i made a wee hat for an adorable new baby in the fall. the mother of said adorable baby liked the hat so much that she requested an adult-sized version of it for herself. i said “yes, of course” (in reality, i think what i said was more along the lines of “are you sure? you really like it? um, ok, thanks!”), and then i started to panic. the pattern i had used was baby-sized, and i’m not so good at ‘growing’ a pattern as needed, particularly when it comes to hats. there is a science to hat making that i just don’t quite get.
i began searching for a pattern but couldn’t find anything that was just right, so i decided to wing it by combining elements of a couple of patterns i liked along with a little imagination. i used a basic adult beanie pattern with some front-posts and a fetching FLO sc section at the bottom, and finished it off with a tidy shaped brim, a simple band and some rustic wooden buttons – a reasonable facsimile of the adorable-babe’s hat (and a good lesson in sorting out the frustrating science of properly fitting hats).
i’m lousy at taking compliments and even worse at promoting myself, so when adorable-babe’s mom wore this hat to girls’ night last month, i felt ever so happy that she liked it enough to wear it in public but i was completely unnerved by the attention it received. my discomfort was somewhat alleviated when two other gals requested i make each of them the same hat. orders! sales! acceptance! it’s seriously small-time, i know, but it was just the kind of reassurance i needed to help gear me up for the upcoming studio tour this summer (more on that in a future post).
thus, the {tobermory hat} was established, so named for the community in which you may see three hip ladies wearing the same hat at the same time. and, now that i have the hats off my hook, i am turning my attention to a brilliant tangerine coloured scarf, an order for a pair of stash baskets and the umpteen other projects that are forming a rather lengthy list of crafts-to-be. joy!
ps – i do plan on writing up the pattern for the hat in case any of you are interested in making one yourself.
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