Help Wanted--Apply Within

It has been mentioned before on this blog that one of my grandchildren (GS#4) wears silly hats.  Last year I knitted the dragon hat for him.  The year before it was a sock monkey hat, and the year before that it was a gator crawling around his head done in illusion knitting.  This year I was prepared to knit the Dead or Alive Fish Hat from Knitty.com.  That was before dinner last Wednesday night when he asked if I could knit a hat from a picture.  And here it is....

 

I didn't even know who Deadmau5 was but I came away from that dinner having learned Deadmau5 history and having committed to knitting a hat similar to his/it's helmet.

I'm going to need all the help I can get!  Here is the way I see this project--the mouth of the  Fish hat is the same as the mouth of Deadmau5, so beginning with a white opening followed by a red skull cap I can make the head.  It's the ears that are throwing me!  What do I use to hold up those puppies?  I know I can't make them as huge as they are on the helmet but I would like them to be a reasonable representation. 

I would appreciate suggestions on ear support.  Stuffing?  Wire?  Double knitting?  The spikes on the back of the Dragon Hat stand up perfectly but they are small compared to the Mau5's ears.  Maybe I need to make the hat double thickness to hold up the ears.  I don't know!!  Help!!

What's a grandmother to do when challenged to prove her knitting expertise?  Knit I guess.  Knit like never before!  He is a great kid and deserves whatever blood, sweat and tears I can put into this project.  I hope if, as they say, "necessity is the mother of invention" it follows that invention is the GRANDmother of necessity.  Then, with a little help from my friends....

Macy says, "All this talk about mousies is making me hungry!"