Books I'm Looking Forward to This Year: 1000 Hats by Annie Modesitt

Annie's the ace of hats, particularly the wired brim variety. Also on my radar:
• Stitch 'N' Bitch Advanced: Take It To The Next Level by Debbie Stoller
• Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for Modern Living by Alicia Paulson

• Simple Gifts: 50 Little Luxuries to Craft, Sew, Cook & Knit by Jennifer Worick
• Brave New Knits: Dozens of Projects and Personalities from the Knitting Blogosphere by Julie Turjoman


Am I missing any others?

A True Case of Hat Hair: Lady Gaga and her tressy topper

For those of you who complain of hat hair, particularly in the winter (I am one), we need to stop bemoaning and celebrating hair gone haywire. Look at Lady Gaga and her hair hat. Is she complaining? Does she look like it, even remotely? Granted not a lock is out of place on that brim, which is what we common folk complain about when remove hats from our heads. Lady Gaga looks respendently 1940s in this get-up with her padded black top and retro sunglasses. And she's throwing kisses, just like a movie star.

Now, how many of you would sport a hair hat? Why not? Lady Gaga got a job out of it. You could be next!

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?

Style Stategy by Nina Garcia: A Book Review

This is Mary Beth's assistant Ashley here. She just wanted me to say, "Hi!" No, really she wanted to say a whole more. Actually the assignment is to write a book review of The Style Strategy by Nina Garcia from the perspective of a hat lover. I said, "NO problem! I LOVE hats." And I really do talk in all caps sometimes, particularly when I'm texting my friends. It's a good way to get a point across.

Anyhow, Nina Garcia's book. From the viewpoint of someone who's really crazy about hats, I'd have to say this book was a disappointment. I mean I love Nina in "Project Runway" but I honestly think Ruben Toledo's illustrations were far more interesting than anything had to say about dressing up or down during these tough times. Besides, I'd like to see some photographs, so I found "Style Strategy" a little boring in the way. I thought it was interesting that Ruben had a lot of sketches with women wearing hats, but Nina said hardly a word about them. She does mention Prince's "Raspberry Beret" as a source of inspiration - "This song makes me want to wear one!" That's about all she says about hats then. You would think she would talk about them more. I mean, hats are fairly cheap, compared to a pair of nice jeans or cool boots. It's also easier to make a hat than to sew a pair of good jeans. Besides, hats are SO much fun to wear. Especially to a bar. If you want a guy to buy you a drink. If you are poor, wouldn't it be better just to wear a fedora and go window shopping, then sit inside and cry all day that you don't have a job? I think so. Your day would be much more interesting if you wore a hat. You might even get a job offer. Really, it could happen. It's more much likely to happen than if you're inside your bedroom bawling your eyes out. So I'd think a great hat, even if just one, would be the essential accessory during this bad economy. Every recessionista should have one, don't you think?

Ok, anyhow, Nina has lists of all these essential clothes you should have. Mary Beth said to come up with five must-have hats. That's easy.
1. A Black beret. You cannot go wrong with a black beret. It goes with everything, and it's pretty cheap. I can usually find one at the thrift store, but I bet you could find one at the Gap or Old Navy. I wear a beret when my hair's a mess or it's cold outside.
2. A red fedora. I know Mary Beth doesn't like Red Hats, it has something to do with the Red Hat Society. But it doesn't bother me. My mom and grandmother are in the Red Hat Society. It makes them happy, so who cares? They both come back kind of tipsy from those events, but they're smiling for the rest of the day. Anyhow, a red wool felt fedora would be so awesome. I could see Lady Gaga wearing one. I don't have one myself, but I think about making one in the next millinery class I take.
3. A leopard print hat, any style. I think the leopard print shirts and scarves are kind of old-ladyish, but I do like that kind of print in a hat. It's kind of naughty-looking, and nobody expects you to wear spots of any kind on your head! I'd like a cute little pillbox, maybe with some netting, perhaps with a hole cut out for a cigarette (JUST KIDDING!). A fedora would be foxy too. You know all the boys would like it.
4. A fur hat with ears or floppy sides. I love this kind of hat especially when it's freezing outside. It looks cute, keeps you warm and goes with just about everything, like a parka or one of those long coats.
5. A cloche. This is pretty, something you could wear to church, if you go or save for Christmas or any other important holiday. It looks very flapper girl, and goes with any kind of dress. It would be also very easy to crochet, knit or sew. I have one, I think, at the back of my closet. It's kind of dusty probably, which goes to show you how often I wear it. But I do think it's a great versatile hat.
That's all for now. I've got to go work on a Powerpoint presentation for class. Mary Beth will back in a few days. Ciao for now!

