! Because nothing would get done if it weren’t for the last minute, that’s how these ended up, something I worked on extensively on Christmas Eve, and into very early Christmas morning.
To make them more stocking-like I had even bought various candies that each person likes to fill their toque! I think it was a really nice surprise in the morning, and all of them are very knit worthy!
Last year when asking my brother in law what he would like for Christmas, the only thing he specifically told me was earflaps for his True North Toque. So again, at the last minute, I knit up some earflaps. Once he was off to work (he’s a pastor so had a Christmas Eve service to do), I did some guessing based off of his toque as to how big these earflaps should be. Luckily as an avid sock knitter, there was very little guessing about how to make them a nice earflap shape.
Need quick Christmas/winter patterns? Try:
Little Trees Washcloth
Christmas Tree Farm Washcloth
Nowel Stocking
They did seem like a kind of ridiculous thing to wrap up on their own though! Just these two little grey pouches with the tail from casting on still hanging off (for seaming purposes).
To attach them I used the horizontal seaming technique (often used for shoulders of sweaters), going through both sides of the flap. It did take a couple tries to get them attached in the right place. You’ll notice they are not in the middle of the toque, but both more towards the back, important to consider that your ears are not in the centre of your skull! I definitely recommend having the hat-wearer present when attaching earflaps, and it can also be helpful in determining size.
Below is the pattern for the earflaps I created. While this is specific for the True North Toque, you could easily use your gauge from any hat pattern to modify this to another hat!
Earflaps Pattern:
Finished measurements:
Width: 3.5″ / 9 cm
Length: 3.25″ / 8.5 cm
Materials:
Yarn: super bulky – sorry I didn’t measure how much this took, but it wasn’t much! Best guess (weighing after attaching) is 45 yds / 41 m of Lion Brand Thick & Quick
Needles: same needles used as for the brim of your hat
Darning needle
2 stitch markers
Abbreviations:
CO – cast on
PM – place marker
SM – slip marker
sts – stitches
K2tog – knit 2 sts together
ssk – slip 2 sts knitwise, then knit together through the back loop
Pattern:
CO 18, PM, and join in the round, being careful not to twist your stitches.
R1-7: Knit all sts.
R8: K2tog, k5, ssk. PM. Repeat.
R9: K all sts.
R10: K2tog, k to 2 sts before marker, ssk, SM, repeat.
Use Kitchener stitch to graft the two sides together like the toe of a sock.
Attach the earflaps near the bottom of the brim on the inside. I used a variation of the horizontal seaming technique/duplicate stitch. Just make sure you’re going through both sides of the earflap as you seam.
