How To Get from Here To There: Annie Modesitt's High Society Hat

This is a hat I started and stopped last year, all because I need another skein of Gedifra Wellness. A very particular skein (2115) with a specific dye lot (9100). Since I launched this project long after I bought the original bunch of yarn for a halter top, I've had a really hard time finding a matching skein so I can finish this chapeau. I've searched all over Ravelry, send messages to members, pleaded for help on various forums. I've turned up nothing.

Yet as you can see the hat is cute even if there's no top and the brim is all curly. It has potential in a way an undecorated cake has promise. See I'm like a mother to my hats in progress: "YOU can be great if you want to be. But you MUST try. MUST!" Some frosting is all this little hat needs. However, unlike a cake, my frosting needs to match... or does it? I'm wondering if I'm just making life much more complicated than it needs to be by focusing on blending the new yarn with the old.

Can I tell you what I don't want? I don't want a bucket hat. As you can see from this picture, this hat is supposed to be stylin' in a very 1930s sort of a way. The brim is wired, which you can't see in the photograph, but it is because I've done this in previous renditions. So no bucket hat suitable for camping or baking on the beach. I want something breathtaking, something divine, pretty enough to wear with a ruffle-front plaid blouse and a pair of white summer gloves, suitable for a tea or a wedding.

So what could I do to revive this hat-in-progress? What can I possibly do to take this knitting project from the resting-on-the-couch stage to active, live on a set of circular needles? I'd really appreciate your thoughts. Since this is cotton, it would be nice to wear this finished hat sometime soon before the cold weather blows through and demands wool attire and accessories.

Here are some sober thoughts on what I could do:

• select another skein of Gedifra Wellness yarn in a brighter hue, finish the hat and use what's leftover to wrap around the brim.

Actually, I can't think of another option. I don't want to use a completely different color, for example, brown. I just can't see it looking graceful, just kind of clunky and dumb. Pink? Same thing. Yellow? Orange? Nothing else.

Or should I just let this marinate for another year, fading ever so much more on the top of my couch? Toss it in the garbage (sob!), give away at my next fabric swap? Start a prayer vigil for the skein of my dreams?

Making Progress on the Aquaduct Hat...

No sewing has occurred in this household in the past 14 days. None. Zilch. But some knitting and a whole lot of ripping has happened in the quest to use up the yarn leftover from High Society Hat no. 1. I'm making the Aquaduct Hat (seen above) from Annie Modesitt's Knitting Millinery. This has been a fantastic journey! I've learned a new stitch: the double V, which is basically slip two stitch knit-wise, knit 1, and then slip back those two slipped over the one just knitted, if that makes any sense. Anyhow, I've made steady progress, and I hope to finish this project this week. It's entirely possible since I'm making a goal of it, really. It could be something wearable in time for the book signing for "It Itches" (not my book, unfortunately, it's Franklin Habit's) or even my next hair appointment. I'm already plotting knitting project no. 4, but I really need to find something not quite so expensive as this Panda Dk yarn for the Gone with the Wind hat in "Romantic Hand Knits," but it's very difficult (in a keep my hands out of the cookie jar sort of way) to look anything not quite as pretty. Could you?

Simplicity 4878 Meets High Society Hat

I hadn't really set out to make a retro-style top, but when I paired it with this pencil skirt (which still doesn't fit me properly even though I've lost eight pounds), tucked it in, added my thrift-store Newport News spectator shoes, and plopped on my salmon-colored High Society Hat, well, I felt a little like a lost extra for the 1930s-era movie, "Public Enemies", which was filmed here in Chicago a few months ago.

Here are some notes on the top, made from Simplicity 4878. I really need to thank my friend Jennifer, who gave me the pattern because it didn't suit her.

I have to say I adore nearly all Simplicity patterns because they tend to fit my small shoulders nearly straight out of the envelope.

First off, I used a beautiful galloon-edged panel of fuschia stretch lace that I got from the Vogue Fabrics remnant section. It measure 1 5/8 yards long, 50 inches wide, making it a bit of a challenge to work with since I really wanted to use the selvages for my hems.