Mad Men Fans Take Heart : Crochet Today, Nov/December issue

It's a little too early to think about my birthday month (November), but I adore this cover. It looks like some of the vintage Good Housekeeping or Lady's Home Journal magazines from the 1950s that you see on eBay. So green and white dresses with a bow are in! The 70s-looking Christmas tree skirt - hurrah! I'm not nearly thrilled with the content but the capelet/cardi is up to my speed. It would match my winter jacket, also white. I'll blend in with the snow, which we're expecting a lot of this year. Anyhow, this is just a slapdash intro to my other topic: hats. Here's a story from the SF Gate that gives me hope for the future...A local (for me anyway) story on a fun, hatty bash...One great 1932 crochet cap and tie pattern, and instructions for a funky 1960s interpretation of the tyrolean hat. Enjoy!

Hat by Eia in Aisle 5: Clandestino event TONIGHT

Now Eia, my former millinery instructor, always did say you should wear your hat to go grocery shopping. Now she's taking her own advice and showing her own creations in a local grocer just for one night. Now, tell me, if you saw a woman with the above hat on while you were picking up a box of Cheerios, wouldn't that put a smile on your face? Even just for the moment? I'd be grinning ear to ear all the way out to the parking lot even the cashier was snotty and rude and the person in front of me in line appeared to be buying out the entire contents of aisle 2. Perhaps that's why Eia recommends wearing a hat when you're stocking up for the fridge. You need a little levity when you must traipse across a store that's longer than most football fields, these days anyways.

Back to tonight's event. In the true nature of Clandestino events, the web site only mentions vaguely where this trunk show will take place. It'll be at a Lincoln Park (that's in Chicago for you out-of-towners) grocery store. I'm hoping, guessing, that'll it be at the new Whole Foods store off of the main drag known as North Avenue. Lots of traffic, and potential for great publicity for Eia and her incredible (and apparently edible) hats. I can't make it, but maybe you have a window of time to go. Sounds like good eating, lots fo laughter and a great time. And who knows what could happen in Aisle 11? Only the Shadow knows!!! Here's the link to Fashion and Feast.

The Great Hat Comeback - A Round-up of Stories

There's a hat revival going on, if you haven't noticed. In particular, you see many people (men and women) wearing fedoras. The newspapers have noticed, so I give you a round-up of stories on the topic. First up: the one year Hat-a-Day Project, a Wall Street Journal article, one woman's fantastic inheritance, another on how to wear a fedora from the San Francisco Chronicle, the resurgence of interest in the cocktail hat and the return of the pillbox (!!) in Australia. What hats are you wearing now?

Favorite Excuses to Wear A Hat?*

Here's my running list of excuses to wear a hat:

1. I'm in a bad mood and I need compliments, car honks and whistles to get me out of it.
2. I relish the idea of wearing my fedora and posing next to any "Public Enemies" poster I can find with the behatted Johnny Depp. Getting harder as newer posters get slapped on top of older ones.
3. I long for a waitress/waiter to treat me extra nice when I sit down to eat in their workplace.
4. I'm feeling vaguely like the brooding guy in a coat, hat in the famous painting Nighthawks painting by Edward Hopper.
5. I need to keep warm but I don't want to carry a jacket, but hope a hat and a lightweight scarf will do the trick.
6. I want the train engineer to toot his horn when I wave to him.
7. I don't want to be bothered, cancelling out #1.
8. I'm eager to hide my messy, unruly locks which really need to be washed.
9. I can pretend it's the 1940s just for a minute or two, although I'm truly happy to be alive now.
10. I must match the bottom half of my body with the upper part. A black hat usually does the trick.
11. I duck outside and I know it's going to rain. A hat, even the straw variety, will protect me even if it self-destructs during the process.
12. The link for the Ginger Spam salad recipe on the top of my Gmail account page doesn't seem remotely appealing, but wearing a hat does.
13. The dust bunny population is exploding in my closet, which requires me to open up and clean off the covers of a few hat boxes. Some hats of the vintage variety clamber out onto my head. Creepy.
14. I seek to impress my various nieces and nephews with my eccentric aunt image. A cat or two would round out that perception.
15. Feeling bloated, a hat takes my mind off of how crummy I think I look. Amazing how the head doesn't gain pounds? I'm not talking about the neck.
16. I don't want to wear a necklace, but a hat feels....just right.
17. I can focus better since a hat, particularly one with a brim, limits my peripheral vision.
18. Putting on a hat makes me think of the various sewn and knitted hats that are waiting to be completed and I feel really guilty.
19. I can flag down the bus driver to stop on a dented dime and pick me up even if I'm not standing at an authorized stop.
20. I need a story to tell at the end of the day. A hat worn somewhere, somehow guarantees it, don't you think?

