Any gamer worth two cents has played at least ONE of the Mario games. Thusly, nearly every gamer knows of the mighty Chain Chomp.
An enemy in the Mario Bros. franchise, they first appeared in Mario Bros. 3, as a black ball with eyes and teeth, attached by a chain to a block. The chain would lunge itself at Mario, teeth a-chomping, if Mario was within its range.
In later games, the chomps could appear on a loose chain, trailing after Mario and friends. They also adapted their own sound effect, a doglike, rumbling ARF ARF. In the latest release in the franchise, Super Mario Galaxy, Chomps are seen chainless, rolling around happily in their natural habitats. They have long been one of the many instantly-recognizable entities in the Mario world.
I designed this hat on a whim, inspired by discussions with my geeky friends awhile ago, about how relatively simple it would be to design. In the last few days, I drew it up and knit it on the fly, taking notes as I went. The result is a Chomp that has happily broken free of its chain, only to latch itself onto an unsuspecting gamer’s head.
Pattern is available on the sidebar! More photos accompany the pattern.
Enjoy! I sure enjoyed designing this. :)

That turned out awesome. The placement of the eyes makes me think the Chomp is somewhat surprised at the situation.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he was! They tend to have that sort of surprised expression a lot of the time. XD
This is absolutely great! Nice work! :)
This makes me wish I could knit. LoL I’ll have to learn now. Plus you opened a flood gate of my thinking how cool a Pipe Plant from Mario would look in similar style.
Hi did you know you were on Kotaku? What next? maybe a Kirby hat in the same style…
http://kotaku.com/346645/this-chain-chomp-cap-is-like-arf-arf-om-nom-nom
I would very much like to date you right now.
I love this beanie! Thanks so much for the pattern. I think I am definitely going to give knitting one for myself a go, though I’m not sure my knitting skills are up to it. Thanks again!
Tres Bon! Love seeing your creations. As you said in a newer post, you deffinately should sell this – if marketed the right way, in the right places, you could, and I quote, “be rich.
RICH, I TELL YOU.
*cackles*
”
I would love to buy a chain chomp hat! haha.
A definite candidate for best thing ever.
I asked my mom to make me one of theese, because i dont have the skills too. It turned out nice.
You should totally make a kirby hat that looks like it’s eating your head! I’d love to buy one ;) Nice work!
This hat is awesome!!! I wish I could knit. I’m trying, for I must have the hat of the Hero of Canton! lol. However I can crochet, so I think I will convert this pattern. Though it will not look quite as nice, it may work. We’ll see. Your skills are amazing!
I’d very much like to make one of these hats, but nobody I know has the skill to make one. Would you consider selling these hats to other people? Thanks.
Haha! De chain chomp! my old enemy! it took me like, 5 freaking tries a level to beat that thing!
Well, at least when i was like, 6. sooo. yeah im a lot better now lol. i really like the idea of a kirby hat so i think ill take the basic shape of the chain-chomp hat and make it in this dreadfully (gulp) Pink (ugh!) yarn that i unfortunately have. ill post it to my blog with a link to here. okkays!