I took the chance to sort some pictures in my hair folders.
I have been following this thread on UTT about hair friendly winter hats and been super envious of all the awesome hats and knitting skills. I have never found a hat that will cover my bun and head without sliding backwards at the forehead and bunching up at the neck. Some longhairs seem to be happy with a caliometry which is a beanie without the back, so a bun pokes out. Me, I definitely want to cover all my hair to protect it from wind and cold!
As I wrote before in my blog I want to learn to knit, but knitting alone wouldn’t be enough to create the hair hat I want. I would want silken lining on the inside as well.
Anyways, when I was down at the laundry room I got an idea for the “ultimate” bun covering beanie.
I used a picture of me taken from the side as reference. And suddenly understood why my beanies always slide back! Look how huge my bun is compared to my head?! No wonder I will have to learn to knit to get a hat that fits…
Pardon the drawing quality, but I used what I had at hand which was a big marker, probably left over by a child. (Our laundry room is a study in weirdness BTW! I always look forward to see what bizarre things are left there. This week it was a mix of gardening and car magazines. Last week there were lots of children’s toys and of course there was the month where the laundry room had been transformed into a fundamentalist Christian library. Weird.) Oh and pardon the rather embarrassing spelling error!
Anyways. My idea was this:
- An inner layer of cotton with silk around the bun and at the fragile hairs at the temples. My experience with silk tells me that a full layer of silk will only result in irritating slipping, so I would want to reduce it to the more fragile/old parts.
- A roll of stuffing between the bun and head to disguise the bun-bump and offer extra insulation.
- Two elastics stitched around the insulation-roll to stabilise the entire hat and keep it from sliding. Around the forehead for stability, either a wide elastic for distributing the tension or simply a regular headband. Some people experience headaches from the pressure of headbands, so maybe a drawstring would be a good idea. Would probably be a good idea anyways so the hat could be fitted for any head size.
- A knitted surface.
Now that I see my drawings and design based on my head and bun shape, I really understand why my regular U shaped beanies always slip and irritate me. A specialised hair beanie really needs a distinct asymmetric shape!
Actually, I found many patterns that suggest lining certain knit hats for extra warmth/protection.
ReplyDeleteSo, question--could you use a scarf you have and then put a beanie over it?
Knitting is very easy/simple to do, but I found making hats frustrating--they were always too small for my head, and my head isn't that big ;)
So, check out Ravelery--they have great free patterns and a lovely community, or ask some of the ladies at UTT if they could make you a ponytail hat and you could put a beanie over it?
I want one of these hats!
ReplyDeleteYou've put far more thought into this than ever have... But then, I don't mind running around in rainbow elf hats. =P
ReplyDeleteawesome idea :D now where can I buy one??
ReplyDeleteHmm, can you make lots of these hats? I'm sure lots of long hairs would love one- I've only got waist/hip hair and already I have trouble fitting hats over my bun comfortably.
ReplyDeleteGraeth, no. As I wrote in the post, I don’t even know how to knit. Nor do I own a sewing machine.
ReplyDeleteAh, that's a shame :(
ReplyDelete