What are your favorite reasons to wear a hat?
* Picture taken at the intersection of Lawrence and Clark Streets in Chicago yesterday.

Local Kentucky Derby celebrations?*

Is it just me but are there a surfeit of Kentucky Derby celebrations going on this weekend? I got two emails from local pubs with parties tomorrow. If you buy a drink at one, you can eat all you want at the buffet. That's terribly tempting. A Guinness doesn't sound like a drink appropriate for the festivities, but a mint julep would.

It does sound like the real deal will be a tad more subdued this year. Women continue to buy pricey but not extravagant hats. Another newspaper article online talks about how
attendees are restyling hats or making their own. If you're going, what are you wearing? Are you making your own cheapau (intentional misspelling)?
* The above hat Image is Windswept, Karen Henrikson, 'Mistral' Panama Cap.

So Nice I Had to Sew It Twice: McCall 3895

I signed up for Patternreview.com's sewn hat contest as soon it as was permissible. I mean, the moment the URL went live? I was there, hitting the keystrokes faster than I run to catch a bus. Really. I sometimes have knee issues, but fingers on the keyboard? Nearly never. Anyhow, I wanted to make Vogue 8405, view D. It's just got this retro vibe, besides the brim has this neat curve in the front that very Myrna Loy. I can see her wearing it, along with a matching crocheted dickey and gloves. Besides, I was going to be teaching how to make this hat, for crying out not too loud, at Vogue Fabrics.

But things happen, and a certain pragmatism (so unlike me, really) intervened. I got it in my head to use this damaged white and black print that I bought at Metro Textiles. Mind you, it wasn't ruined when I bought it, but it did become that way after I attempted to pre-shrink it. Anyhow, I thought I'd use it....consequently, View D was no longer suitable. I need to really showcase the large florals on my fabric, so I switched over to View A. Fair enough, I started cutting away, sewing while my students worked on View D in my workshop.

I didn't finish that day. I thought for sure I'd get to it the following Sunday during a scheduled sewing salon. Wouldn't you know it the day before I manage to lose my favored winter hat on the bus? I was having a very, very serious conversation on the cell phone, my stop was suddenly there, I hopped off with my bags and cell phone...but didn't notice my hat was not with me. I was practically ready to dash after the bus, but it was cold and raining. Besides, what good does it do to run after moving vehicles? Especiallly one that's probably a block or two ahead or me? Absolutely none.

I consider this hat a second love, it's been everywhere with me this winter. The Y, the post office, the grocery store, library, the bars and swing dance studio. Everywhere. Even the scratchy knits and the cute fuschia suede cap don't get this kind of attention. Why? The green suede bucket-shaped hat goes with my multi-green scarf and Forever 21 shawl and Kelly green handbag. No other headgear in my collection is green, cute and soft and works as a portable umbrella for the noggin. (I hate carrying umbrellas. I travel light, and umbrellas, even those little ones, just add to weight to whatever I'm carrying.)

The funny thing is the hat I lost is the second version of the original. I keep making the darn thing in the same exact fabric.

So I was on my way to this bar, for an event promoting Cuervo. Guess what I wore on the way home? A green, red, and white scarf from the promotion organizers. It looked garish, but it kept me warm and somewhat dry.

So Sunday rolls around like a dice, and I'm thinking, the hat contest is over on Tuesday and I need to make a hat. A practical hat that keeps me warm and coordinates with my other accessories became the priority. I found some scraps for the last project go-around, put all my stuff in my Vogue Fabrics sewing bag, and off I went to sew without any hat on my head. I was motivated to walk out of the store with a new matching hat, just like the old one.

