Hats Off!

 

Are you a hat-wearer?

                When I was a little girl, Mom always bought me a white hat to wear to church on Easter Sunday, because it was the thing girls did on Easter. And other than the hood on my winter coat, that was it for me with hats. I never wore them any other time.

                The same has been true for me as an adult. I’ve never worn hats other than for utilitarian purposes in the winter to keep my head warm!

                When I worked at WBCL with Lynne, she was quite the lover of hats, and she looked adorable in them. She wore cute straw hats in the summer and her inclement weather hats were also quite stylish. I remember when she traveled to Italy, her one wish was to visit a hat maker and have a custom hat created specifically to fit her head. (And she did!)

                That inspired me to purchase a wide-brimmed straw hat when Ryan and I went on our first cruise. I thought I had arrived with my cute hat. Alas, the wide brim was so wide that my head baked beneath it, because it trapped heat and repelled breezes. It may not shock you to know I got rid of it.

                Last year I learned there are hat types that work better with some face shapes than others. Who knew?! It turns out that for my face shape, a fisherman’s cap is the best type of hat, and I should also explore short brim fedoras, boaters, berets, and beanies!

                This might explain why the handmade hat Ryan’s Aunt Sandy made me several years ago always brings compliments every time I wear it. She made a trial-version hat and then made the “real” hat for Ryan’s mom, in case she lost her hair from cancer treatments. Ryan’s mom never lived long enough to enter treatment, but she did like her cute hat, and I liked it so much that Aunt Sandy gave me the trial-version.

                And my other tried-and-true hat is this very warm and cozy winter hat.

                In the after-summer clearance last year, I bought a little (non-wide-brim) straw hat to wear by the lake next summer. I'll have to take a picture when it's warmer out. (Is that ever going to happen?)

                I will probably never love hats as a daily accessory, but I am excited to have a better idea of what looks best on me. And if this Aunt-Sandy-original ever wears out, I’m going to need one of you with some crochet skills to make me a new one!