Following the Hat trail, from west to east
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 10:57PM After our fun time in Cheshire, we headed east and slightly north to Leeds, to visit the fabulous Baa Ram Ewe.
One thing that's fascinated me about each shop that I've visited is seeing how the personality of the owner brings out the best of their knitting group (and shop) and Verity is no exception. She brings in a busy, friendly and chatty crowd and if you're not careful they can wear you out! There were knitters everywhere, around the crowded table and spilling out in all directions, until even the floor at the rear of the room was covered. Even the main part of the shop stayed busy throughout the evening!
Needless to say, with so many folk it was a little difficult to get individual shots of knitters in their Hats but that's cool, group shots say just as much.
(not sure why we have such serious faces in this one... think they were trying to keep a straight face!)
As we'd done before at Fibre + Clay Hats aplenty were being tried on and advice was on offer for which styles suited who and how to wear them. There was one lady who swore she didn't suit Hats yet before long we'd found the right one for her and then it proved tricky getting it off her head!
It always seems to be the way that berets suit more women and that's pretty much all everyone reaches for when faced with a pile of woolly Hats. Or at least in my experience. So you can imagine how chuffed I was to see an adult version of Tinker! It pleases me no end when I see WW kiddy Hats on grown-ups :) (and yes I know, Tinker does come in adult sizes but who doesn't see it as a Hat for little people?)
If you ever find yourself in this part of the world, do go visit Baa Ram Ewe. It's an amazing shop with a really lively atmosphere and ultra friendly staff and customers. Honestly, they couldn't do enough for me. Verity has worked hard on the shop and it's environment and she's created a vibrant place which welcomes all knitters.
Thank you guys for having me!
As you'll know by now, we didn't want this tour to be all work and no play! Whilst here we visited the Abbey House Museum, which is set up to not only show the history of the local area but also be pretty kid friendly, too.
Aran got to play at having a tea party:
Whilst Mummy got to play at being a Mad Hatter:
Accommodation wise, we found ourselves a nice little site in Bardsey, north of the centre. Now, we had real trouble trying to find a campsite that would take us. Not because they had a ban on bus dwelling travellers with wool dreads, but because most of the ones we found online that were within a decent distance from the shop were over 18's only. Be warned if you want to camp in this area and you have little people - your choices are limited.
Most of the campsites were for static caravans and mobile homes, with a few pitches for tourers and motorhomes. The site we stayed on, Haighfield Caravan Park, were really friendly yet you could tell that they weren't geared towards tourers. That said, I'd say they were thinking along those lines, as the toilets and facilities were very clean and very new. What was lovely was the amount of green space we had to play with - we pretty much had a 5 acre field all to ourselves and Aran could run around without a care in the world!
All this Hat talk has got me thinking - would you be interested in a blog post or 3 or an article of some kind, on how to wear Hats and how to choose a style that suits you? Quite a few folk have expressed an interest but I think I may need your help in putting it all together - there are a lot of styles and different shaped faces and heads to cover!
Reader Comments (11)
I would /definately/ be interested in a post about what suits different people - i really struggle to what if any hats would suit me!
Now that would be a challenge for you to see if any hat would suit me ;-)
I dont mind being a 'model' on Thurs/Friday if you want, but it might scare people away from your stand !!!
I love all of the photos of loads of people with WoollyWormhead hats one :) I do like the mad hatter hat too though ;)
I think a post about what suits different people would be very good too. See you soon!
Yes Yes Yes on the blog post re hats! I was just thinking how I wish I could be there to try on hats and find my hats.
I'd love anything you'd say about hats!
I would definitely like to see a post on wearing hats and choosing which shaped hat to make. I love hats (the dafter the better) but have found that most berets don't seem to suit me.
I think a how to choose a style and wear it tutorial would be awesome! I also want to know how you did your dreads... ;-D
That sort of post would indeed be valuable.
Have you seen the Fit to Flatter series at the blog Stash Knit Repeat? http://www.stashknitrepeat.com/
She's offering her information for free on the blog and optionally bundled together at the end as a pdf for a small fee. You might want to think about doing something similar, or even just offering it for a small fee.
Did you also partake in the company of a pair of other ladies?
Yes, please! I am sure lots of folks would appreciate to find out the truth about head matters. I started winter accessory production back during the heat wave (yep, call me mad). But me too, I am sooo unsure about what suits best for which face and head shape. Not an easy task. And it's so sad when you have finished something great and you can't put it on your own hat cause you look like a cow with digestion problems... ;-)
That is a fabulous idea for a post or two!