New Retro Hat to Love: Interweave Crochet Amelia Hat and Scarf

Ok, I saw this last year in the latest Interweave Crochet Magazine. We're talking December 2009. It stuck in my mind to the point that I had to buy the issue, if only for this pattern. It's so retro. And since crochet seems to come naturally to me, whereas knitting always feels like an uphill climb on a mountain of glass shards, this just feels like the next project to do. Sometime after I finish the Gone with the Wind Hat. That would have been finished a long time ago, except it's too big, and consequently, I've just lost my mojo, since it's really only suitable for someone with big head. And I had all sorts of plans for the Gone with the Wind Hat. Tea parties. Flirtatious encounters with the matching glove kind. Heck, excursions to the next town over. Not very ambitious, but you get the idea. So the Amelia Hat and scarf seems like a nice diversion from what I'm not doing right now. Not finishing up the Gone with the Wind. I really like doing the Amelia because did you know that Amelia Earhart (and I didn't see the Hillary Swank movie, it seemed too dumb) had a line of clothes at Marshall Fields? Yes, she was one of the early celebrities with her own line. So that Chicago connection alone makes Amelia special to me. She walked the same streets I did. When I get around to making the Amelia, perhaps I'll link to some pictures of Amelia the aviator wearing her finest and prettiest. In the meantime, I'm just picturing myself in the abovementioned hat and scarf project, perhaps in brown and yellow, or how about brown and blue? That would be pretty too. Of course, the extra ambitious part of me says I need to sew a complementary leather jacket too. Just for the challenge. And to say I made the whole outfit. Dare me. Nudge me. Tell me I can do it!

Enough about me. What hats are you making now?

Get Your Vitamin D On: Anthropologie Daisy Patch Hat

If you spend any significant amount of time outside during the winter, the question of what hat to wear becomes significant and the weather forecasts are particularly important. Is there sunshine in the works? Then it's a matter of something you can wear easily with a pair of sunglasses. Wind? A lid that stays on firmly no matter what is tantamount; a floppy brim that could temporarily blind you just isn't a good idea. Even an earflap hat with ribbon ties isn't terribly practical on a blustery day - the ribbons, unless firmly looped in a tight bow, could whip against your face. Snow on its way? A hat with a firm brim is a fine idea. Lined? Even better. Bright and colorful? Double-check. The above hat, from Anthropologie, is my idea of a hat that's just cheery and practical all around, especially since flowers at this time of year in my part of the world are about as rare as prairie dogs in downtown Chicago. They're extremely uncommon. Now, I've this daydream that I'm wearing this hat on a ski slope somewhere in Colorado. While the snow's plentiful and it's cold, it's not the bone-chilling variety that you find near Lake Michigan. It's bearable. Anyhow, ski poles in hand, matching ski jacket with yellow piping, this hat escorts me down the bunny hill. It makes me look great, especially as toddlers sans ski poles whip past me easily and fast. Of course, I'm certain on this ski slope, it's not only how well you ski, but how good you look on the descent. So it's not only a competition of skill, but the hats. Which one is the silliest? The perkiest? The brightest? And of course, the stupidest. The Anthro Daisy Patch hat is in a category all its own. If you're going to get hat hair, and you will with this thing, you might as well do it wearing a mini-garden of daisies on your noggin. This hat is just cute. Nothing more, nothing less. There are no dumb flaps and pointy ends to make you the butt of someone's joke. It's just summer, an early taste.

Anyhow, I'd like to make this hat, even if it means taking a plainer than Jane knit cap from a department store and embroidering the daisies on with leftover yarns with other knitting projects. You could possibly even do it on a sewing machine with invisible thread, and stabilizer underneath. I'm not sure how much faster it would be than to do it all by hand, but you at least you do have another option. Now, is just me, but I don't understand why there isn't a black version of this hat? Why? Why?
P.S. I'm working hard on at least one hat...my Annie Modesitt Gone with the Wind hat. It's beautiful, but too big for my 22.5-inch head. I'll post pictures once I'm done. I'm at the wiring the brim stage.