A handmade hat is more than a fashion accessory. It is an authentic symbol of traditionnel craftsmanship.
Indeed, this hat is 100% HANDCRAFTED.
First of all: choosing the yarn
It might seem easy, but not to me!
So many possibilities… On the quest for the perfect wool, I went last year to la fête de la laine de Bulat-Pestivien, my feet hardly touching the ground and birds singing in my head.
Among others, I spent time at La Fibre Textile‘stand, an association open “to all people passionate by textile art and all activities linked to fibre work”. Let me tell you, I fitted right there, in front of their myriads of colorful skeins!
I looked like a headless chicken… Of course I am a real wool addict (to my husband despair at times…). So I touch everything, Then I look right, left and center, I pick them up and put them back, my eyes are coming out of my head ! And I imagine what I could knit out of these spinning masterpieces!
Each skein is unique, coming from animals reared in Brittany, spun and dyed in very small quantitiy in Brittany! After long deliberations, I opt for a few wonderful skeins of yarn and manage to pull myself away, a blissful smile stuck on my face… I’ve had my fix.
Back home, I get my treasures out of their coffre from time to time, until I take the ultimate decision about what I am going to do with them…
ULTIMATELY, it comes to me and I choose a super mixte of merino and alpaca.
Then it is decided ! A WOOL HANDMADE HAT it will be!
A handmade hat: choosing the model
Of course I could, as I often do, get my needles out and knit a hat without following a model.
But in this case, I spot a model and I contact the marvellous designer who created it. I ask her authorisation to use her instructions in the purpose of selling. She agrees. This is a model by Spinnyknitter, a canadian designer. I particularly like her Knit Night hat edge details.
I use a different size of needles. Indeed, my wool is different from hers and so, I amend the number of stitches needed (less for the edge and more for the body oft the hat).
THERE YOU GO!!! A wool handmade hat, 100% breton wool, UNIQUE, and knitted by I, a Breton living in Brittany…
Can’t do more Breton an ETHICAL than that, can you?
Hand knitted wrist warmers - La laine de Galeine
[…] wool skeins, acquired at La Fibre Textile stall. If you have previously read my article titled A HANDMADE HAT you already know that it is an association open “to all people passionate about textile arts […]