A co-worker brought in this animatronic dancing Caddyshack gopher.  I don't know what came over me, but I said I'd make him a hat and scarf.  It's not like I'm drowning in WIPs or anything ...

This was actually pretty quick to knit up.  I tried a couple of times to do a stockinette cap with regular increases, but they all messed up my stripes.  I don't quite have the knitting skillz to know what kind of increases to do when.

Instead of making a traditional hat shape, I knit this flat and just decreased at the edges to make a big triangle.  I started with the ribbing then worked up through the stripes.  

Around half-way through, I stopped decreasing for several rows so the hat would be long enough to fold back over itself, then I decreased to a point.  I sewed up the seam and sewed the tip to the ribbing so it hid the ugly seam ... perfect!  This hat shape wouldn't work for a human head, but it looks festive on a gopher.

Lastly, I added the red, white, and green pom pom.  I used a piece of cardboard to wrap the yarn, but I've since learned that you can make pom poms with a fork (thanks for the link @tmbrunschen).

The scarf is stockinette twice as wide as I wanted it to be in the end because I knew it would roll up.  For fringe, I larksheaded two strands of yarn in alternating colors.