A Couple of Hats (Adriana)

For Christmas last year I'd made Swell from Knitty for my brother. I noticed recently that despite the earflaps, it's not actually that warm a hat; it stops at the hairline leaving the neck and forehead bare. I promised Neil a better, warmer hat at an unspecified date. Last week I ran into his girlfriend, Courtney, at a local downtown eatery and she mentioned that they're off to Montreal and then skiing at Mont Tremblant during Reading Week (the last week of February). Clearly my brother needs a handknit hat to keep him warm on the slopes.
I quickly churned out this:

Pattern: Norweigan Star Hat
Yarn: Grey Jo Sharp Classic Wool dk (bought on sale. $2 a ball!) and blue Patons Classic Merino leftover from Dad's socks.
Modifications: 2x2 ribbing for the brim. I think I started the decreases for the top sooner and more rapidly than the pattern called fo which resulted in it looking kind of funny (hopefully just to my perfectionist eyes).

Since Neil was going to have a nice warm head I decided that Courtney deserves one too.

I went with the same main colour yarn (Jo Sharp Classic Wool dk) and my overdyed sock yarn held doubled.
I used the fair isle pattern from the Fake Isle Hat (I LOVE this pattern!). I didn't have enough orange yarn to do the whole pattern, so I just did the main fair isle motif and I added in the little rosettes at the top for interest.
Since I was using dk weight yarn I lined both hats with fleece for additional warmth.

Neil had requested a grey hat so I felt that subtle was the way to go. For Courtney I wanted to do something with more pizzazz and I feel that the orange accomplished that. I hope they and their hats have a great time on vacation, and hopefully they'll send me pictures :)