Tag: hats

Walking in the Dark Hat

Light-up hat

This is my latest project – my Walking in the Dark Hat.

I’ve had a reel of very narrow light-reflective tape for years, but I could never think of what to do with it. Since I started clog dancing, I’ve been walking down to the rehearsals. When I’m on my bike I wear a high-visibility jacket, so I thought that I should probably be slightly more visible when I was walking too.

The wool is Wendy Zena, in a grey colourway with a silver thread running through it. I thought that would help to disguise the reflective tape when it wasn’t dark.

Unfortunately the reflective tape presents a couple of difficulties. Firstly, it’s only reflective on one side. As the tape twists when you knit, quite a lot of the reflective surface is lost to the inside of the hat. Secondly, it’s rather crunchy! I’m not sure that “crunchy” is a quality that I’d look for in a hat, so I may end up having to line it once it’s done.

The pattern is Heads Are Round (from the top down), by Crazy Monkey Creations. It’s the second time I’ve used this pattern, and the second time I’ve got into a mess with the stitch count after the first few rows. I’ve just discovered that there’s been a correction to the pattern in the fifth row, which should hopefully put me right.

Completed Cloches.

Two completed cloches

The black corduroy cloche that I showed you the other day has now been livened up by a lime green bias tape band.

The red cloche is made from two layers of polar fleece. There’s also a black bias band on the inside, making it fully reversible. My brief for this one was to make it bright red, and soft enough to fold up.

The brim of the red hat is made from two layers of fleece and a layer of craft weight non-woven interfacing. For some reason my sewing machine wasn’t too happy about sewing through the fleece and interfacing combination. I had to try several different needles before I stopped getting lots of skipped stitches.

I’m really pleased with how the finished hat’s turned out though, and I think it will be lovely and cozy to wear. I might make another one for myself.

Corduroy cloche

Cord & fleece cloche

This is my second cloche hat, with a symmetrical brim this time.
(You’re looking at the side of the hat – front at the left of the photo.)

It’s made from heavy black cord, and lined with black polar fleece. This hat’s going on a honeymoon to Iceland in a few weeks, so it should be the perfect thing for keeping Clare’s ears nice and warm!

Hat the second…

Tweed hat

I spent Saturday afternoon making another hat.

It’s not finished yet – it needs a good steam pressing, a lining, and then a bit of trim.

I’ve cut out the pieces to make another one the same – except I’ll use a different interfacing and see what the difference is in the finished hat. This one’s interfaced with horsehair canvas, which shapes well, but is a bit floppy. And in combination with the tweed, makes the Shed smell like a damp farmyard when I steam it.

Speaking of which… I managed to explode yet another iron. There was a sort of a sproingy sound, and shortly afterwards the iron was cold. Oops. Paul kindly took me on an emergency trip to Asda, where I bought a new iron for the princely sum of £4. I never buy an expensive iron for sewing, on the grounds that domestic irons aren’t designed to be switched on and abused for eight hours at a time, so they’re going to break sooner rather than later. I never use the steam function (I prefer to generate steam by wetting the fabric and the ironing board), and I need something as small and light as possible because of my bad wrist. So, the cheapest iron in the shop wins the day.

I like this hat very much.
The only thing I’m not sure about is the placement of the pleat at the back. I think I’ve put it too close to the centre back seam, so it looks a bit like a mistake. I might move it a bit further round to the side on the next one.

I do love my sewing machine though. (A Pfaff 2024.) It chomped its way right through five layers of folded tweed and canvas as though it was nothing. Brilliant.

New hat!

New hat - finished!

For Christmas, skycarrots gave me a 1960s book on millinery. I keep leafing through it, but it’s taken me all these months to get around to actually making anything. There are several chapters on “dressmaker” hats. Rather than using felt hoods and a block to mould your hat into shape, you make a pattern and sew it up in the same way that you’d make any other item of clothing.

This is a sort of a cloche style, with a four piece crown and an asymmetric brim. The fabric is “Kyoto Hollyhock” by Alexander Henry – yet another quilting cotton. The brim is made from the same fabric on both sides, and the crown is lined with plain black polycotton.

As recommended by various online tutorials, I stiffened the main fabric with fusible interfacing. It works well for speed and convenience, as you don’t have to worry about a third separate layer, but next time I think I’ll try horsehair canvas or coutil instead. The fusible interfacing prevented the fabric from steaming into a nice rounded shape at the crown, and I think horsehair or coutil will be better for that.

I finished the main body of the hat last night and left it plain. I knew it needed a bit of livening up though, so this morning I added the band around the crown, and the flower trim.

The flower is a variation on my flower brooch tutorial. I’d been reading about kanzashi (traditional japanese hair ornaments) and was inspired by some of the multi-layered flowers that I saw. Once I’d made my basic flower, I added the second layer by folding strips of bias tape into place. I used a fabric covered button to finish off the centre of the flower, and here it is – my finished hat!

New hat - finished!

Three hats for three babies.

Three umbilical cord hats

It’s just as well I was able to squeeze three little hats out of my remaining wool – a third baby was born amongst my friends on Easter Sunday. That’s three babies in one week!

Umbilical Cord Hat.

Umbilical cord hat

This is the Umbilical Cord Hat, from Stitch ‘n Bitch.

So many of my friends are due to have their babies in the next few weeks that I haven’t decided who this one’s for just yet. I have a sneaking suspicion you’ll be seeing a lot more of these very soon!

Pink Felt Fedora.

Is this a fedora? I’m not sure.

Whatever it is, it’s my new hat!
I promise it isn’t as luminous in Real Life as it appears in the photo. 

I’ve been after a smart winter hat for ages (mostly since the one I knitted had a shrinking accident with the washing machine!), and I spotted this in the John Lewis sale this afternoon. Perfect!

It’s made by The Whiteley Hat Company.

I can now pretty much guarantee that the weather will turn, and from now on it will be too sunny for me to wear it, and I’ll have to look for a summer hat instead. (She says blithely, as it rains outside.)

My perfect summer hat? A folding panama.

The things we do for love.

In this case, having your photo taken wearing the latest hat and scarf that your girlfriend’s just knitted.

Colinette Point 5 hat & scarf

Paul’s not mad keen on having his photo taken, but he agreed to let me snap away just this once, so I could have a fabulously manly picture to show off the hat and scarf sets.

These hats and scarves are ever so versatile – as you can see, you can wear them whilst standing in a field, leaning against a tree, and checking your email on your swanky new iPhone, all at once!

Hand Knit Hats & Scarves

Colinette Point 5 hat and scarf

Yes, it’s that time of year again!

I’ve worn my woolly hat and scarf two or three times now, which makes me wonder whether there are any of you out there with cold heads and necks… or maybe you have a chilly friend or relative who might appreciate a nice woolly Christmas present? 

So, Hand Knit Hats & Scarves are now available to order.

I may have accidentally done a little shopping at the Colinette website, so hopefully I’ll soon be able to bring you a better picture than my scruffy old hat and scarf that could do with a trip through the washing machine!

I’m also knitting up a nice warm pile of assorted scarves, to take to the next Art Market on November 22nd.

You can see the knitwear I have currently in stock, over at Etsy.