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It’s occurred to me that not everyone who reads this blog knows what a “Jayne Hat” is.
Jayne is a character on Joss Whedon’s dearly departed television series “Firefly.” Cancelled after only 14 episodes, the show enjoys a small-but-loyal-and-vocal-fan-base. In the wake of outstanding DVD sales and much clamoring from all sides, “Firefly” recently hit the big screen with the movie “Serenity.” (Unfortunately, it didn’t do very well.)
Jayne Cobb, played by Adam Baldwin, is the ship’s Big Dumb Guy – slash – mercenary bodyguard. In one episode near the end of the first/only season, the crew stops in at a space station to pick up a mail drop. Jayne receives a package from his mother, containing a very endearing note, and one godawful ugly hand-knit hat.
He wears the hat – with great pride – for the entire episode.
To Firefly fans, Jayne’s hat – for whatever reason – is more than just a sight gag. It’s practically a character in and of itself.
I developed my pattern for the Jayne Hat after scrutinizing the episode closely, and also watching the DVD disc 4 easter egg, in which Adam Baldwin wears the hat while singing “The Hero of Canton” (long story). Many people apparently can’t resist improving upon the hat’s original design, but I feel that to make it a better hat (with really nice yarn, or without the loose strings which dangle from the earflaps) is to miss the point.
Here’s my pattern for the Jayne Hat: (Revised 11/06/05)
- Red Heart acrylic yarn in Ranch Red, Carrot, and Gold (if your local fancy-pants yarn store doesn’t carry it, try WalMart – that’s where I get mine)
- US 11/8mm needles
Gauge: 4×4 swatch = 11 stitches x 16 rows
For this pattern, you will be working with two strands at once. It’s tidiest if you just knit from the center pull of two identical skeins of yarn. But if you don’t want to buy six skeins of Red Heart (and who could blame you?) I found that it works okay to knit with both the center pull, and the outer end, from the same skein.
Hat: Cast on 54 stitches in Carrot. Knit 1 inch in p1 k1 ribbing, then 2 1/2 inches in stockinette (3 1/2 inches total). Switch to Gold, and work another 3 1/2 inches. The final result should be a rectangle no less than 7 inches high, and about 20 inches long (give or take an inch).
Earflaps: cast on 12 stitches in Ranch Red. Work in stockinette for 4 inches. Begin decreasing ktog 2 stitches per row, until you’re down to 6 stitches. The final earflap should be about 6 inches long. Bind off, leaving a “tail” at the end. Thread a length of yarn through the end, tie it together, and let it dangle. You should end up with three danglies, each about 3-4 inches long. Make a second earflap the same way.
Pompom: create a pompom using all three colors, about 4 inches in diameter. Leave about 6 inches on both ends of the cord that you use to tie it in the middle.
Attaching the flaps: arrange the earflaps so that they are roughly opposite each other. I like to set them slightly back from center, so that there will be more hat in front of the earflaps than behind them. Stitch them to the body of the hat so that when the ear flaps are down, the knit side will be out (this means that when the earflaps are tied up, the purl side will be facing outwards, and the knit side will be against your head). This is important! If you attach them wrong side out (so that the purl side is out when the ear flaps are down), they won’t curl outwards correctly.
Assembly: stitch the short sides of the hat together (up the back). Thread a length of gold yarn through the stitches at the top, and draw it together drawstring-style, as tightly as you can. (There will be a hole left in the middle. Don’t worry, the pompom will cover it.) Thread the long yarns of the pompom down through the edges of the drawn-together part, snug it down into the hole, flip the hat over, and tie them together inside. Trim and finish as necessary.
Total time: about 5 hours.
Random questions:
Where did the original hat come from?
I have no idea. I wish I knew. I watched all the extras on the DVD, and listened to the commentary track for that particular episode, but if someone said something about the original hat, I must have missed it. The original script describes it as simply “a woolly knitted hat with earflaps and a pom pom.”
I like to think that, tasked with making an ugly hat, some poor third-level costume design flunky went to WalMart, bought the ugliest yarn she could find, and knitted the quickest hat she could think of.
Is it okay to sell these on eBay?
I really don’t know. I haven’t heard anything to the contrary. Joss seems to know that people are selling Jayne Hats on eBay, but if he’s expressed any displeasure, I haven’t heard it. If he or Fox ever came out against the sale of Jayne hats, I would stop immediately.
Is it copyright infringement?
I… um… maybe? I’m not sure if props are considered copyrighted (copywritten?). If the hat bore a Firefly logo, or the actual likeness of Adam Baldwin, it would definitely be copyright infringement. But a really ugly hand-knit hat? I’m not so sure.
Back in the day, Fox was pretty nutty about shutting down X-Files fansites, and pursuing people who sold bootleg X-Files stuff on eBay. I have to think that if they haven’t sent “cease and desist” letters to any of the numerous Jayne Hat sellers, they’re not going to. But I really don’t know.
You think Adam Baldwin wants one?
Either he’d love one, or he’s already flooded with more Jayne Hats than a person can shake a stick at. Are you even ALLOWED to mail stuff to celebrities in this post-911 world? I’d mail one to him, but it would probably get torn to pieces by some yarn-happy Universal Studios bomb-sniffing dog.
Is that the right yarn?
Having studied the episodes closely, and carefully comparing the colors, I would be willing to bet cash money that the original hat was knit in these exact shades of Red Heart yarn. I know it kills Serious Knitters to even consider knitting with Red Heart, but if you wanna be authentic, sometimes you have to do distasteful things. Like buying yarn at WalMart.
The colors of the hat in the easter egg seem brighter than the Ranch Red/Carrot/Gold triad. However, the easter egg is shot on video, under bright studio lights. I’ve noticed that the Red Heart yarn colors will appear more bright and saturated on film under very bright lighting conditions. I’m pretty sure that accounts for the seeming discrepancy.
How much yarn does it take?
Ha! Ha ha. I bought three skeins (one of each color). I have made 4 1/2 hats. I think I might need to start in on a second skein of Gold in order to finish the fifth hat. One skein of each color should be enough for at least four hats.
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You’re absolutely right that an “improved” Jayne hat is not a Jayne hat. The “improved” version is just an earflap hat.
The same holds true for Dr. Who and/ or Harry Potter scarves.
Comment by Lucia —
November 6, 2005 @ 11:50 am
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Definitely! I would like to make Dr. Who scarves at some point, but I just don’t know if I’m up to the task of knitting a 15-foot scarf!
I just finished revising the instructions for the Jayne Hat. I had noticed that the stitches in the original are, if you look closely, a little larger than usual. Then I found some instructions online which suggested knitting with two strands at once. I tried it out, knitting two strands on size 11 needles, and the final result is – if I may say so myself – MUCH more authentic.
As a bonus, it takes a lot less time to knit! The most recent hat (knit in the New Jayne Hat Protocol) took only 3 hours from start to finish – compared to 5 hours for the single-strand Gen1 hat.
Comment by Erika —
November 6, 2005 @ 11:16 pm
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Quick question: is it worsted weight yarn you used or sport weight?
Comment by laii —
October 14, 2007 @ 10:09 am
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