Where's Waldo?

Since I was at work, my dh got pressured into going to the mall to take Thing #2 to get her Where's Waldo costume. We're a "wait till the last minute" kind of family. You may ask what he did wrong to be punished so? Go to the mall with a teenager? Cruel and unusual punishment you say? Not intentional, I assure you. I was out working and he works from home. (He may look for outside office space as a result of yesterday's field trip.)

They found the shirt relatively easily. The hat was another story. I got a frustrated phone call from my dh. "We've been to 6 stores and have been round the mall over and over again. Can you make her a Where's Waldo hat", He said. "Sure", she who must over commit said.

As I drove home, I swear I could hear the tune to the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz playing as the anticipation built of accomplishing this crazy feat. I have not been the kind of Mom who makes costumes. If it isn't in their closet we would buy some cheapo costume and consider ourselves ready. This just wasn't my style, except that it WAS knitting and she did ASK me to knit her something. I just couldn't resist that.

Forget about the fact that I don't get home until 7:30 to first have dinner. She wanted the hat to wear to school tomorrow! Tomorrow by 6:30 am!
Laura from work wisely suggested Encore Mega for it's economic value and super bulk. I surfed the web and found a dk pattern for a Where's Waldo hat. I guess I'm not the first knitter to be faced with this goal. I combined that with a free super bulky hat and winged it.
When I finished the hat she just said the best thing "I'm actually excited for tomorrow and if I didn't have the hat, no one wouldn't know who I was". I'm a happy camper myself.

It's a good thing I promised myself I would go to bed at 10pm without getting sucked into the computer void. I'm going to write up the pattern and post it as a free download. Save some mother the trouble down the road somewhere.