I get there, plop my stuff in the classroom, pay for the room use, and get the fabric. I only needed $6 dollar worth of material. I got busy quickly because I wanted to go to visit a friend in the hospital and then go to Mass.

So in a matter of three hours, I made two hats, exactly the same. Here are some details from the 2005 version, plus some new details from Sunday's sewing session.

I think I'm almond nuts crazy to make the same exact hat four times. Has there ever been a hat you lost, and just never could stop obsessing about? What extremes have you gone to recover a lost or stolen hat or recreate it? By the way, I called the bus garage on the off chance they found McCall 3895, version 2. Sorry to say no, that hat probably went the same way as my bag of new yarn did almost two years ago. In the garbage! I do not cry over this stuff, it's just pointless.
* The details of the above photo. Jacket from Nordstrom, cowl I knitted using Noro yarn, multi-green scarf, Vogue Fabrics, shawl, Forever 21.

Haughty Hattiness: a Weekend Round-Up

This blog entry has several pretty 1930s images with ladies wearing hats.
Vixen Vintage waxes oh so poetic about wearing....hats.
Styling by Cody Farquhar has an 1960s image of the same.
Talk about a sassy hat: I love this one, which matches a pair of black stilettos.
And a story from Elle, about how the fashion industry is mad for hats now.

I really should do a round-up of the best hats on the catwalks, but I'm lazy, you know? Perhaps you can leave a link to the best hats you've seen to date on and off-the-runways. I'm too busy signing up for Patternreview's hat contest. I'm doing Vogue 8175!

The Great Hat Society, The Thursday edition

From the Sartorialist, great hat, warm and graphic scarf, a knit beret pattern (new!) at Blue Sky Alpacas, a skinny striped one for kids (a freebie) also at Blue Sky, three spots are left in the last of my 1930s hat-making class at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston this Sunday. Oh yeah - Chicago milliner Eia was featured in the latest issue of WWD (with Madonna on the cover). That's Thursday's list of hats, posted today Friday!

Haute Happy Hats

This is a round-up of all things hatty that I've corralled since last week. Most of have a Chicago connection, a few, national, and at least one, international. None so far have any interplanetary ones, but I'm working on it.

First off, milliner Tonya Gross will preview spring collections and sell past season items at a trunk show hosted by Chicago boutique Wolfbait & B-girls Saturday, February 28, 2009.

The Millinery Arts Alliance will be having a "A Hat for All Seasons" tea next Friday afternoon,
3:00 to 5:30 p.m. at The Peninsula Chicago. Reservations are advised.

The vintage chapeau above? It's one on display at the V&A in London. I wrote up a little something on it here last week.

Finally, I'm teaching Sunday at Vogue Fabrics. We're using these two patterns: this out-of-print Vogue pattern and the Flirty Fedora. I'm finishing up a mock-up in craft felt tomorrow for my students. If it's ethical, I might actually sew up the real deal in 100 percent wool felt and enter a hat-making contest at PatternReview.

Last but not least: A Valentine's Day theme knit hat. Cute. Warm. Fitting for the snow predicted tomorrow. Our spring reprieve didn't last long. Darn!

Considering the Flirty Fedora in Wool Felt

There are days when I tell people I'm a hat-maker just to be silly. There are even months even I pretend I'm a milliner with hats so beautiful that they are snatched out of the window display within minutes of their debut. There are even years when I contemplate filling out the occupation section on my income tax forms with that word: hat designer. Some decades (I've been living a while, it just doesn't readily show) I even dream of pitching it all (the residence, the family and the clothes) and just moving somewhere like Australia or England where hats are a Way of Life, not just something amusing like they are here.

Which is a sort of a long way of saying that I think that I've arrived, at least in the town of my birth (Evanston, Ill.). My first hat-making class on February 1 is nearly full. To date, no one is interested in learning how to make a poodle skirt, a tie or even an apron. But a hat? Bring it on, shut down the business office and get me signed up! I've got seven milliners-in-the-making on the list for the first workshop, another two signed up for the one on the 22nd.

Now the hat I really wanted to work on was Vogue 8175, but wouldn't you know not only is now out-of-print, it's unavailable on the Vogue Patterns web site. Views E and F - which have that 1930s tyrolean theme going - are extraordinarily easy to make. However, if it's not available to the masses, I can't use it to instruct my students. To my great (about the size of the Grand Canyon) disappointment I cannot use Vogue 8175 - although if any of my students finds it, he/she is more than welcome to use it.

