I love hats. I love making them, wearing them, giving them as gifts. PieceWork’s founder Linda Ligon said once, “Karen is famous for putting almost anything on her head.” And it’s true! Wherever I go, I’m sure to discover a wonderful hat—or a need to make one.
A couple of years ago, I served as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in Nepal. I often helped out in a childcare center in my small mountain community where many of the children didn’t have warm hats for the coming winter. I rummaged some yarn together and knitted several small hats. In total that year, I knitted over a dozen hats—for a forestry worker, an innkeeper, and fellow volunteers. In my small world there on the side of a mountain, I became the Hat Maker. A moniker that pleased me.
Children in Nepal wearing some of the hats Karen knitted for them. Photo by Karen Elting Brock
I've been reminiscing fondly about hats because tomorrow is Make a Hat Day, and The National Needlearts Association is celebrating the joy of stitching, in my mind, the perfect project. However you craft—knitting, crocheting, embellishing, lacemaking—it’s a terrific opportunity to create a little wearable happiness.
If you’re in need of a pattern, we’ve got you covered. In the PieceWork Library, you’ll find dozens of hat patterns, from bonnets to berets, from cables to colorwork, and in fibers from silk to raffia to wool.
We’d love to see your creations from Make a Hat Day. Write to us and share your pics here.
Happy hatting,
Karen