Hat For A Towering Intellect

As you can see, the silk neckties have worked their way into my hats. It was time to revisit the Hat For A Towering Intellect with the improved skill set I've developed. This is really fun! I used to give each hat a title and a fun story tag back when they were at Zoe & Floyd, the much missed gallery that used to be in Seymour CT. But doing shows and general business led me to drop that. I think it's time to return to tagging the hats and to the level of carefree craziness I had at that time. There's an odd synergy between playful and serious. That's what I'm going for.

Upcycling Silk Neckties

Who can resist the luxurious color and pattern of silk neckties? Not me. A while back I started making some scarves out of them and now they have worked their way into my hats. The silk can be very slippery to cut and sew accurately so I had to come up with some tricks to tame it. Light weight iron on interfacing is a big help when you need to maintain a crisp shape. Many projects use the neckties intact but if you take them apart you'll have lots more to work with. Think of them as a fabric source. Because they are cut on the bias, neckties make great bias tape for edging things. The down side is that the grain is usually distorted from the weight of the wider ends. It's sneaky - you can draw a circle on the fabric and it will be a circle. As soon as it's cut out it turns into an oval. The worst offenders are the narrower sections in the center of the tie. The ends are much less apt to distort. Oh, and save the long silk thread that was hand sewn up the back - it usually pulls out in one piece and is great for hand sewing. I normally don't bother with polyester ties, especially the printed designs. They melt when ironed, snag easily leaving a white line through the pattern and are a general bother to sew. But if you find a woven polyester or acetate tie in a great pattern, it can be worth trying. Just be very cautious when ironing. That crazy green zig zag tie was worth the extra trouble and it worked into a cool hat. I also finally bit the bullet and am lining all my new hats so anyone can wear them. It makes for a better product and I just wasn't getting around to trying anything with non wool sweaters. Still, there are so many pretty ramie/cotton sweaters in the thrift shops that I may end up using them, just not for hats. The cut edges would need to be well finished.

The Latest Mossy Mushroom Hat And Back To School

A couple of times a year I'll make one of these freeform crocheted mossy mushroom hats. It's about my favorite thing to crochet but not something I can crank out in a hurry or would want to do day in and day out. I need to take breaks so the design stays fresh. So I've started a collection of scrumbbles and add on pieces so I'll be ready for the next one. I once made a capelet in this style and I think it's time to do another. I want to really let myself go wild on it and then put a big price tag on it. If nothing else it will be a great piece to wear in the booth with my mushroom crown. I just signed up for an adult ed Japanese class at the local high school and I'm wondering who else will be taking it. I asked my son, the aspiring mangaka who is talking about living there, if he wanted to take it but he said no. He's probably worried that the guys from the Yu-Gi-Oh duel club will show up. My son put away his duel disk when he was 11. These guys are in high school and walk around with a duel disk strapped to one arm. Not exactly the right plan for social success, but God bless them, they seem happy. My Dad was in the army during the Korean War and had R&R in Japan several times. He came back talking about building a traditional Japanese house. It would appeal to him, he's a woodworker. Somehow that idea didn't pan out. We ended up with a ranch house. But I'm sure he inspired my interest in Japan.

Greetings From The Laptop

Happy New Year! 2011 ended with the demise of my old mac so now I'm using a pc laptop. What a pain trying to figure out how to edit photos on this thing! I still can't figure out how to do the simplest thing - crop the image. Anyhow, this is my new winter hat and mitts, and a funky glengarry cap from a vintage pattern. Two ends of the spectrum here - I just winged the hat. It started when I was playing around piecing together the white scraps from cutting out a bunch of mushroom stems. I let the rest evolve from other bits and a piece of zipper that was lying around. It doesn't really have a front or back, I wear it both ways. I made the matching mitts because I needed them. I can't stand gloves and mittens are just too clumsy, especially if they're made from sweater felt. They're more like oven mitts. The glengarry cap is straight from the pattern. I'm loving these two fabrics together. The teal plaid was a scarf and the green striped trim was a fabric remnant. There's still fabric left so I'll use them together again.

A Productive Saturday

Feels like I've gotten things done today. I've been working out with my husband and I got my own gym membership today so I can go by myself if he's busy. My car is mostly loaded up for the American Made Craft Show tomorrow in Chester, I've gotten some more time in on the sewing machine and I have a 16" x 20" toy telephone painting started. Could it be that I'm a little nearer to finding a reasonable working balance in my life? Of course, it's always a work in progress. It's funny how things can work out. I've been mulling over how to do a top hat for my Halloween costume - the Mad Hatter, of course! But I wasn't thinking about it when I stopped in the thrift store today. We needed a lamp for the living room since the knob broke off the old one and we've been turning it on with pliers. They finally had one I liked, and then it dawned on me that I could use the lamp shade as the structure for my top hat. Excellent since I was planning to keep using the larger shade from the old lamp and didn't need the new one. I use this lamp shade as a swift when I need to turn a skein of yarn into a ball. The skein sits on the shade. I put the lamp on the floor, unscrew the finial so the shade will turn freely and away I go winding the yarn into a ball. My husband and I love Halloween so, naturally, we produced a kid who isn't into it at all. I kinda let that put a damper on my celebration but this year I've decided to get dressed up and hang out with my friend who lives on Main St. in Newtown. It's a trick or treat hot spot, unlike our house. Nobody comes here at all. I was going to take pictures today but I'm having trouble with the camera battery. These pictures are recent anyway. I'm really pleased with the pendants on this one. They are made of the seams that are leftover from deconstructing the felted sweaters. It pleases me that I keep finding ways to use almost every scrap.

