I recently knitted this red pointy hat, which has a rich history and resonates strongly with the Norwegians.
In 1940, Norway was occupied by the Nazis, and in December of 1941 the Norwegian flag was banned, along with its colors (mostly red, with a white and blue cross.) Any use would be seen as a protest against the Nazi occupation.
Without the flag as a unifying symbol, a pointy red hat quickly became a substitute and this irked the Nazis. On February 26th, 1942 the hats themselves were banned: it became illegal to wear, distribute, or make them.
Historically, hats of this shape had been popular during the French Revolution in 1790, and were therefore well-known throughout Europe. They remained popular as a resistance symbol in Norway specifically, because of the tradition of the nisse, the "unseen folk spirits" of Norwegian folklore. The nisse were imagined to be small trolls living in your house and causing mischief, for example, stealing things. When socks disappear and you now only have unmatched ones—well, obviously the sock-nisse are to blame!
Christmas cards celebrated the nisse in red Santa hats with the Norwegian flag. While the traditional nisselue (santa hat) was fairly long and pointy, the tradition of wearing a pointed red hat—any pointed red hat—was adopted. These hats were rarely identical, as most were homemade and the product of the knitter.
In 2025, Minneapolis-area designer Paul Neary was inspired by events in the Twin Cities to design a hat for the shop Needle & Skein to revive this tradition. Known as the Melt the ICE hat, it has been downloaded and knitted (a crochet version is also available) over 125,000 times, with all proceeds from the $5 pattern donated to local nonprofits, like the STEP (St. Louis Park Emergency Program) and other groups helping families affected by ICE actions with rent, food, and legal aid.
I am so happy to have participated in this resistance movement whose origins date back some 85 years! (And thanks to my friend Valerie Greenfield for bringing the hat—and its history—to my attention!)
