Mad Hatter

I have been wanting to make a hat for awhile. There aren't many patterns online, but after perusing what there was (I downloaded the Wild Things software from Wild Ginger, but decided that none of the hats I could find made from it online looked like what I wanted at all, so I uninstalled it) I chose this one from Curiously Crafty.

It was quite simple and went quickly, but it's HUGE on me. It fits Brandon well, since his head is very large, but it doesn't fit me. The only way it even halfway fits is if I pile all my hair up under it, as in the picture. So I don't foresee using this hat often. I thought about shrinking the pattern and trying again, but I'm not sure the style is really for me, after all. It looked so cute on the girl on the tutorial page!

Patternless Fleece Hat Tutorial

Yesterday I went through several projects-worth of fleece scraps and used what I could to make winter hats. Through trial and error, I developed a nearly fool-proof way to make fleece hats using the head measurements of the person the hat is intended for. The hat is made from one rectangle of fleece. It is fairly simple, and so it is quite possible that I am not the only person who has discovered this style of hat. It would make a good gift, and can be very inexpensive depending on the fabric used. It would be a good donation to charities such as homeless shelters in the wintertime. The double layer of cloth over the ears makes it warmer and more wind-proof.

I estimate that one yard of inexpensive fleece ($3 to $10 at a discount store, or you could buy fleece blankets in good condition from a thrift store) would make up to 6 adult hats, and more than that if you were making hats for children. Once the basic style is mastered, it lends itself easily to variations such as color blocking and stripes.

If you are not confident marking the measurements directly onto your fleece and cutting, you can draw them onto newspaper and pin that paper pattern to your fabric, just as you would use a store-bought pattern.

Materials Needed: measuring tape, ruler, chalk, adequate amount of fleece for the project (a rectangle approx. 12" by 22" should be enough for most sizes), scissors, sewing machine, thread, and a hand sewing needle

Step 1: Measure around your head, or the head of the intended recipient of the hat. If you do not know their head measurement, I have found that a small adult's head is around 21 inches, and a large adult's head is around 23 inches. This measurement will henceforth be referred to as H.

Step 2: Subtract 1 from H and add 1/2 (H - 1 + 1/2). We will call this measurement W. This is the width of the fabric piece for the hat.

Step 3: Using chalk, mark out a rectangle on your fleece fabric, with a height of 12" (children's hats should have a height of 10", or the approximate distance from the center of the top of the head to the bottom of the ear, plus 2.75") and a width of W. Please ensure that W is laid across the stretchiest grain, whether crosswise or lengthwise, so that the most stretch goes around the head.

Step 4: Fold the rectangle in half right sides together. This should give you a rectangle measuring 12" by 1/2W". Using a 1/4" seam, sew along the open 12" side and one of the 1/2W sides with a straight stitch, leaving one side open. This is the head opening of the hat, the bottom hem.

Step 5: Fold up 2 and 3/4 inches along the bottom hem. Sew using a zig-zag or three-step zig-zag stitch.

Step 6: Turn the hat right side out. Now you have what is essentially a square hat. If nothing is done to shape it to the head, it will stick up like cat ears. Quit here if you like that look.

Step 7: Head shaping: Take each of the top corners and bring them together in the middle. Sew the corners together by hand with needle and thread.

The Hat

Here is the completed hat, which I gave to my husband yesterday. I was up late the night before finishing it, and in a hurry. I didn't want to look up pattern with the decrease rows that I usually do, so I winged it, and it turned out kind of funny-looking. But it is warm, and Brandon doesn't mind, so I will leave it as is.

Eek!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I blogged. And it's not like I've been overwhelmingly busy, I just let it slip. So easy to do.

This is November, and I sort of wish I were doing NaNoWriMo. I thought about it, back a couple of months ago, when I thought that the novel I am working on would be done (at least, the 1st draft would be done) by now. But I stalled out on that novel-in-progress for a month and more, and I'm not going to start something new, or I'll never finish it. Instead, I am devoting November to finishing my novel-in-progress (which doesn't even have a working title). I'm on page 163. That is way longer than anything I've written before. I'm quite proud of myself, actually. I set myself a goal of two pages a day (except Sundays. I give myself Sundays off.)

Yesterday, I started a top-secret knitting project. Well, I'm going to post pics here, but my husband is under strict orders not to check this blog until after his birthday. I got out the knitting books (yup, that's pretty much my whole knitting library right there) and looked at patterns and tried some swatches, and cast on stitches for a hat. A black hat, how boring, but at least it isn't ALL going to be in k2, p2 rib, as many of my hats end up being. I tried the brioche stitch from Knitting Without Tears, and it didn't work out for me, so I'm going to use a variation of a pattern from the Vogue Stitchionary. You know, everyone raves about Knitting Without Tears, and its one of the big knitting classics, but I have barely used it. I just don't like the patterns much. I don't knit many sweaters, anyway. Actually, I've knit only one sweater, and have another in progress, delayed since last winter.

This is the first thing I've knit for Brandon. While we were dating, I thought about it, but I have experienced the Curse (albeit with a hat, and not a sweater) firsthand, so I didn't risk it.

The yarn is a Caron acrylic I've had leftover from a project my sophmore year of college (when I still crocheted, and hadn't learned to knit). It's very soft. I'm using a two strands held together, for warmth and so it knits up more quickly.

While I was looking at hat patterns online (I don't have a very large knitting library because so much can be found online) I found this blog, Kody May Knits. She knits A LOT of hats, and posts the patterns for free online (personal use only). If you're into funky hats (and some are very classic and pretty, as well) you might check it out.

Hats Off!

When I first saw this pattern, I cracked up. The pink one looks like something a nun would wear. The striped one looks like something a Bond girl would wear while skiing down the mountainside with Russian spies in hot pursuit. And the others, I just don't know, I can't imagine anyone wearing them who was not from somewhere in the Middle East (yes, forgive me if I have inadvertently offended anyone from the Middle East, or anyone who likes these hats).

But I listed it in my Etsy shop anyway, and it sold that night. Which goes to show, there's no accounting for taste. Someone liked it, evidently.

The thought did occur to me that someone undergoing chemotherapy might use this pattern for cover-ups or something.