MELASA LED beanies and hats with a light (4)

At six on a December evening the leash takes one hand and the bags take the other, so a flashlight has nowhere to go. Every hat on this shelf carries a small light in its folded cuff instead. You switch it on, and the beam goes where your eyes go. Most people start with the plain knit LED Beanie with Light, which has four bulbs and three brightness levels and comes in 42 colors of soft acrylic, tie dye and herringbone included.

The other three are built for colder nights, and you choose them by what freezes first. If it is the top of your head, the Fleece-Lined LED Beanie doubles the knit with fleece and runs nearly 8 hours on a charge. If it is your ears, the ear flap style pulls a longer, fleece-lined knit down over them, in Black or Gray. If it is your neck, the beanie and neck warmer set adds a fleece-lined gaiter for the gap between collar and chin.

Each light charges from a standard USB port in a car, a laptop or a power bank. The NFPA's advice for lithium-ion batteries applies to this one too: use the cable it came with, unplug it once it is full, and take a light that swells, smells or runs hot to a battery recycling drop-off rather than the trash. Keep these hats off your head when a hard hat goes on. The light carries metal and electronics, and a liner under a work helmet should be one made for that helmet, which is what our skull caps are for.

Every light here charges from a standard USB port. Hats in children's sizes have their own kids shelf.

These 4 products are part of the MELASA catalog, from $8.99 to $22.99 in our last catalog update.