Time for another drawing

October's drawing winner could win one of the new crochet hats that I've completed over this weekend. The pattern designs come from Diane McGettigan, who if you remember my post from January 14, 2011 - Crochet Cloche Progress, I talked about a cloche I crocheted from one of Diane's patterns, that was a big hit for my friend's mother and one of my friends asked for one as well.  I really do love Diane's designs, so much that I bought two more of her patterns last week and now I'm offering one of them to one lucky winner of the this month's drawing.  All of Diane's designs are lovely and I will probably buy more because they are so quick and easy to make.

So here are the choices for this month's drawing:

Uptown Fedora

Gold Winged-Brim Beanie Cap

Tangerine Winged-Brim Beanie Cap

These are just samples of the designs, they can be made in different colors and the winner will have their choice of the following colors, Pumpkin/Tangerine (above), Butterscotch/Gold (above), Cranberry, Green, Grey, or Black.

To be entered in the drawing you have to go to my Knitter Mama Facebook page and post the final score of the Seahawks v. Green Bay game that aired on Monday night football (September 24). For everyone who posts to my page, your name will be entered into the drawing! Good luck!!!

Crochet Cloche Progress

As promised here's how its going with the crochet cloche I am making for my friend's mom. Below is a picture of the design from Handmade Cottage

Green Flapper Cloche, Designed by Diane McGettigan.  My friend Adriann received her copy of the design in the mail on Tuesday and she handed me her yarn, button, and copy of the pattern on Wednesday. I decided to bring it along with me to my knit-nite and give it a try.  Well of course it was trial and error, my crochet skills were a little rusty and it was taking me some time to get used to using a hook again.  After knitting for the last 4 years the feel of it in my hands was a bit awkward.  I kept fumbling and dropping it as well as not really remembering the stitches.  The pattern called for the following: Single Crochet (sc) which I easily remembered, Half Double Crochet (hdc - couldn't remember it so I knew I would have to look it up), Front Post Half Double Crochet (fphdc - which was new to me, I had to go online to get a diagram of how to do the stitch), and decrease hdc - again had to look this up as well.  In all my years of crocheting I never did any decreasing, but I also only made afghans so there really wasn't any call for decreasing.

So it was slow going initially, I had to keep pulling it apart and starting over but this was where I left it the first night:

Using Berocco Comfort Chunky in black and size K hook

The crochet project went back in the bag within 45 minutes after starting leaving off on row 4 because row 5 called for hdc's in each sc and I didn't bring my crochet handbook with me and I didn't have access to the internet so I couldn't look up how to do a hdc.  For the rest of knit-nite I went back to working on a knitting project I already had in progress.  It was after 9:00 p.m. by the time I left my knitting group and was way too tired to go online to look up how to do a half double crochet (hdc), so as you can see from the picture above I hadn't gotten very far, but I wasn't discouraged, quite the opposite, I was learning something new on a skill that I hadn't used in a long time and I was pretty impressed with my progress, considering I hadn't crochet anything in over 10 years!

Day 2: I brought it to work with me to hook-away at it during my lunch break.  I looked up the stitches I didn't understand or couldn't remember and then was eager to get back to it.

Day 2: crown is taking shape

Once I got started again the part of my brain that stores the mechanics of what to do seemed to kick in and my hands remembered what they were supposed to do and it didn't feel as awkward as it did the night before and I actually was on a roll.  The crown of the hat was beginning to take shape and I was really impressed with the way it was looking, although I felt it was a bit on the small side.

close-up of crown (flattened out)

But my lunch is only an hour and I had to put it away to work on it later at home, but I was looking forward to it and couldn't wait for my work day to end. 

Day 2, that evening: So I settled in for the night and while enjoying a glass of birthday champagne (It was my 40th birthday on the 13th and my boss gifted me with a bottle of champagne - she says everyone should have a bottle of bubbly on their 40th!) and watching the Van Helsing movie with the ever gorgeous Hugh Jackman; I continued working on the cloche.

Yummy - Hugh Jackman!

Sorry, I digress, got distracted by the gorgeousness of Hugh Jackman (look at him - can you blame me?).  As I was saying, I continued working on the cloche and was finished with it in no time at all.

Side view

Frontal view

Around midnight it was complete, because of course once I started I couldn't stop.  Then I began working on the embellishment, (the cute little flower shown in the first picture above on the Green Flapper Cloche).



Begins similar to the hat

The flower embellishment basically begins the same way as the hat so I got going on it and am already on row 10. It continues with rows of sc's and as I keep going the edges will curl in on their own and I will pinch the ring so that it will create the flower, sew a couple stitches in it so it will keep it's shape and then sew it onto the hat with a button.

