/karen/

Mad hatter

Saturday, 30 April, 2005

Haoran has asked the pertinent question, “Do mad knitter knit mad hats?” Funny enough, along with the World's Heaviest Poncho, I am, in fact, knitting a hat. I started it ages ago, pulled it out because I had cast on 89 stitches instead of 88 (which really stuffs things up when you start decreasing while knitting in a round), started it again on Friday and now I'm almost finished. I have a feeling, however, I'm going to run out of that divine Kathmandu yarn that I've been using before I get a chance to shape the top. (Bother, another trip to Lincraft. Perhaps I could get another colour that will work well with the top like this hat and make a matching flower to attach to the side.)

I've made up the pattern myself, inspired by Deb's cloche hat. I found a page on the history of cloche hats which has this amusing paragraph:

The cloche hat was not confined to the 1920s as is often first thought. It was fashionable from 1908 to 1933 was one of the most extreme forms of millinery ever, with an appearance that resembled a helmet. It was the iconic hat of the twenties decade and will ever be associated with the flappers of the era. It was responsible for the period stance we associate with the era. To wear one correctly the hat had to be all but pulled over the eyes, making the wearer have to lift up the head, whilst peering snootily down the nose.

(Not that Deb ever peered snootily down her nose at use while wearing it but perhaps she would have liked to! ;P)

Anyways, as I probably should not spend my paltry income on buying a proper one, I will content myself with making them. This particular hat, along with the scarf I knitted in Canberra and the World's Heaviest Poncho, is going to be donated to FEVA to be auctioned off at their Supporters' Dinner in July.

Current:

Blinks:

Feeds

• Full posts
• Full posts and del.icio.us feed
• Excerpts only
• del.icio.us feed only
• All comments

Social media

• Flickr
• Last FM
• LibraryThing
• Listal
• Ravelry
• Twitter