I was able to lengthen the torso by two inches, and then I placed the bodice back and front pieces with the hems on the selvage. I'm aware that the hem is a little curved on the bottom of these pieces, so it's not an entirely an accurate placement, but so what! I wanted ruffly edge at the bottom! I get whatever I want when I sew, ok?

I also wanted the ruffle at the collar. Instead of cutting this piece on the fold as directed, I cut one piece with the selvage at the fold.

Let's see what else? Oh I also had my heart set on ruffles at the sleeve hems. I actually cut the selvages and sewed them onto the circular sleeve parts. See how pretty it is! I didn't have enough for one sleeve, and had to piece together two odd sections. It's no very noticeable. I'm going to save all my selvages from now on, and I'd suggest you do likewise. You can do so much with them! I'll write another post sometime on all the uses for these gorgeous leftovers.

I also lined the top with the same $1.29 a yard pink mesh that I used for other recent experiments, such as this top. I think that worked out well.

My final assessment? I love this pattern. The raglan sleeve cut is perfect, and very comfortable with enough ease. I highly recommend Simplicity 4878. I made view D, but I'm eager to try E and F sometime soon. I love how I can team this top with a pair of jeans or a skirt. The 3-d lace pattern almost looks like a complex knit pattern from a far. The collar is a bit fiddly, but I can live with it if I don't fuss with it too much in the mirror.

Help a Hat-Obsessed Knitter Find a Particular Yarn*

What I need is one skein, just one, of Gedifra Wellness 2115, lot 9100. This is so I can finish my third and what I do believe is the best rendition of the High Society Hat. I'm in the third and last lacy repeat on this pattern, and I don't think I'm going to have enough to finish this project. The hat is looking so pretty, and so brightly blue that I swear birds are going to mistake it for a human head-sized piece of sky when I finally do get to wear it (and I am! I swear. I just don't know when. It would be the perfect thing to wear on a gloomy day like today. We Chicagoans need our clear cloudless horizon whenever we can get it. When I can't command sunshine at a moment's notice, I figure a chapeau such as mine can go a long way to making someone's day a little happier. But I digress.)

Anyhow, I've searched on Ravelry, posted a desperate message on the Gedifra yarn group there, and generally yelled from every Internet mountain top I can think of. So far, I've heard one yodel from a Ravelrist who cannot help. Maybe it's time for a Twitter post.

So...I may need to put aside hat-in-progress to start another at least until I get what's necessary to finish up. It's not like there aren't any other unfinished sewing projects that could stand an afternoon's attention. Like the Simplicity dress pattern I recently started and somewhat abandoned because I didn't like how the V-neck was looking. I looked at it again the other day, and I see a "save" possibility that I really need to explore on an overcast day like today. However, the impulse is to start and finish something new. Like a Simplicity raglan style top that I think I could start and finish in about three hours.

Some kind of creativity will occur in the next 12 hours, I'm not just not sure what. To sew or knit that is the question, and a great slogan for a t-shirt. I might swatch Annie Modesitt's pattern for the Aquaduct hat (no distant photo exists to show you, unfortunately). Believe it or not, the brim pattern for the Aquaduct hat is exactly the same as the High Society Hat. Boring. But I'm not sure how to change it up so I just might do it as is.

Here's what I got on the schedule for this week: Stitch N' Bitch Edgewater, Wednesday; Nordstrom North Michigan Avenue designer event, Thursday (free appetizer and drinks!); big partee at Loopy Yarns' new store (it's not listed on the store's blog, but I know it's happening)
or Edgewater Antique Mall on Friday (complimentary beverages and eats again) and YarnCon Saturday. I plan to buy nothing (that's expensive) at any of the events. Seriously.
* This the Gedifra Wellness yarn of my dreams worked up in a sleeveless summer top. Just in case you need to see if you've got this fiber in your collection.

Ta-Da! The High Society Hat, Finally!