So...I have to use another pattern. I'm reluctantly selecting the Flirty Fedora. My biggest reservation is that it doesn't call for wool felt, the fabric of choice for Vogue 8175. But I'm going to use the high-quality wool fiber (which differs significantly from craft felt, friends) for the fedora. It will be an experiment of the Tim Gunn "Make It Work" school of thought, but I'm really confident wool felt will be more than up to the task.

Since the wool felt is so firm, I don't think I need to do all that stitching on the brim. I don't consider the top stitching on the crown essential either. Now the profile of the fedora vs. Vogue's rendition looks a little more 1960s Twiggy or Babe Paley ready to hit the social circuits and less Katharine Hepburn or Ginger Rogers headed to the local dance club for a little jitterbug, but that's ok. But I'm cool with that alternative silhouette if my students are.

Now I might purchase the Flirty Fedora to try it on for size (where did that expression come from anyhow?), and so I can converse knowledgeably with my workshop participants. I can also have a completed project for show-and-tell, which helps all those who are visual learners. Ideally, I should have both the Vogue 8175 (it sounds like I'm talking about a product, and not some unique work of art) and the Flirty Fedora, so the two will be on hand on the first of the month. What would be nifty is if I made both hats in the same fabric, and embellished each differently. But who needs two hats in the same color, fabric? Not me. Boring!

Anyhow, part of me is hankering to make a hat in bright raincoat-yellow, something that would be a huge jolt of color in our bleak Chicago landscape. I could see that with a small brown feather, worn with a smart black and white houndstooth jacket. Shoulder pads mandatory! (That's me, although you might disagree fervently.) Vogue Fabrics only has the wool felt in black and white in the Evanston store. Rogie Sussman tells me there will be some hat-worthy felt online. For something really unique, I'd try felting - buy an ounce or two of the roving that's near the sewing machine department. Cut the hat parts, felt, sew to make a conversation piece that will start on the street and end with you getting a free drink somewhere! What do you think?

From the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey School of Amazing Feats: the Felt Hat

Both views of this hat are from out-of-print Vogue 8175. That said, I'm gravitating like a magnetized pair of scissors to the one on on top. That's the one I need to wear today to detract any attention from my cold-ravaged pink nose and for a jolt of color on this dreary, overcast Saturday morning. I'm not even sure what coat I'd team up either one of the beauties with, but I'm just in love with how retro these hats are...just the thing that either Katharine Hepburn or Ginger Rogers would wear in any one of their movies from the 1930s or 1940s, paired with some ultra-padded coat or jacket just like the model in the above photos.

If you do happen to take my class (and I urge you to do so because there's a contest. If you wear what I consider the best hat to class, you will a prize and your picture will end up on the Vogue Fabrics web site), you will find this hat extraordinarily easy to make. Since it's completely made up of felt, you don't have to finish the edges. None at all. There are no also wires involved in the making of this topper for you techno-phobes. Zilch, making this hat even easier than making a Play-Doh dinosaur. If you can operate a sewing machine, you can sew this pattern (we're talking about the hat itself, not the envelope and the instructions, ok?). The felt is stiffer than day-old Wonder bread so at it doesn't need any interfacing or wiring for the brim to stand up. How's that an amazing trick worthy of Ringley Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus? There's a good chance that you'll make it in the correct size from the get-go. Most women have heads that measure about 22 inches around, I've found, give or a fraction of an inch or so. Doesn't matter what shape, length or width the rest of your body conforms to. Most of us ladyfolk really do have noggins about the same circumference. However, even if the entire class uses the exact same cuts even fabric (this is what's Vogue is selling in the way of 100 percent wool felt) there's still a good chance our creations will still appear unalike in the end. Here's why: we'll embellish them in our own way. Some of us will opt for a buckle, others a feather, others for something even completely unique.
I can imagine a group photo afterwards. I'd imagine it'd look like a head shot of a group of Rockettes with all our hats, contrasting but the same. For those of you who don't live anywhere near Evanston, Ill., how would you make this hat? Felt or something else?

