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Hat?oh! Fibre archeology; sweater to hat

Hat?oh! is said using the punctuation marks as part of the word so it is Hat? with a rise in tone as if inquiring "is this a hat? and then  oh!  with an "aha,  I get it" finish

Satisfying the requirements of being as simple a design as possible,  clothing as architecture housing the body,  fibre archeology/recycling - this hat is made from a slightly felted, handknit sweater,  unearthed at a thrift shop.  A 15- inch circle was cut from the front and the back,  the two circles put right sides together and stitched half way around the circumference.  Edges left free.

That's it.  The hat?oh!

It is very versatile. 

Tortoise knitting needles are used to change the shape.

Here it is with the original sweater. 

The rest of the sweater  will be turned into mitts and a mini shrug - or -?

I very much like how thoughts of whoever knit the sweater come to mind as I reconstruct and hope that he or she would like this 'rescue'.  I assume that whoever donated the sweater had accidentally put it into hot water or a dryer and the felting was not welcomed;  it likely no longer fit as it once had.

Both sides up and 'pinned' with the knitting needles.

Hat turned so that flaps are at front and back;  front flap has knitting needle threaded through thusly so that ....... when released ....

... the flap forms a visor in this sou'wester version.

Back view of the sou'wester.

Side view of the sou'wester.

The hat works well in both sunny and rainy weather on its own.

I imagine that teamed with a scarf it will tame cold and wind ....  or desert weather.

Heigh!ho!   hat?oh!

Button wraps : alternative to button holes

Sometimes the shape or size of the button,  or the fabric of the item to which it is to be attached,  or the work involved in making a buttonhole, or wanting a flexibility in the width of the closure makes a buttonhole alternative a good idea.

This is one alternative.

A button on one side of the garment;  a button on the other side of the garment;  a length of cord attached underneath the first button;  a  button on the other end of the cord;  the cord wrapped around the second button as many times as wished to widen or narrow the gap.

Holding a vest closed.

This is the removable button from yesterday's post ....

and how it looked when it wandered over to the vest.

The possibilities are endless -  as to what could be used for buttons and cord, as to where such as on garments or bags or furniture ......

Shrieking, freaking web sites!

Is it just me or are others increasingly irritated by all the extra stuff on web sites?  What really really gets to me are the words that flash or figures that dance across the screen or anything that MOVES.  It feels like someone is waving their fingers in my face while I am trying to focus on the site.  It is getting to the point where I will immediately leave that page and move on.  And this is happening on sites that look very interesting.  If the intent is to get my attention - and keep it - well, it isn't working. 

Removable buttons

Sometimes it makes sense to be able to move a button from one place to another - possibly change its use from function to decorative and then back to function again - and this is one way of giving a button roving status. 

A sturdy linen yarn is threaded through the holes....

.... and knotted a few times on the back of the button.

Here it is attached to a vest by catching those knots in the back of the vest with that most wonderful of invention - the safety pin.

Purely decorative,  this 'button by Bob' goes traveling on a hat.

The pinned side.

Making buttons

Buttons can be made from many things.

These are bark chips that have tossed and turned in the ocean and been smoothed and rounded but not tamed:  I get tiny slivers from them even after a bit of sanding and oiling.

A  very old wooden baseball bat was sliced into buttons.  I had expected more of a - oh, I don't know - grain?  signs of age?  indication of wear? - and in an attempt to add some visual interest inked on the adage.  Maybe  "buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks"  would have been more appropriate. Oh well, there is a LOT of the bat left.

This is one of my favourite and already in use.

What appears to be a chip from a cedar stump on a chopping block appeared in the front garden - only one - and as soon as I picked up this rather mysterious item it felt like a button. 

A wash and an oil and four holes and it became a button.

What is doubly intriguing is that the wood is still green so a piece of the bark on the back has already come away as the wood dries and I like the fact of watching it evolve as it dries.

Crocheted around rings and drapery hooks with yarn and cotton and hemp,  these buttons are samples of what can be done - the top left is still in progress - and I like how exact to a vision a button(s) can get with such a process. 

I am not sure if these rounds were examples of wood for a classroom or manufacturer - the left one has cherry written on the back,  locust on the other,  or if they were meant as coasters, but they make beautiful buttons.

Scented buttons.  Knit in a yin yang pattern from cashmere,  sewn onto a leather backing and lightly stuffed with pot pourri from the garden,  the final touch a stem of Australian bushmint which is the most wonderfully fragrant plant both fresh and dried.

Felted by hand around plastic buttons using raw fleece in the bottom two and in the top two  my handspun that I dyed with kool aid in the microwave.

Again I am intrigued by how one could knit a garment and then use the same yarn to felt the buttons.

My mother's button box .... and mine

One thing that has traveled with me over many moves across more than half a century is my mother's button box. 

She would have turned 87 yesterday.

Her veil that she wore on her head to church and my brief attempt to sort into bags were more or less recent additions. 

The rest is as I have known it from childhood.

It fascinated me then - to sort through it,  marvel at the touch and sight and sound of all those buttons.

To recognize buttons taken from a coat or a dress.

To learn details of history not in my memory.

To search for a button needed for one missing on a garment and find a match.

To search for buttons wanted for a new project and perhaps delight in finding  a set or perhaps delight in the challenge to create a new set.

The most special button was always the clear amber one which becomes warm if I hold it.

It is from a button factory that an aunt and uncle had owned.  I never saw the factory but the thought of a place that made buttons - and such a beautiful and unusual one -  the thought of how it must have been done and what other kinds there were and how were they stored and how were they sold and the thought of many many many people wearing clothing with 'family' buttons on them - overwhelmed me. 