Shaman's Hats

Friday was going to be spent with a friend but she had to cancel. It must have been meant to be because I was ready to put the inspiration I'd been soaking up from Folk Arts in the Soviet Union to good use. These are my two favorite hats. Since getting the book last Sat. afternoon I've looked through it every night before going to sleep. This gives my mind time to absorb and mull over the pictures so by the time I sit down to work I've got them sorted out. If you've never tried this, you should. Another trick is to look through a book like this upside down. You'll see the shapes differently, not so much as what the subject actually is.

My Hats Are In Belle Armoire!

Back in August I sent some Wandering Lydia Hats to Belle Armoire for the Salon section and then tried to put it out of my mind. But, periodically, I'd wonder about them. Saturday was one of those times. Once again I put it out of my mind - until I opened the mailbox to find my comp issue of the May/July 2010 issue! Wool hats in May? What the heck, it's going to be winter in the southern hemisphere, right? Thanks Belle Armoire!
This is probably good timing for my creative focus. I've been having success with the mushroom gardens and I intend to keep on with them. I was starting to miss making hats and maybe this was a reminder to switch back for a while. Changing up what I'm doing keeps me moving forward. I need to cut a large panel for my next mason jar painting too.

Hot Colors Beret

Today's new hat is a hot color beret. Next up I need to get back to painting. Dan and I are working on one together and I have reference for more in the mason jar series I'm doing. Unfortunately, I lost track of time yesterday and stayed up way too late. I took forever to fall asleep, had a string of weird dreams and woke up discombobulated. I've felt wrong footed all day but if I can get some painting done I know that will help.

Zipper Hat

I've been seeing some wonderful things being made with creatively used zippers. (Check out Wooly Fabulous on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/woolly_fabulous/) so I went through my stash and found enough zippers to use them in place of my usual crocheted trim on a spiral hat. I'm very pleased with the finish on this hat. The spiral is lightly stuffed with fiberfil so it will hold its shape. The zippers did add a little weight though not enough that you'd notice it when wearing the hat. It's lined with very soft lambs wool. Feels like I crossed every t and dotted all the i's. Most of the materials were thrifted, the exceptions being a bit of interfacing and the green tapestry wool I used to finish the edge. I love tapestry wool! It comes in so many colors and can be felted too. It's always a happy day when I find a bag of it at a thrift store or tag sale. Sometimes I get in the mood to crochet and felt little patches with a single strand and a small hook. The possibility for color blending are awesome!

Harold! Come Back!

I'm a visual person and I like blogs with pictures so here's another hat that I have up on etsy now. I'm not too sure what I feel like writing about this morning so I'll start with the hat. I call it Harold and it was inspired by a Monty Python sketch about an English and French joint venture in aviation, the sheep airliner. A few bits later we see a farmer out in his field looking up into the sky shouting,"Harold! Come back!"
It's a beautiful day with just a hint of fall in the air. Just the sort of day that I really need at about this time of August. Back to school is in sight and honestly, I need more structure in my life. I seem to turn into a slug in August.

Forty Shades of Green

When we were in Ireland my husband's mom used the expression "forty shades of green" to describe the landscape and yes, it really is that lush and beautiful. I started this hat the other night because I felt like making roll stitched rounds. Originally, I thought it would be the base for some mushrooms or something but now I'm not so sure. I like it the way it is except I'll probably enlarge the ear flaps a little and add ties. What do you think?

The Ultimate Waldorf Hat

Here's a quick snap of the top of my latest hat. This would be a perfect hat for a Waldorf kindergarten teacher! I've pretty much finished the body of the hat so now it's on to the fun part, adding more mushrooms, flowers and bugs. However, I think I'll be taking a break from that to make some Bottles of Hope for Danbury's Relay For Life. They came up short and desperately need more bottles to give out this weekend. I had already decided to make a pendant for my unoffical extra son, Sidney who is graduating Saturday, so I'll already be digging out my polymer supplies.
It's an incredibly beautiful day here, sunny, cool and breezy so I can open all the windows and get some fresh air in. Yesterday I pushed myself to start doing morning pages again and I feel much better for it. No, you won't be seeing me spill my guts here, at least not beyond a certain point. Wandering Lydia is about being fun and creative and moving forward. I get my head in order in my morning pages and ruminate on projects here.
I've got a bunch of ideas for hats that I need to get started, a jackalope hat and a coral reef hat to start with. Good old Salvation Army has provided me with two bags of sweaters to felt and overdye. Serious fun ahead!

Hats Hats Hats!!

Yes, it's finally production time at Wandering Lydia world headquarters. The studio is humming, well, the fan is on anyway! My personal assistant, Miss Bumpus is on an extended coffee break downstairs. Oh, excuse me, she's doing dream research, trying to come up with stunning new ideas for me to develop. I'll be at the Bruce Museum Craft Festival on May 19th so if you're in Greenwich, CT that day please stop in to say hello. Today's picture has nothing to do with anything but I like blogs that have lots of images. That's all for now.