Saturday's List of Hat Links*

While I'm working at an elephant's pace on my knitted hat, I haven't touched my sewing machine in over a month. I'm not certain how the Viking Husqvarna would react if I were to turn it on now. It might give me an electric shock for ignoring it for so long, eat my fabric for lunch or to show how hurt it really feels, just rebel completely and not work at all. Really I think about sewing, and I'm disinclined to do any real-time stitching until there's a day's worth of freezing rain or snow. So there. I also love to dream about hats, and here are some great links about all things chapeaux:

* Two hats from Interweave Knits, Winter 2008.
* One man's impressive collection of hand-knitted hats. He made them all.
* Information on La Fete de Catherinettes, coming up on November 25. Warning: the link is completely in French.
* The Rutland Trail cap from Anthropologie.

* The image above? Drawn from part of my collection of fall/winter 2004 collection of playing cards from Eugenia Kim.

What's Up Next for the Hat Lady? A poll.

Hat no. 1
Hat. no 2
Hat no. 3
It's odd how two completely different people who don't even know each other call me "Hat Lady." One's the designer for my web site, another probably reads this blog, but suffice to she say she owns more than one dog. Anyhow both affectionately call me "Hat Lady." The designer even sent me a unsigned postcard from Paris with my moniker. I thought it was my other friend, which puzzled me because while she said she had just gotten her passport, she didn't tell she was going to France. The mystery was finally uncovered after Web man emailed and asked if I had gotten his overseas missive.

Anyhow, I'm working on High Society Hat no. 3. I will admit I'm kind of getting tired of the pattern, but I want something to do that's simple while I'm traveling Wednesday through Friday. A project that doesn't entail long-distance calls to Arcadia Knitting. So, the last High Society Hat for a while is the handiwork of the moment.

In the meantime, I'm pondering what I should work on next. Hat no. 1, I know was included in my last survey, but since I haven't tackled it yet, I'm including it yet again. I know I want to do this number in a mocha brown and kelly green to go with this fabulous $15 hand-sewn 1940s blouse I got at the Elgin vintage fashion show a few years ago. It barely fits my water-aerobics toned upper frame, but it's just so photogenic and demands an ooh-la-la hat like no. 1. Both no. 2 and no. 3 are from Boutique Knits: 20 Must-Have Accessories by Laura Irwin. My local library doesn't have this book now, so I might have to order it from another. I like the 1920s vibe of each hat, particularly the one on no. 3's model who looks like an extra from the silent film Metropolis.

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?

Miscellaneous

1. A short-sleeve version of the Santa Monica Tee. If it looks like I'm being choked, I feel like I am. In fact, the top might be on backwards. That's one problem with this pattern - you can't easily tell after you're done sewing what's the front. Though from past experience, I could turn this top around and still feel like I've got a vice around my neck. Anyhow, isn't this lovely fabric? I got it at Vogue Fabrics. I wish I had more, it's just so dreamy looking. Speaking of Vogue Fabrics, there's a really big sale beginning tomorrow (however, if you go later today, you can start shopping early as soon as they change the sale signs). Silks, silks, silks (as it says in the store flyer) are $2.99 a yard, the Anne Klein collection, $4.99 a yard; lawn and voile, $1.99 a yard and leather pelts are 50 percent off. Get started on starting two seasons' worth of attire.

2. Interesting knitting poll results. It looks like 75 percent of you will continue your love affair with knitting needles through the summer, although one person will definitely not. I'm definitely with the sticks crowd. I'm working on a 100 percent cotton skirt. I've posted another poll on the side - check it out. It has something to do with Ravelry. One more thing regarding knitting: this year the World Wide Knit in Public Day is Sat., June 14th. The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair organizers will be celebrating knitting in public at the Ogilvie (Metra) station downtown. They will gather at the Corner Bakery from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.. Look for the "Do It In
Public" signs. That's next weekend, folks. For those of you who live in Illinois, that means buy your $5 weekend Metra pass, get your act together needle-wise and head downtown. One drawback: if it's nice outside, you'll still be knitting inside. Rats, I know.

3. For Hat Lovers: Here's some more info about that fascinating millinery workshop straight from Eia's outbox:

FASH 602 001
Headwear Design: Straw Sculpture
August 17-August 23, 2008
1 credit hour
Instructor: Eia Radosavljevic
$100 Lab Fee

In this course students create headwear ranging from conventional to avant-garde using millinery straw in three different forms—flat yardage, braided, and traditional “hood” or “capeline.” Beginning with traditional techniques, students are encouraged to venture into non-traditional straw sculpting, inspired by the nature that surrounds them. Investigation and discussion of the historical, haute couture, functional, spiritual, or social roles of headwear will follow a visual presentation. No prior hand-sewing experience is necessary. The supply list will be provided in advance, and more difficult to find materials are provided by the instructor and included in the lab fee.

