Pantone provides a library of colour standards. It is used globally in graphic and multimedia design and the textile, fashion, interior design and home industries. The Pantone Color Institute was established to provide designers and brands with colour consulting and trend forecasting. The first ever colour of the year was Cerulean in 1999. A quarter of a century later, it is Pantone 13-1023 Peach Fuzz.

When it comes to fashion, not everyone wants to wear a garment in peach fuzz. It is a colour that particularly suits those with delicate warm-toned skin, often the blonde or red-haired with blue or green eyes. I wondered if I could create a hat featuring peach, but wearable by those with different complexions, hair and eye colours. Maybe I could mix colours? Some colours that complement peach include the earth tones like sage green, terracotta and desert sand.

Neutrals such as grey, caramel, and off-whites can subdue a vibrant peach colour. I came up with the idea to use a neutral brim to border a more colourful hat crown. In the hats below, a neutral colour is next to the face. The grey works well for someone whose skin tone looks better with cool colours. A warmer neutral such as beige can do the same for a person whose skin tone suits warm colours.

“I can’t wear wool next to my skin. It’s too itchy! I want to keep my head warm on freezing winter days. What can I do?”

A microscope gives us some clues. If you look at sheep wool under a microscope, you can see the fibres have a scaled surface. Sheep also secrete lanolin through their sebaceous glands. Lanolin is a natural oil, an allergen that can irritate the skin of sensitive people. The degree of itch is related to the amount of scaliness and lanolin. Also, the thicker the fibre, the more likely it is to itch. 

Non-itch natural fibre options include bamboo, silk, cotton, and alpaca. The warmest of these is hypoallergenic alpaca whose fibres have a smooth surface and lack lanolin. Not itch-free, but less itchy with fine smooth fibres, are cashmere, merino, and blends like cotton wool and tencel wool.

Acrylic and synthetic yarns can feel soft and comfortable but are not that warm. Again, looking through the microscope, sheep’s wool fibres have kinks and bends that trap heat. Alpaca fibres are hollow so retain even more heat.

The ideal insulation is not too chilling or overheating. Here are some other ideas to moderate your body temperature. Cover or uncover your ears. Choose a hat with a folded brim for another layer of warmth. Wrap your neck with a knit scarf. And for those extra cold days, throw your jacket hood over your hat (no pompom as it gets in the way).

30% off Hats by Tracy J! It’s time to refresh my collection and make room on the shelf for new hats. In the retail industry, the hats on sale may be considered “dusty inventory”, but there’s nothing dusty in the classic cloches, slouchy beanies, and reversible summer bucket hats that need a head to love.

Hats by Tracy J will be tagging onto the Winter Warehouse Sale at Tenth & Proper, 4483 West 10th Avenue in Vancouver from January 16-27, 2024.

After many crocheted hats, a stash of leftover yarn remains in my storage cupboard. While I come from a “waste not, want not” upbringing, I also do not have limitless closet space and love to clear clutter. What to do with all the unused yarn? In the past, I have used yarn scraps to make flowers, pompoms and tassels to embellish hats. I have repaired old clothes with visible mending techniques such as darning, embroidery and crocheting. I have crocheted miniature hats as Christmas tree decorations.

Sorting through my stash, I found a few larger partial balls of yarn, not enough for a hat, but maybe enough for an ear warmer? In fact, yes! I crocheted three ear warmers, also known as headbands. The first was striped in rows of double crochet with two different natural shades of a llama/merino wool blend. The second and third were made using identical post stitch patterns, but demonstrate how varying colours and textures of the raw material can affect the final look of a piece. 

For anyone with a stash like mine, there are plenty of creative ideas on the internet. Below are illustrations of the mug rug and a crocheted granny square pouch that I crocheted with small lengths of yarn. Unleash your own imagination and design something unique.

Please come to the Wesbrook Village Holiday Market at UBC. Hats by Tracy J will be there, along with other vendors selling unique gifts, crafts and treats. Live music will be performed by the Willy Blizzard Duo.

