The Summer of the Slug

Hello from the end of summer. I think we had a summer. I remember something about an extreme heat wave and then crazy forest fires and people praying for rain…which we got…and got…and got. I then remember watching videos of Beavers swimming down the Bedford highway and an absence of roads and a run on dehumidifiers. It was a very good year for slugs. Ahh, to be a slug in 2023.

But alas, I’m a human hat maker and while I confess I did envy the ease of life for slugs this year, I realize it’s generally challenging for humans everywhere right now. So, this year, more than any other year I am beyond grateful for the beautiful ladies and sometimes gentlemen who chose to support me. I really loved scrolling through my phone and looking at your beautiful faces. I made the above hat for Terina. She ordered a different one, but she was game to let me play around and create a special Terina version of my Indigo dyed Hemp Braid hats.

This is my dear friend Cynthia in her canvas cap. I know, she looks beautiful in this cap, but I really can’t take any credit. She’s just beauty incarnate. Her inside is even prettier than her outside. I took a green cap for myself this year and I wore it every single day. These are available in my web shop. Feel free to request a custom colour. I might say no, but if it’s a colour I love, I might say yes.

Another beauty who left my studio with a canvas cap. You can find the canvas caps HERE.

I don’t have a photo of Leslie or Anna who both requested a black Franny hat within days of each other, but thanks to these two Ladies I have one available right now and I can still make a couple more. Black is a hard colour to dye, so I tend to avoid it, but I really love how elegant the Franny hat looks in Black. Would also make an adorable cap. You can find the Franny hats HERE. Did you know that I use cutting edge, state of the art technology (1910 style) to make my Franny hats?

Here’s a one of a kind version that I have available right now. It’s naturally dyed with both Madder root and Indigo. I love red and blue together. Makes me think of the circus. If this one needs to be yours please make sure you have a medium head size. You can find it HERE.

I do have a few more hat photos to share with you, but I added lots of treasures to my Destash shop, which I have renamed, Ribbons and Pretty Things. I have a dream of selling lots more ribbons and pretty things. This is mostly because I have a dream of buying lots more ribbons and pretty things. So, if you would like to enable my ribbon addiction while satisfying your own, have a look HERE to see if there’s anything you can’t live without. I’ll be adding more goodies every week.

I know I alluded to this season being kind of hard, but there has been a simultaneous phenomena that has been truly wonderful. All summer people kept bringing me little gifts while I sat at the Farmer’s Market. One week it was a book, then a hat stand, then a magazine article in a folder and then a lady came and brought me some beautiful ribbon. When Pam, above, told me she was coming for a visit I knew exactly what hat to make for her. She lives in Florida for most of the year and she loves bright, funky fabrics. There was this small amount of pretty chicken ribbon that was gifted to me just begging to go home with Pam. I truly need to order more of this ribbon. I know where to get it, too. I have one finger hovering on “add to cart”. I’m just waiting to see if other people love ribbon as much as I do.

I made this felt hat at the beginning of the summer. Each sheep is made from a different Nova Scotia Sheep. I remember standing next to my neighbour at the market and she wondered who would end up with the sheep hat. I said, the right woman will come along who has the confidence to wear it and has some connection to sheep. On cue, along comes this beautiful woman, exuding confidence. She walks straight to the sheep hat and tells me how she grew up on a sheep farm. Needless to say, the hat found its rightful head.

Speaking of felt making….Would you like to learn how to felt? I’m working on my fall class line up. Felting is so much fun! A bag is the perfect way to learn how to felt a 3d object. Hats are rather enormous and not ideal for beginners, but once you can make a bag, you can make a hat or a bowl or a cat house….really anything. It’s all the same technique. I’ll be sending out another newsletter soon announcing my fall classes. Hope you can join me…and I really, truly will make video classes for those who can’t join me in person.

I mean, just look how cute this thing is. You can totally make your own and make it just the way you like it.

Thanks for spending some time with me. Be well and talk very soon. Anna