Registration info can be found here.

Ox-Bow requires full payment of all tuition, fees, and room and board at the time of registration unless you are applying for financial aid or if you are an SAIC degree student taking Ox-Bow courses for credit. Some classes require lab fees that also must be paid with registration.
Tuition Room & Board Full Rate Work Scholarship
One week
(non-credit) $520 $510 $1,030 -$330

One week
(1 credit)
UG rate: $1,025 $510 $1,535 -$510
GR rate: $1,140 $510 $1,650 -$510

Checks and money orders for credit courses should be made payable to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Credit card payments for credit tuition should be made through SAIC's payment partner, Tuition Management Systems (TMS), via their website, www.afford.com. Note that TMS charges a fee for processing payments.

All courses taken for non-credit must be paid for in full at the time of registration. Non-credit courses may be paid for by credit card, check, or money order. Ox-Bow accepts Visa, Mastercard and American Express. All checks and money orders should be made payable to Ox-Bow.

Refunds can only be granted if drop requests are made three weeks prior to the beginning of the class. A signature is required for refund; notification by phone of intent to drop must be followed immediately in writing by mail, or in person, before a refund will be processed. You will receive a refund minus the $50 drop fee. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for refunds to be processed. In the event that Ox-Bow must cancel a course due to low enrollment or for any other reason, full refunds will be given.

Additional Fees
A limited number of single rooms are available for an extra charge of $100 per week on a first-come, first-served basis. You will only be charged the fee after it is confirmed that you have actually received a single room; this may be well after you initially register.
Lab fees are listed with the course descriptions. Lab fees cover the cost of essential class materials supplied by Ox-Bow, fuel costs (if applicable), and costs of maintaining the studios. Lab fees are due at the time of registration.

Scholarships
While the deadline for scholarship applications has already passed, there may still be some work scholarships available. For any student taking an Ox-Bow course. Credit and non-credit courses. No deadline; apply at time of class registration; first-come, first-served.
Work scholarships are awarded by Ox-Bow on a first-come, first-served basis, and there are a limited number of scholarship positions available per course. Work scholarship students receive an award in exchange for working approximately 15 hours per week during their class session at Ox-Bow. Duties include housekeeping, building and grounds maintenance, and dishwashing. Award amounts are listed under Tuition and Fees. Interested students should apply at the time of registration for classes indicating interest on the Registration Form.

Ox-Bow's history
After almost a century in operation, Ox-Bow's mission has remained consistent--to serve as a haven for the creative process through instruction, example, and community. Founded by Frederick Fursman and Walter Marshall Clute, artists from the Art Institute of Chicago, Ox-Bow was to serve as a respite for artists from the industrialized havoc of Chicago. Today, Ox-Bow's longevity is due to the strength of this mission and the artists who have held true to it.

Fursman and Clute began this tradition after visiting the Saugatuck area one summer. They became enamored with the natural beauty of the area, as well as its rural isolation. They began teaching summer painting classes at the Bandle Farm on the east bank of the Kalamazoo River approximately one mile upstream from Ox-Bow's present location. In 1912 and 1913, classes were held at the Park House, down river and at the Riverside Hotel. In 1914, the School moved its entire operation to the Riverside Hotel - which soon became known as the Ox-Bow Inn.

The Riverside Hotel always supported the industrial and commercial trends that dominated the area. The proprietors of the Riverside Hotel, the Shriver family, originally built a small house in the 1860s on what was then the ox-bow shaped bend of the Kalamazoo River. After realizing the potential for trade traffic, they added onto their simple home in the 1890s, converting it into a 20-room hotel.

At the turn of the last century, Saugatuck's major industries began to decline. In 1907, the Kalamazoo River channel was straightened to flow directly into Lake Michigan, effectively cutting off the Riverside Hotel from its patrons. Due to a lack of guests, the Shrivers then leased the hotel to a group of artists for the entire summer. The industry of art and leisure was taking over as the area began to reinvent itself as a Midwestern resort community. The Riverside Hotel persisted as lodging for its clients even though the clientele had changed from traders to artists.