Here it is, folks, the High Society Hat (designed by Annie Modesitt for Romantic Hand Knits but made by me!). I knitted on no. 5 bamboo circular needles. I got lots of help from the Kelly sisters at Arcadia Knitting. Overall, this isn't a hard pattern if you're used to yarn-overs, slipped stitches and a willingness to riiiip back stitches done wrong, which I did lots. You knit the brim first, pick up stitches and finish the rest. I loved the chart pattern. This was the first time I ever that I followed a chart, and I think I'm a convert for life. It must be because I'm a visual person, but reading k2, yo, etc. now feels like I'd be interpreting Latin. What Annie doesn't tell you is that you need to switch over to double-pointed needles (DPNs) once you start decreasing. I didn't with this one, leading to a lot of stretched yarn which could break even now. I adored this project so much I wanted to do it one more time, using the DPNs. I did use a morel-toned version, using the same Classic Silk yarn by Classic Elite Yarns (a delicious blend of cotton, silk and nylon). Wiring the brim wasn't all that difficult either, but then again I've taken millinery classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I used vintage 1950s hat wire that was given to me just prior to a massive estate sale. I got tons of patterns and other stuff too; that's what happens when people know you like to make hats! So put the word out there! I wasn't thrilled with the cloche shape of this hat at first, especially compared with the one in Romantic Hand Knits, but you know, I think it works. The bow I improvised after the one on the 1937 crochet Tuckaway hat (which I cannot find on the Internet right now, but that's where I printed out from a few years ago). Anyone, I'm just thrilled to bits with the results. Charlotte at Vogue Fabrics said, "It's so you." Another man on the El platform asked about my top (Simplicity 3759) and whether the cut-outs were individually appliqued on. Still another guy approached me asking for money while I was on my way to Vogue. Such is the attention that a pretty hat can get you! Anyhow, I'm feeling a little bit competitive because it appears while others on Ravelry have finished knitting this hat, no one else has actually wired it (we're not talking about electricity, but rather putting in a headwire and one at the brim).
Stay tuned for the High Society Hat no. 2 - it's completed, and I'm testing out a rather preppy striped ribbon and vintage buckle. I'll take photographs soon.

Monday's Millinery Milieu

The High Society Hat - the mushroom-colored one - is done. It's supremely cute, and very 1930s-looking since I got the brim just right with the helpful eye of Kathy Kelly over at Arcadia Knitting on Saturday (which was by the way, was so woefully wet all day long there was nothing else to do but knit if you weren't in a neighborhood sandbagged to the hilt). I'd take photographs of my latest creation but it's overcast outside, not even the least bit sunny. I usually like a little bit of sun so I can do my best work with the camera. In any event, I'm so thrilled with my latest knitwear that I'm all set to make 1930s-inspired hats for the rest of my life, and I think I could given all the vintage (and retro-inspired) patterns that are out there. I just ordered Knitting Millinery by Annie Modesitt, who was once a theatrical milliner. I'm hoping I can get the book by this weekend, and then I can started on a new project, which I can take with me on an airplane trip next week.

One disclaimer about the book. I've seen it already, so I know the layout and the photography could have been better, but I just want to cranking on another one of Annie's hats, and the Aqueduct hat looks the most enticing (it's another short-brimmed lace hat). Maybe the book will tell me how it got its name. If any of you have actually have made any of the hats in Knitting Millinery, I'd love to hear from you. Until the sun comes out tomorrow (really it's supposed to, and Lord knows we Chicagoans deserve it after all the rain we got this weekend), I'll be back with some photos of hats and at least one top I sewed up a week ago.

Last Call Before Fall Really Hits

Thirty-three percent of you have started your holiday projects. Another 11 percent will begin next month, according to these new poll results. I'm impressed with such diligence. If I do any sewing, knitting or crocheting projects for anyone other than myself I will dive in feet first in the last week before Christmas (I'm often sewing crazily in the last 24 hours before the holiday hits. I stitched a too tight Santa Monica Tee just before Christmas Eve last year. That project, for my sister, undoubtedly sits at the bottom of some drawer, untouched.) I will likely hit my gift stash in the linen closet first for unused doodads, books and other gadgets that could delight my siblings and their offspring before I put my hands to work. My mom? She's another story, that will take some thought and actual shopping if it's of the frugal variety. She doesn't always wear what I make for her, so I'm a little leery in that department.

But for those of you who will commence stitching and knitting presents next months, here are some suggestions: from the land of Posy Gets Cozy, there's this ornament kit. I also like the instructions for this allergy-free baby's blanket, for the sporty guy I'm warming up to this 70s ski hat.