Day 3: Added the embellishment to the side of the hat. The yarn became stiff as I continued to single crochet each row and therefore difficult to pull it into the shape of the flower, but I persevered and pulled the yarn tight to get the shape as close to the diagram as possible and this is the result:

Antique style gold & black button
adds to the beauty of the hat

Another Cloche in Burgundy with
another beautiful matching button

The Ever Fashionable and Sophisticated Cloche

A friend recently asked if I could knit a hat for her mother as a birthday gift.  She sent me a picture of the hat and I thought it was so adorable (see picture below).  After taking a closer look though, I noticed it wasn't a knitted style, it was actually crochet, which for me is no problem, I haven't done much crocheting in the last few years but its like riding a bicycle, if you get on and start pedaling it starts to come back to you. 

The design is ever reminiscent of the 1920's style Cloche with a modern look to it. And since I've been looking forward to playing with this particular style of hat I agreed to crochet it for her.

Design by Diane McGettigan
found on Etsy at Handmade Cottage

When I first came across this hat style, it was in a book on felting. The pattern seemed really interesting and I really liked the knitted design. I had to have it for my pattern collection, so I made a copy to try out at a later time.  Since then I've noticed many people wearing it and I've also noticed some really great designs and colors and everyone who I've seen wearing one always looks fabulous. It is a classic yet very chic style that will compliment any outfit, as you can see from the pictures below:
 

Sarah Jessica Parker during her
photo session with Annie
Leibowitz in Manhattan

Angelina Jolie in Changeling

Leighton Meester on the set of Gossip Girl

Hillary Swank in P.S. I love You

A little history from Wikipedia:  The cloche hat is a fitted, bell-shaped hat that was popular during the 1920s, but was first founded in 1908 and continued to be popular until 1933.[1]  Cloche is the French word for "bell". Caroline Reboux is the creator of the cloche hat.

Cloche hats were usually made of felt so that they conformed to the head.[1] The hat was typically designed to be worn low on the forehead, with the wearer's eyes only slightly below the brim.[1]  By 1928/29, it became fashionable to turn the brims on cloche hats upwards. This style remained prevalent throughout the early 1930s until the cloche hat became obsolete around 1933/34.

Often, different styles of ribbons affixed to the hats indicated different messages about the wearer. Several popular messages included: An arrow-like ribbon which indicated a girl was single but had already given her heart to someone, a firm knot which signaled marriage or a flamboyant bow which indicated the wearer was single and interested in mingling.[2]  Cloches were made of beads or lace for evening wear, for cocktails, dancing or even for bridal wear.

Cloche hats' popularity and influence were overwhelming. Couture houses like Lanvin and Molyneux opened ateliers to join milliners in manufacturing the hats.[1] The hats even shaped hairstyles: the Eton crop (the short, slicked-down cut worn by Josephine Baker) became popular because it was ideal to showcase the hats' shape.[1]

In the late 1980s, inventive models of the cloche, such as Patrick Kelly's version with a buttoned brim, made a minor resurgence.[1]  Cloche hats were also featured in many designers’ Fall 2007 collections; Elle magazine called the cloche hat the "haute accessory of the moment" in its September 2007 issue.[1]  The cloche hat has been worn by actress Angelina Jolie in the 2008 film Changeling.

Following the Cloche's resurgence in 2007, modern versions of the hat have emerged, often reflecting the region of the milliner. In 2009, Violina Couture Millinery of California introduced the demi-cloche, a variant of the cloche which allows more of the wearer's hair to be exposed.

[1] ^ a b c d e f g Vargas, Whitney (September 2007). "Head Start". Elle: 190.
[2] ^ Thomas, Pauline (March 2004). "Hats and Hair Fashion". Hats and Hair Fashion.

I have always admired the classic styles from the 1920's, I believe it was one of the best fashion eras, from  hairstyles and hats, to shoes and accessories.  There has been many updates to the cloche's design as you can see here:

Giving them a more modern look, with different colors and accessories.

 

Symply Smashing & FannyMae
Found on Etsy at Boring Sidney



While the original designs from the 1920's were made with felt to mold to the wearer's head, now-a-days this style is being recreated in many different ways, including knit and crochet. 

Knit design previously found
on Etsy at Counting Stitches

Crochet design found on Etsy
at Handmade Cottage

By using different colors, weights, and blends of yarn you can get varying affects, the above design from Handmade Cottage was crochet using a chunky wool blend in a beautiful charcoal color. 

I can't wait to get started on the crochet pattern, which I just received today along with a skein of Berroco Comfort Chunky yarn in black and a vintage style button designed by Susan Clarke Originals.  So stay tuned, I will keep you posted on my progress.