Hat #31 - Esme Hat

Felt in a bit of a celebratory mood with the last hat of the Hat a Day Project. The Esme Hat is a black polar fleece hat with swirls of colored fleece exploding around the crown.

Front view of the Esme hat

Detail of Esme Hat

Beautiful warm day spent torn between cutting hats and coats and applying for show thinking of doing some gardening work. Could it really be January? The last of my late nights making wild hats for the Hat a Day Project. Hooray! Fireworks!.....

Hat #30 - Dakota Hat

The Dakota hat is a grey mink hat with a micro fleece lining and earflaps that come down when it is really cold. It has an eight-panel crown with a edging band.

This is my third try making a fur hat and I have a newfound respect for people that make them. It’s not easy.

Front view of the Dakota hat

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I spent the morning in Madison, Wisconsin visiting with my friend Jean. I got some scones at my favorite breakfast place, Lazy Jane’s and bought a pogo stick at the St Vinnie’s across the street. This is a shot of the state capitol building on a grey day and reminds me of my new hat, funny how things seep into your subconscious.

Hat #29 - Celeste Hat

I have wanted to work on fur hats and have been working with this vintage black Persian lamb coat that a friend gave me. The hat that I made before (the Ursala hat) was a two-part hat that you could Velcro the fur off and on. This hat is sewn with the fleece so machine washablility becomes an issue but I wanted to give it a try. It is really a beautiful hat.

Front view of the Celeste hat

Detail of Celeste Hat

This image is from last Sunday when I went skiing with my friend Barb but it really speaks to the day today. It is really about friendship. I made and posted my hat early today so that I could head up to Madison to see my friend Jean who is in town visiting her parents. The hat is named after my friend Celeste who I got a chance to see this week as well. I feel rich for friends and they are foremost in my thoughts today.

Hat #28 - Bonnie Hat

I can definitely see a transition from my “Downton Abbey” phase to my obsession with the running stitch. Played with creating a band around the crown of the hat with a mix of techniques and textures. This three dot vintage button sets it of nicely.

Front view of the Bonnie hat

Detail of Bonnie Hat

I spent the day working on production to try and restock after the busy holiday season so I headed over to my book collection. This image is from one of my ethnic costume books the People from the Golden Triangle. I like the variety of textures as well as the strong circle shapes from the coin.

Hat #27 - Annette Hat

I was working on cutting today and generated these triangle pieces. I saved them in case they were useful and ended up making this hat out of them, channeling my inner circus tent. It is a combination of applique and hook rugging techniques.

Front view of the Annette

Detail of Annette Hat

Hanging out with our friends Les, Celeste and Eli tonight, finished my hat on our way there and shot it at their house. Found my hat twin in this piece from Linda Hoffhines

Hat #26 - Zelda Hat

I worked with more of the running stitch with this hat, jumping over the wide black satin band and exploding like fireworks on the top of the hat.

Side view of the Zelda hat

Detail of the Zelda hat showing the top of the hat

I went to a performance of Hubbard Street Dance Studio’s new works at the Museum of Contemporary Art tonight. Very cool work, I must say it’s one of my favorite dance companies.

Hat #25 - Yolanda Hat

The Yolanda Hat is a medium sized beret in a black sweater faced fleece with stitching in a half swirl, starting at the base of the brim. The running stitches are in browns and paprika.

Side view of the Yolanda hat

Detail of the Yolanda hat showing the top of the hat

This ceramic piece is by Alan Lerner and I like the broken up stitched look of the lines.

Hat #24 - Xena Hat

When I started making this hat I forgot that this was going to be the Xena hat. It could have been pink with flowers. Funny how things turn out:)

Front view of the Xena Hat

Detail of Xena hat

and it's Xena herself

Hat #23 - Wilma Hat

The Wilma Hat is a classic French beret in burgundy polar fleece, flowered, stitched and studded with ribbon and fleece.

Front view of the Wilma hat

Detail of the Wilma hat

The inspiration for this hat was a bohemian style scarf that I got over the holidays. It has a softer feel with two different colors of brown and burgundy grosgrain ribbon with studs for flavor.

Hat #22 - Vera Hat

The Vera hat is a grey and black polar fleece “cloche” with a wide plum grosgrain bandit has a brushed silver finish buckle and a patterned and black satin ribbon detail.

The Vera hat front view

The detail of the Vera hat

Sitting here listening to the rain come down (even thunder!) and thinking back to only this morning when we were out cross country skiing. It was a grey day, so that is reflected in my hat. It makes you pay attention to the subtle colors that you see in a grey winter landscape.

Hat #21 - Ursala Hat

The Ursala Hat is a black Persian lamb hat combined with fleece. This was a complicated hat. I wanted to make a fur hat but I also wanted it to be washable and to give you more than one option, so I made a two-part hat. The fur piece is detachable and velcros onto the under hat of fleece. The polar fleece hat can be worn separately and washed if necessary.  The hook velcro is used as the detail in the front over a wide grosgrain ribbon.

Side view of the Ursala hat.

This is the hat underneath the fur band; it can be worn separately for a more casual look

Had a busy afternoon. I went up to play with the Roller Derby Lite gals along with my friend Laurie “Glass Kicker” Freivogel. It was a pretty incredible core and legs work out, good cross training for my swimming. I might just give it a try. Then caught a movie with my friends Barb and Malcolm, (The Descendants, I highly recommend it). So the hat-making thing went a bit late tonight. Still thinking of Downton Abbey, I guess and made this rather complicated hat.

Hat #20 - Tilda Hat

The Tilda hat is a wide brim hat polar fleece hat in wave blue and black. Worked with a selection of vintage pearl buttons and black cording

Front view of the Tilda hat.

I outlined the shape to be buttoned up with black cording and filled in the center with vintage pearl buttons. I added a black textured vintage button on top of black satin and grosgrain ribbon.

While the first big snow of the season came down I caught up on the first season of Downton Abbey while I cut kids coats. There were so many cool hats on that show. I loved this one for its simplicity.

Hat #19 - Sarah Hat

The Sarah hat is a deep “cloche” style hat in burgundy polar fleece with a black brim. Still thinking a bit about the styling of the 1920’s.

Front view of the Sarah hat.

The detail of the Sarah hat is a combination of black wide grosgrain and satin ribbon over grey fleece and cording.

I was thinking of this African hat that I photographed at a museum as well as still having that Prohibition movie in the front of my mind. Have always wanted to play with some cording inspired by this hat.