I did do sewing this past weekend, a top from Simplicity 3759. I used the same fabric and pattern as I did for the dress. The main difference here is that I lined it with a pink mesh knit from Vogue Fabrics' $1.29 a yard table. Since I didn't lengthen it to accommodate my long torso, I added a swath of the lining fabric to the bottom, making this project wearable with my low-rise jeans. Overall, I'm happy with this summery tee (I used the same techniques for the dress. Again, as I suggested before, I'd make that neckband waaaayy longer than called for in the pattern and neatly adjust to front gathers first and then work your way back to the seam.). I must have been in a last-call-for-before-fall-really-hits mode because I also worked on a blue bathing suit too. Have any of you sewed this pattern, if so, do you like it?

By the way, I'm done with the High Society Hat, at least the first one. I'd take pictures, but while I'm having a bad hair day, which is actually ideal for hat photographs, I'm having a not-so-good hair color day, which I'd like to fix before I snap some pics. Besides, it's overcast outside, which would make for very some very shadowy photographs.

More on Hats...*

I just finished embellishing my first High Society Hat with a big self-fabric bow. I can't decide if it's too large or just right. Better on the you can see it from a quarter-mile away side than something so small it barely registers on the fashion radar. In any event, it's already attached to the hat, if I remove it, I risk cutting the yarn on the hat and then all the hard work will unravel in one fell swoop faster than Tracy Ullman's work did when it got trapped in the door of a fast-moving automobile. But it's easier to deal with projects that fall apart when they're small and inexpensive (mine's in the $14 ballpark) than when they're large and expensive (anything over $30). I just love the low risk of making a hat...if you make a mistake, you only have to riiiiiiippp back a few roows as I did with the mushroom-colored version of this hat yesterday. Hopefully, I can manage to complete this project with my yarn-overs in their correct spots. I'm eager to start on a new project, either a pair of these or this hat. I'm in such a hatty mood these days...especially the ones with a retro vibe. Maybe it's the economy. Perhaps it's the cooler weather - I wore a sweatercoat this morning. It could even be my response to what's going in the Presidential Elections. The answer to it all is hats. Here are a few that I've marked as favorites on Flickr: I like this one belonging to to kuki.deprada.net, this unfinished crochetted hat, Pamoolah's 1940s knitted hat that I want to recreate, still another one of Pamoolah's creations and no. 2 on this 1930s Simplicity pattern. By the way, there's a good chance I'll put what I should make for a vote this week. Stay ultra-tuned.
*The image above? That's Phillip Treacy's hat. Way cool, huh?

More Millinery Inspiration...

Some of these images I scanned while I was vintagecrochetgirl and I had a blog strictly on 1930s hats. I didn't keep up the blog, and now it longer exists, except for in fragments on Flickr. Anyhow, these are great inspiration for the wired hats that I've been knitting. I was knitting (and frogging) my latest High Society hat while I watched the Republican convention coverage on my laptop last night. I'm thinking about heading over to Vogue Fabrics tonight with my hat to see what kind of ribbons they might have that could work with the Salmon-color version. For those of you in Illinois, are any of you going to the Elgin Vintage Fashion show next week? I'm thinking about going, if only to get inspiration for the hats I've been making. With a little luck, perhaps I could score some new vintage hat patterns. Even if I don't spend an Abraham Lincoln penny, I'd like to show off my newest hat, perhaps in the vintage fashion contest Friday night. That's the bestest night to go - lots of people love to get dressed up and compete. I wish I had this pattern in my not-so hot hands (they feel dry from working out in the pool). I'd do the blouse; I've seen two fantastic renditions of this top on Patternreview, and the simplicity of it would look great with my new hat, and perhaps the black and white pinstripe skirt pencil skirt I've got in my closet. Vogue Patterns online has a great deal for today only - so I'm thinking about getting Vogue 2859, but it probably won't be in time for next week's show. I may have to make do because I'm just so eager to show off my handiwork. A trip to the closet and thrift store might be in order just so I can have something suitably retro. Or I could finish Simplicity 4179 this weekend.

Cat-enabled knitting...*

I was recently at the Little Brothers of the Elderly vacation facility in Rochelle, Ill. Out in the country with a window overlooking corn taller than this Olympic swimmer, I felt content. No noise could be heard unless you count the rustling of the abovementioned vegetable stalks. This is no small thing for an urban dweller who hears motorcycle rumbles and ambulance sirens every few minutes.

