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Saturday, October 09, 2004

How's the fit?

The felted hat is finished.



A tad big you say? This is pre-felting. It fits perfectly now, post-felting, but what a procedure! I tried to felt it by hand using detergent and very hot water. 45 minutes into that nonsense (without a significant change in size) I decided to throw it in the washer. Unfortunately I have a gentle front load washer and it took more than two full cycles to get it down to the right size. Now it is a perfect fit.

Before I began the felting process I searched in vain for a bowl that would be approximately the size of my head to use as a form. Nope. Not a one. I attempted to pad an existing bowl to add additional circumference, but in the end I used the most logical item....the one that assure a perfect, custom fit. I used my HEAD. That's right, for nearly two hours I shaped and formed the hat while it was on my head, finally crawling into bed at one in the morning. I left the hat resting on a wig form and was relieved this morning to find that it still fit.

I am debating now whether or not I should add some decorative detail with needle felting. I am undecided. If I leave it "as is", it looks fine, and can be coordinated with nearly anything. If I add additional color (likely just black and white) it will cut down the number of things I could wear it with, but would jazz it up some.

Decisions, decisions!

3 comments:

Kimberly said...

What a great picture!
I love it!

Shelob said...

Hi,

I love the hat and the pictures! What about knitting hatbands in various colors and designs for use when you want to "jazz" up the gray?

Shelob from KR

Marlene said...

That's a great idea Shelob. Maybe some day I will get around to doing that. I have also considered weaving hat bands.