I’m Not Sure About This Hat

When my parents brought my sister (age 12) and me (age 15) to England for a few weeks in the summer of 1997 (I think? The 90s are already blurry), the giant novelty plush hat was very much in vogue. My sister bought one with a giant union jack on the front of it, and I think it’s probably still hanging in all its black velour glory in her bedroom at my parents’ place. Well, to be honest, shape wise, it looked like this:

The Tip Top Topper crochet top hat from Lion Brand

The Lion Brand website says “This whimsical hat is fun for everyday or for your Mad Hatter Halloween costume. ”

With the STEAMPUNK! of everything, I can imagine displaying this hat in black or brown (not blaze orange), and on a guy wearing a waistcoat, not on a lady who’s wondering why she’s wearing it. And if you wanted it to be a Mad Hatter hat, wouldn’t you go with something that looked more like a recognizable pop culture Mad Hatter hat? I will concede that the hat is the same colour as Johnny Depp’s hair.

I wouldn’t make it in blaze orange, and I don’t think I’d ever wear it a peacock blue blazer thing, but I kinda want to make one!

Knitting a Steampunk Dress

I’m a great knitting improviser, but I never write down or otherwise record what I’m doing, so I rarely end up with a useable pattern at the end. So as I embark upon my epic dress knitting, here’s (hopefully) a tutorial of sorts leading to the pattern.

Thing I learned for this pattern: provisional long-tail cast on with waste yarn. Knit & Tonic has a pdf instruction booklet about how to do this. This was such a “duh” moment for me once I’d done it.

The plan for the dress is to knit the skirt first, then pick up to knit a cabled/ribbed midsection (with a much smaller needle, and held with elastic thread), and then some sort of cross over v-neck top. There will be a pair of bloomers, and a leather raygun shoulder holster.

Also: I feel like such a good knitter – I actually made a gauge swatch! I picked up the handiest knitting contraption at a church bazaar, and it’s one of those “how did I work without this before?” items – the Susan Bates Knit Check for gauge and needle size.

So from my swatch, I know that I’m knitting 4sts/inch & 5rows/inch (worsted weight cotton, size 6 needles so that the fabric won’t be so dense and heavy as to be unwearable), so for my 48″ high waist, I (provisionally) cast on 192 stitches and knit 1 inch (5 rows) before increasing every 4th stitch in the fifth row. Now, 240 stitches.

I knit 1 more inch (5 rows), and then increased every 4th stitch again (adding another 56 stitches) for a total of 296 (1.5x the number I started with). Because I don’t want to have successive increase lines showing since the stitches are so big, I started the increasing at the third stitch the first time in this round, and every 4th stitch after that.

I’m presently knitting 2″ (10 rows), and then will increase again. And then figure out what the total length should be and go from there.

Steampunk Love in WoW:Cataclysm

Can I point out that I am in love with the rad steampunk look of the population of Gilneas in the new World of Warcraft:Cataclysm content? Check out Gwen Armstead‘s classic mini top hat, quasi-Victorian outfit – not to mention giant-sword wielding abilities. I think she’s going to be my Halloween costume next year! 😀

Darius Crowley, rebel leader has a great piratey look to him with a shotgun to match, and Lord Godfrey has a classic top hat and the omni-present steampunk goggles.

Hubby and I played through the new worgen starting area content late last night, and aside from the total insanity of it (the new starting areas have blindingly fast respawn rates, but it doesn’t really matter since there are so many people running around), it was great fun. I haven’t had a chance to investigate, but I caught a glimpse of Prince Greymane lying asleep outside the inn just before we logged out, which has given me a tantalizing taste of a possible Prince Hal-esque storyline, perhaps?