So in Rochelle, I got a chance to kick back a little and knit. Some of that was done under the ceiling fan of the screened porch. Aah, that was nice, but I particularly enjoyed the company of this very friendly feline who would hop on your lap if you asked. While I savored his/her presence on my lap, it did come with a price. Claws that could draw blood even through a skirt and a slip. So naturally I wasn't terribly inclined to check out this cat's gender. I didn't want to get any more scratches. However, It Cat purred while I knitted the second version of the High Society hat. This newest rendition is mushroom-colored, the first one, which I will take pictures of very soon, is salmon. I just finished putting on the brim wire and covering it up with a blanket stitch. I tried my latest masterpiece on for size - testing it out with some of my vintage 1930s and 1940s belts that I've made. I especially like it with a floral fabric belt with a mint-green plastic buckle. The beauty of this hat is that you can embellish however you want. I can even see it with a burlap ribbon tacked down with a big light blue Depression-era two-inch wide button.

Here are some early thoughts on the High Society hat:
1. Go with the smallest size unless you have an unusually large head. Yarn stretches. The hat will likely be blown off if it's too big.
2. The pattern doesn't tell you this, but switch over to double-pointed needles once you start decreasing. I did a lot of stretching of the yarn in the prototype and I was afraid I was going to break the yarn. It might be even weak now and still break. Oh well. Learn and live, or something like that.
3. Cut the wire with a little extra so you can tweak the fit. When you're pleased, wind thread where the two ends meet until it's tight. Then tack the wire to the hat with pins. Annie Modesitt recommends double wire, I don't think that's necessary, but then again I've been using vintage 1950s millinery wire, which I understand is more durable than the modern stuff.
4. Modesitt also suggests using a crochet hook to attach the wire to the hat, but I found that much too unwieldy. I prefer a flexible, plastic darning needle. Just do a blanket stitch around and around until the wire disappears beneath the yarn.
5. Blocking is unnecessary. I blocked my hat an overturned plastic bowl swathed with a terry cloth towel. Hat didn't look any different after steam from my iron.
* Yes, I am wearing a t shirt that reads, "Just One More Row Before I Go," which I bought from White Lies Designs.

Onward and Upwards with the High Society Hat*

My knitting will be kicking into high gear tomorrow when I go to jury duty. I'm bringing the High Society hat project with me and if I'm stuck waiting all day I swear that hat is going to be done by dusk. There isn't any reason I shouldn't be. I've just got three pattern repeats and then the top of the hat to do. That's it. Yes, the chapeau will be complete. Then it will be onto blocking the thing. Since I don't have my hatblock around, I'm thinking about how I can cheat on this part. I could use something like this or even this. What if I just skipped it all together and just did the wiring? What do you think, Milliners of the World who are reading this? Have you ever not blocked a hat and then later wished you had? I need your advice now, and badly. Please aid me in my indecisive moment. To block or not to block is the question. And it just occurred to me now as I was writing. I don't mind blocking, but it feels like an unnecessary step. I've worn at least one thing I've knitted that wasn't blocked and I lived to tell the fashionable tale. No one could tell (although the wire fibers themselves would probably enjoy a steam bath - who doesn't?). Anyhow, it's just food for early-morning thought right now as I'm already thinking about Hat no. 2.
Okay, I've returned from jury duty which was adjourned at noon, just in time for lunch. While there was absolutely no action and no one in the room was called, I got lots done on the hat. I'm in the last repeat pattern, which means I could be done knitting the baby by tonight. I feel a little stunned at the thought. I mean this was the chapeau I was avoiding. I had it in my head that it was going to be the hardest thing not ever but at least in the month of August. It's only the 19th; I've got plenty of August to embark on even more challenging projects. Now that's a truly dizzying thought. You know what? I'm just proud of myself for just diving into this pattern. That's right. I give myself a pat on the back for that part. Now I'm thinking of emailing Annie Modesitt to find out if there's a way I can bypass blocking. It's just too warm to do anything more than walk (not run) around the block, and most certainly it's not the weather to do anything that involves steam.
* By the way, here's a link to a Continental Airlines story I wrote on hats.