After Clute's death in 1915, with the support of a group of core shareholders including Isobel and Edgar Rupprecht, Fursman took over as director for the next 30 years. Also in 1915, Thomas Eddy Tallmadge, the renowned architect and architectural historian, came to Ox-Bow and quickly became its best patron, leaving 110 acres to the school upon his death.

Over the years, Ox-Bow has changed in many ways, but two things have remained constant -- Ox-Bow's mission to remain a haven for artists, and its fellowship with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1987, SAIC assumed responsibility for Ox-Bow's academic program and in 1995 Ox-Bow and SAIC formalized a sponsorship agreement that affirmed the synergy created in this unique relationship. Today, the relationship between Ox-Bow and SAIC, forged by Fursman and Clute, remains strong. This mutual commitment to preserving and nuturing the artistic process has benefited generations of professional, student, and amateur artists.

On that note, I'm out of here to go buy a hat. Stay tuned.

A Sweater Ta-Da!

Here's my sweater, all made from Noro self-striping yarn (yes, the yarn is so pricey that it comes with an elf who will make the sweater stripes while you sleep). I'm actually fairly proud of this sweater, if I ignore the extra purl row in my garter edge-stitching on one sleeve. I've had this internal debate with myself: "Leave it alone, no one will notice," 'Rip it back and you'll ruin the sweater and you'll never wear it" and "So-and-so (not really her name) will help you fix it." To be dishonest, I'm over this sweater, flaws and all, and if I wear it on a regular basis, it will be a success in my notebook, even with the extra P1. It is an itchy sweater (it is 100 percent wool), which I plan to remediate at some point by making an extra-long camisole in a stretch lace or even a cotton jersey trimmed with lace. None of the camisoles sitting on my dresser fit me. I do that tugging-down thing constantly because I've an extra long-torso. Here are some of the pattern changes I made:

1. I made the top portion of a bit longer to accommodate my well-toned arms (I had no idea my thrice-weekly water aerobics routine was paying off).
2. I added an extra 5 inches in length for my abovementioned torso and to cover any flesh that just might make a Britney Spears appearance when I wear this sweater with low-rise jeans as I do in the photograph above.

I should note there's an instruction mid-way to "Resume the garter ridge" which is extremely puzzling given that not one mention to start the garter ridge in the beginning. So be aware of that (this is for all knitters who are reading this post, sewers, skip over this post for other more juicy blogs in your RSS feed.)

Would I make this pattern again? Probably not. While this sweater fits me reasonably well, it's not perfect. There's a bit of a roll on one side of the neckline, which could come out after a little blocking (which simply involve a lot of steam from my iron, but no pressing! no stick pins! on both sides). Anyhow, if I did make this again, I wouldn't use this particular yarn, it's kind of uncomfortable. Besides, there are little bits of wood in the yarn that you have to pick out as you knit. Very strange. I've never even encountered any fabric like this.

Another close-up: you can see some little pokey holes which again I think some steam will close up nicely. I really do like the garter ridge at the hem. I think this top will look really cute with a flouncy short grass green skirt I got from Marshall's.

One last shot. I do like the v-neck, and its the kind of neckline that I like to make when I'm sewing too. It's very flattering.

Thanks all, for participating in my polls. As for the Unfinished Sewing Projects Poll in the sidebar, it looks like lots of you have lost count of what projects you've started and haven't finished. Some you know exactly what you've got on sewing plate. I congratulate you both. I'm fascinated by the one person who only has one to two sewing projects set aside. Amazing!

As for the other hat-related poll, it looks like lots of you have think just like me. No. 2 looks to be the hands-up winner! I've got to find the book Romantic Knits first. I went to the library last night to get it. Unfortunately, it's checked out. So it's going to have wait a while...but I could start looking for some yarn. Maybe you can help me find something suitable. Since so little yarn is called for, I might be able to get away with using a skein or two or three of yarn on sale at the local knitting shop. That way I could use a really high-quality yarn that's won't break the credit union. So I'm really excited about this. I just even post a poll on the possible yarns for this project. Stay tuned. This would be a fantastic project to start during Memorial Day weekend and abandon sometime around July 4. Just kidding. I've always had a fantasy of dressing retro and riding in old auto for the Independence Day parade. This would be the hat for an event like that.

Finally, I realize I've been tagged...I just need to reach for the nearest book and turn to page whatever. It's all on my to-do list resting under my free Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.