Me Made May

It’s that time of the year again!

I have been making an effort to wear at least one me-made thing every day, whether it’s handsewn or handknit. (I eat something me-made every day as well but that doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment.)

The intent is to take regular outfit of the day pics to share once a week. Helps that the summer weather just arrived as I was getting bored with sweaters. Here’s what I've got so far:

Floral embroidered gingham shirt with removable pussybow, denim wrap skirt 

Felted banya hat 

Fit-and-flare shirtdress with bell sleeves in organza with silver polka dots 

V-neck ruched dress in floral/dotted jersey 

Cotton poplin wrap dress with topstitched floral trim and tie

Muslin shirtdress with waist tie and piping 

They’re not all exactly the same but there are definitely some recurring themes here... shirts and shirtdresses, knee-length skirts, wraps and ties and bows, dots and florals, black and white and red. I’m fine with that though, clearly I know what I like to wear!

Part of the purpose of this exercise is not just knowing what I like, but actually wearing it—not second-guessing whether it’s age-appropriate, or “too costumey,” or whatever other element of self-doubt and insecurity tries to sneak in and steal joy. Just be unabashedly whatever one wants to be, wearing whatever one wants to wear. So far so good?

Banya hat

I thought I posted about this before but I guess I’m mistaken!

Last year I started going to a Russian sauna/bath house, aka banya, with a friend of mine. One of the traditions of banya is to wear a wool hat to keep your head from getting too hot. With my friend’s birthday coming up, I decided to knit and felt a hat!

It did not work!

I mean it kinda worked, but not really. Shape right, size wrong. I had modified a pattern, and also substituted the yarn as I couldn't find the one they recommended, and after all of that it turned out waaay too big.

So I decided to start again (this is why I bought extra yarn!) and I think I’ve got it!

I completely altered literally everything from the original pattern I started with, so here it is, my banya hat pattern:

Banya Hat instructions

Using 2 balls of Istex Alafos Lopi and 9 mm circular needle

Cast on 84 sts. Join to work in round.

Work in stockinette (knit every stitch). Place markers every 21 sts.

Brim shaping: 

Row 4: *Knit to marker, sl m, k1, k2tog* repeat 4 times across row (80 sts on needle)

Row 8: *Knit to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sl m* repeat 4 times across row (76 sts on needle)

Continue working in stockinette.

Crown shaping:

Row 38: *Knit to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sl m, k1, k2tog* repeat 4 times across row 

Continue working in stockinette repeating row 38 until you have 4 sts on needle.

Next row: k1, k2tog, k1. Slide sts to other end of needle. 

Work these 3 sts as i-cord (sliding to other end of circ or dpn to work in same direction, rather than in the round) until the i-cord is 6” long. Fold over, break yarn leaving long tail, and graft to top of hat near base of i-cord, closing any gaps at top of hat.

Felt. I find by hand is more successful than by washing machine, even if it is kinda miserable.

I have a double kitchen sink, so what I do is fill one side with hot water (and a squeeze of dish soap) and the other with cold. Keep a kettle and ice cubes on hand to keep the hot hot and the cold cold as necessary.

Wearing rubber gloves, put the hat in the hot water and go at it like a puppy with a chew toy. Agitate, agitate, agitate. Imagine you are Lady MacBeth crying, “Out, damned spot,” as you go postal on your handwashing. Then squeeze it out and plunge it in the cold water. Agitate, squeeze, and return to the hot.

Keep going back and forth like this, adding boiling water (pour it right on the cold hat!) and ice cubes as needed to keep your water temperatures extreme.

Also keep a ruler handy so you can measure your progress. I find it takes about half an hour of back-and-forth to get ’er done. About 10” across the bottom is what you’re aiming for.

Use your hands to shape/sculpt the wet hat until it looks about right. Let air dry for a bit so it retains its shape—I put it over a milk bottle (to keep it upright) on a floor vent (for airflow). Stuff loosely with a hand towel, zip into a mesh lingerie bag, and finish in a hot dryer. Put a dry bath towel in with it to help get the moisture out.

Getting closer

More work on the straw hat bike helmet! 

I suddenly realized that my arbitrary deadline is drawing near. I had the idea that it would be part of my Shakespeare in the Park picnic outfit, and our tickets are for next week! This is why I need arbitrary deadlines, I guess.

Somehow I never took a photo of the shiny straw capeline I bought from Petersham but it looked exactly like their photo on Etsy:

Shiny Straw Capeline from Petersham’s

I’m sure they won’t mind me borrowing it, since I’m linking back to them (and you should buy one!)

Yesterday, I finally got around to shaping. Lots of steam from my kettle (I steamed the outside, then the inside, then just took the lid off the kettle and plopped the capeline on top), and I got this:

Partially shaped Capeline

It took a lot of work to make it fit around the helmet! I used pushpins (carefully pushed between the strands of straw, not through them) to hold in in place while shaping.

Next, I moved it all to the ironing board, to flatten out the brim, and get a crisp edge where brim meets crown, and heavily steamed the top and shaped it by hand to look more “hat-like” instead of just wonky. I weighted it with what was handy while it was cooling and drying:

Shaped!

Next will be applying a band and stitching in the lining. I’m a bit worried about the pull of the elastic causing problems with the straw. Maybe it needs a permanent hat stand when not in use? Hmmm...

Getting excited!

I have been dreaming of this project for a while and I am finally making it happen!

Years ago, I bought a Yakkay helmet from my local bike shop for a fantastic deal (70% off). It comes with a replaceable cloth cover, and looks like a cool hat rather than a dorky helmet. This thing became part of my identity, and I wore it for +/- 15 years. 

You're supposed to replace a helmet every three years. Oops.

Anyway it was time to replace it, and obviously I wanted another Yakkay. 

Trying to find a place to buy one (I'm in Canada, they're from Denmark) I found this gorgeous straw cover and fell in love! But €119 + shipping + customs/duties + the actual helmet is far out of my price range. 

So I didn't get it. But I didn't give up.

I got a helmet with a different cover (the Tokyo black rain cover) from Green Street, a bike shop in Peterborough (not exactly local, but as local as I could get).

 Next was searching for millinery suppliers that had what I needed at a price I could handle with reasonable shipping costs. Found what I was looking for at the Petersham's Etsy store. I think it was $14 for the capeline and another $14 for the shipping. 

Then I had to figure out the engineering required to keep the cover on the helmet. The cover has a sturdy band attached to wide elastic and a mesh liner. I got a yard of mesh for $10 at a local fabric store, and had wide black elastic and nylon webbing in my stash from previous projects (snowpants and a Hallowe'en costume).

I drafted a pattern from the existing covers, which was quite tricky, because what keeps it all together is tension. Fit has to be perfect, and the helmet is hard and slippery, so not like a dressform where you can drape and pin. I started with wide seam allowance and adjusted down as necessary, and it was necessary multiple times, because it seemed pretty good until I added the band, and then it seemed pretty good until I added the elastic. 

Anyway I am finally happy with the base! It stays on! 

Next step: shaping the straw capeline with steam, and figure out how to attach to the liner...

So far I've spent about $45 on the cover - not exactly cheap, but a lot less than €119!