Considering Ellie*

The High Society Hat Project has officially begun. It's not as snotty as you would think. Of course, the name alone just summons all sorts of images of snobbism and elitism. You know - of women who hold up their noses when they see a haggard woman without a proper hat and gloves walk by. Or ladies who have tea everyday at 2:30 p.m. on the dot without fail, a proper Earl Grey - but no bags of dust in hot water please. The hat might even make you think of your great-grandma shushing all the grand kids at Mass when the priest is giving the homily and laying down the law when a fight breaks over whether the pew should be up or down. This is what you might imagine about a woman (most certainly not a gal) who dons a High Society hat.

I'll admit I had none of those ideas when I saw the High Society hat designed by Annie Modesitt. No, I just took one look and said, "How gorgeous. I want that hat!" But then I shuddered to think how difficult it might be to make. While I knew it wouldn't take much yarn, I just pictured myself all tangled up on the two skeins of yarn it took to knit up the thing. Yes, I took one peek at the instructions in Romantic Hand-Knits and then the four pages long (very grey to my eyes) of type on Millinery. I felt afraid, not too afraid, but I did remember the 1940s crochet hat that went well until I wired it, and the whole thing turned into a Saturday Night prop for Amy Sedaris. Wobbly, tornado-blown brim created by me. The whole, expensive fiasco sits in my linen closet, crushed by a load of pillowcases. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, why I don't just ditch it already?

But that's what I think of when I even consider playing Milliner (Winona Ryder does it so much better in this movie which I've never seen).

I dwell on that much more than now that the actual knitting is going much more speedily than I thought. I've just begun! And I'm almost already done. Gosh. I'm never going to knit sweaters or skirts that months to complete after this. Never. Not when I can start and finish a project in about a week, which is what it takes for me to sew a skirt or a dress these days between laying out the pattern, cutting it up the fabric and stitching. (Not counting this dress I just made, of course. One day!) And the size of the project. Oh, my. This wee hat, circular needles and one yarnball, fit into a sandwich baggie. Yes, a plastic bag the size of six-inch Subway sandwich. Unbelievable. So I can naturally fit this into my tote along with a couple of newspaper sections. Oh day soon, I'm going to be able to carry the project - along with the pattern in its plastic protector sheet - in my skirt pocket. This will not fit a jean pocket, I know. Not enough room, not to mention that I might poke myself with a needle or scrape myself on the elbow with it. But I could get it into a medium-size skirt pocket. Then I would never ever be without something to do. My digits would never be idle, not for a minute, no. I'd be cranking out lots of hats, so many that some would need to be sold, if only to pay for this:This is Ellie, different from the one that Alicia Paulson owns. I've no idea what she (the object above, not Alicia) costs, since there are no price tags listed on this web site. But I like her already if not for her modest name, her brown eyes and hair (much like my own, except my locks are highlighted and I've got bangs). But brown-eyed brunettes are always much more fun! Now, if Ellie would only smile, she'd be perfect. No, she's ideal now with her Clara Bow lips stained ruby red. Now if I were able to purchase her for princessly sum, I'd put her to work straight away. Modeling hats, of course! Her primary work would be modeling all of the hats I make, starting with the High Society hat (see above). Then I'd protect her dark hair with this hat, and then maybe this, all of them made by me.

If it turns out Ellie is out of my financial reach for the moment, that's fine. She's a reproduction. There will be more like her. Now I could get the real McCoy (or McKay as the name was mutated in Buster Keaton's film on the South's most famous conflict - not the Civil War. ) at the Broadway Antique Market. Now the display model has blonde locks, and she's really old - from the 1940s although she really doesn't look like it. She doesn't have a dowager's hump, a cane, fake teeth, none of those tell-tale signs of a 70+year-old. But I really don't want an antique, especially one that can break. If I'm going to have a display piece for my hats, it's going to be one that's readily replaced. None of these wringing out hankies or t-shirt edges over a one-a-kind old thing that can't be fixed cheaply. Forget it. I've got enough World War II memorabilia in my home.

So that's it. I'm saving my nickels, dimes and pennies for Ellie because she's worth it. She'd have a special place here and I'd treat her well. She'd have the best food. Wait, she can't eat. Never mind.
* The swatch above is for the High Society hat!