Time for some thrilling heroics

In the run up to Christmas, I asked the Viking if he needed anything in the way of knitted goods -- it is as easy to buy 12 skeins of yarn as it is to buy 10, and often makes more sense when shipping charges are involved -- but he demurred. OK, I said, and was going back to my desk when he said but...

But?

But if you wanted to knit a Jayne Hat sometime ...

Mark the slyness of the request. It's not that he wants a Jayne Hat, it's if I want to knit one.

And what is a Jayne Hat?

The Hat is the breathtaking knitted headpiece that the character Jayne Cobb receives as a gift from his mother in an episode of the television series Firefly. It has joined the Doctor's Scarf at the intersection of nerdiness and knitting.

Neither the Viking nor I are rabid Joss Whedon fans, though both of us will cop to loving that he writes interesting, nuanced characters in general and strong female characters in particular. Firefly, however, we both adore unabashedly. The first time we stumbled across it, we channel surfed into the last few minutes of the episode titled 'Safe.'



What is this? we asked each other. It's a ... a ... space western. We were hooked.

So what about the hat? Forgive me while I embed a little more video.



People who have met the Viking will recognise at once that Jayne Cobb is the type of character my husband cottons to immediately. Those of you who have not ... well, Jayne Cobb is the type of character my husband cottons to immediately. I have thought occasionally about knitting a Jayne Hat for him as a surprise, but always dismissed the idea, thinking he would find it silly and never wear the hat.

So, I asked him, if I should happen to want to knit a Jayne Hat, you'd at least wear it around the house?

If you want to knit a Jayne Hat, he said, I'd wear it walking down the street.

All right then. Here we go.