Knitted bicycling balaclava?

[untonuggan]

I just learned how to knit (woo) and bicycle (woo) this year. I'm thinking about doing some winter riding and have been looking into knitting merino gear to keep me warm.

My dad is uber-randonneur-bicyclist, and has not-so-subtly hinted that he'd like a knitted balaclava if I'm up for it. He's looking for thin yarn (say, sock yarn or fingering weight) in black, and he wants it to cover his head except for his eyes/glasses. You know, the balaclava thing. I'm also thinking superwash is a necessity.

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with good bicycling balaclava patterns, pitfalls, etc. Also, if anyone has good/bad experiences with particular yarns that would be great.

Since this is a cross-community sort of thing, I'm crossposting to knitting  .

Comments

[aedifica]

I don't have any useful suggestions, but if you find something good would you post it here? That sounds neat!

[untonuggan]

Definitely!

[sara]

I love the Ravelry pattern search -- do you have an account over there?

[damerell]

While I do wrap my face with a scarf when it's below freezing, it has to be really very cold. Otherwise it gets very unpleasant because you are breathing hard and hot into whatever is wrapped over it.

[untonuggan]

I would think this would be an issue for me, too, but since he already has a Balaclava (that's wearing out) I figure he's used to it by now. ^_^