This is my present button box.  It has changed over the years.  I once had jars and jars of buttons.  It was fun to collect them across time.  Fun - and liberating - to get rid of them in one simplifying.

Perhaps because of - or, in spite of! - the presence of my mother's button box with all its personal history - my button box now reflects a more immediate collection.  The old button bag is from some other family but I treasure it muchly.

Mine are sorted into whites and wood and metals and interesting and buttons-to-be.

There is another collection growing of buttons I have made and am making.  Buttons can be made out of almost anything!

Hyperbolic crochet .... a bit more playing

Some buffalo wool and a large hook ....  partway into the process ......  the wispy-ness of the fibre,  the whiteness of the white,  the satisfying feel of the wood allow full rein of the enjoyment of watching what unfolds - or, in this case .....  folds

 

... until the ball of yarn is all used up and it nestles around my hand like a kitten.

A much finer yarn and a much smaller hook and the wonder of what would happen to increase by 2's in rounds of single,  double,  treble and quadruple crochet formed a strucrure that was resembling a stadium ..... well, sort of. 

Enough for the moment. 

Hyperbolic crochet ; some things to do with the creations.

Hang them or set them somewhere and enjoy them as you catch sight of them.  They are beautiful!

The recesses formed make interesting nooks to tuck small gifts :  handmade truffles;  Dinky toys;  garden seeds for next year's planting;  smaller hyperbolic crochet;  etc.

Three of the density of the orange one (last two posts) make unusual juggling balls;  four would make the act of juggling more challenging and elevate it to an artform.

Toy for a baby.

Strung together in same or varying sizes - what a scarf!

An accessory such as a pom pom or flower brooch or buckles for shoes.

A teeny one attached to a hair elastic could be a ring.

A larger one attached to a larger hair holder could be a bracelet.

Other ideas.........??????

Hyperbolic crochet; thoughts/feelings about the process and the expression

Trotting around the circumference with thicker sturdy yarn and a large hook .. working into the back of the stitch ..  outdoors on the patio at the Polish Deli.

Easier to see and make each stitch.  Easier to watch the less intense increase of 1;1;2 and see it take shape.

There is the sense that I am making the motions but the piece is evolving to the dictates of the yarn and the tool and the ratio; perhaps that has to do with my 'surprise' at the result(s).  The 100th monkey comes to mind.

Is this Origami?  It is certainly folding,  perhaps not in the traditional way;  paper is fibre;  linen is fibre.  It satisfies me as Origami does and increasingly as freeform Origami does. 

With the denser orange model I thought of a city core expanding into neighbourhoods expanding into suburbs.  There was the feeling of being 'distanced' from what was happening but yet an awareness because of - what? - the fact that it was all connected and finding its own space and my place kept changing,  stitch by stitch, and was never crowded. This was up until five rounds and 192 stitches.  What would it be like at ten rounds and 6144 stitches.  One hundred rounds?

The 'housing' features of both the orange and the multi-coloured struck and stuck because of the potential for the ultimate of indoor/outdoor living.

All those areas, those rooms, those spaces!  Imagine such a structure in a transluscent material,  either solid or flexible,  permanent or portable,  serving as home(s)/gardens/habitats.

I wonder if the shape has been considered as a conduit for wind, or water,  or electricity,  or light,  or .....?

Is there something to be learned here about the organization of excess?

Is this a nudge forward toward the missing link that we have yet to understand about time and which will give us a beneficial tool?

Tomorrow I plan to post a few suggestions for more immediate uses for hyperbolic crocheted items.

Hyperbolic crochet ....... playing ...... rather 'hooked' on it ......

It's quite mesmerizing. 

Three completed.  One ripped out.  Two in progress.

This  orange one in yesterday's post was actually the first one that got completed but  was number three on the list (number two got ripped out before I realized it likely would have worked if I had just known to keep on going).  

After working with the green  linen  (first on list, still in progress)   I wondered what a soft yarn would produce.  Hayfield Exquisite Shimmer (61 acrylic, 39 nylon;  a long time resident of the stash) was started with the Ch 2,  6 sc in second chain, 2 sc in each sc around and around etc.  This is it at rnd 4 with 96 sts using a #6 hook.  It is just starting to roll in on itself in a very relaxed way.  Not easy to see the stitches when crocheting.

Round 6 with 384 sts.  Decided it was just the right size and time to stop.  Could not convince self to attempt rnd 7 and 768 sts. 

Green bulky linen which had been number one was in plain view and having ripped out number two thinking it wasn't going to work but realizing it likely would have if I had continued and having green bulky linen in that same state but not ripped out  - well, I was wanting to take it further.

It is still a work in progress  but I worked enough on it to be captivated by the shape it is taking.

Again it started with Ch 2,  6 sc in second ch from hook,  but this time the increasing was *  1 sc in next two scs,  2 sc in third sc,  repeat from * around and around etc.  And I worked into the back of the stitches. This was a less intense increase with a P hook and thicker yarn which made a definite difference but I could see it was going to roll inward so I put it aside for the moment.

The thought of what it would look like to use a different colour yarn for each row led to robbing the stash of a WIP for the Philosopher's wool, doubling the strands, using a large hook,  9 sc in the second ch from the hook to start, and being delighted at how quickly the thing grew! 

This is the third row with maroon partway around at 42 sts. 

Now it is round 4 with blue halfway around at 72 sts.

Round 4 complete with 144 sts.

A final round with salmon (288 sts) and the most satisfying visual effect.  The different colours on each round worked out better than I expected.

Tomorrow I plan to post on thoughts that arose as to the potential of this 'structure' and perhaps report on some progress of the bulky linen and the ivory WIP's.