Knitting the Melt the ICE hat

Well, since you asked, yes I am on the Norwegian Melt the ICE hat protest knitting bandwagon. I bought the pattern and yarn on January 21, 2026. I finished my first hat on January 26th.

For a quick background, the Nazi’s banned this type of red hat in the 1940’s while occupying Norway. The Norwegians used a red knitted hat and other red clothing items to express solidarity among themselves against their Nazi invaders as a protest against their occupation.

All proceeds from the sale of this pattern go to the immigrant aid agencies who will distribute the funds to those impacted by the actions of ICE in the USA. This campaign has since become a global phenomenon with knitters around the world donating and raising money by purchasing and knitting the pattern. So far has raised and donated over $250,000 (April 17, 2026).

So obviously I am a slow knitter and honestly I find all that ribbing so tedious. In fact, 6 inches of ribbing is in the directions but I gave up after 4 and finished the difference in plain stocking stitch. Unfortunately the hat that I made was very loose and sloppy-looking. I realise now I cast on too many stitches (132) because hub’s head is very big and I figured that would be best. Nope. It just keeps falling in his eyes. My needles are being used to make some mittens at the moment, but when they are done, I’ll knit another red hat for him.

On the Ravelry knitting site, over 13, 000 people have posted their completed hats using this pattern.

Fuck Trump and his fascist regime.