When? Thursday, December 14, 2023, 2-4 PM

Where? Tapestry at Wesbrook Village, 3338 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC

Where I live, I see fall and winter outerwear in black, grey and khaki. It’s neutral and goes with everything, but admittedly a bit drab. I was delighted to have so many customers at the Dunbar Holiday Craft Fair try on and purchase hats of different hues. They looked fabulous with colour topping their heads and framing their faces. Some even chose hats with flowers and pompoms.

It’s common to see children sporting brightly coloured hats. My latest interest is combining colour and incorporating visual fun. In addition to blue for boys and pink for girls, there are countless colour options that are playful and punchy.

As adults venturing into the world of colour, maybe we are all not yet willing to dive into too much colour. I had an idea that I applied to a classic beret pattern, “double-strand crochet”. I used a neutral black yarn as one strand and another coloured yarn as the second strand. Holding the two strands together, I crocheted them as if they were one strand to create a unique colourway. Two other advantages of this method are a thicker yarn and a firmer crochet fabric.

While I was in Belfast, Prince Edward Island, I purchased some locally sourced hand-dyed worsted wool. I selected three different colourways—Stones, Gale and Forget-Me-Nots–aptly named for their Maritime roots. I wanted to experiment with these variegated wools to determine which crochet stitches and which hat patterns would show them off best.

Variegated yarns are created by dyeing yarn with different hues or colour. How the yarn is dyed affects the finished knitted or crocheted piece. Some multi-coloured yarns give the effect of self-striping. This results when yarn is dyed with long repeating sequences of different colours. In contrast, shorter colour repeats can result in a finished product with pops of colour that pool or sit next to each other. A hand-dyed yarn with random splashes of colour give a more haphazard appearance, with neither striping or pooling of colour.

Variegated yarns work up nicely with simple crochet stitches and with small textured stitches. Single or half double crochet stitches, moss stitch, seed stitch, and bobbles are subtle and let the colours of the yarn take centre stage. In the same way, choosing a simple hat pattern, such as a beanie or slouch hat, allows the colourway to shine. Seeing colours develop and change as I crochet is fun and keeps me engaged in my projects with variegated yarns. 

We hope to see you at the Dunbar Holiday Market & Craft Fair on Saturday, November 25th, 2023. More information coming soon.

Prince Edward Island is home to many artisans and craftspeople. Having recently travelled along the Points East Coastal Drive and Green Gables Shore, I discovered that the arts and crafts culture arose from a need for self-sufficiency in an island community. I could see that both heritage and the coastal and pastoral vistas have a huge influence on the products made by hand.

Although not exclusively, fibre arts was my focus. Here are a few of my many experiences. At the Messy Crow Studio in Souris, I met Lisa whose needle felting art is whimsical and colourful. I was describing some of the hats that I make and she immediately embellished the beanie of my chosen funny-faced ball ornament with a flower.

The wool is lightly processed and hand dyed using “a non-hazardous, non-chrome, low impact, heavy metal-free acid dye.” The resulting wool is versatile and light and the range of colours produced is amazing.

Brenda is a knitter of cozy throws, sweater shawls, messy bun hats, headbands and neck warmers. Her favourite medium is bulky yarns, but she also knits up things like mug warmers in lighter weight fibres.

“How we all love to create! It is a little bit of the divine in us.” 

(From the Complete Journals II: 100, April 19, 1904 of Lucy Maud Montgomery)

The traditional granny square is simple and easy to crochet. Made up of double crochet and chain stitches, it is made in the round starting at the centre and working outward. Granny clusters of three double crochet stitches are worked into chain spaces in the preceding round. Early on, grandmothers, “grannies”, used leftover scraps of wool to crochet small squares, typically 4-6 inches, and join them to make afghans or other household items. Projects were portable, economical, and practical.

The humble granny square evolved over time to be a symbol of counterculture in the 1960s and a popular DIY motif of the 1970s. Modern-day granny squares have made a resurgence in fashion and home decor. There is renewed interest in new motif patterns and styles. The granny square need not be square; it can be crocheted in any number of shapes, including circles, triangles and hexagons. For the maker, the fun continues in experimenting with different combinations of colours. It is common to see granny squares in contrasting complementary colours joined and outlined in black. My preference is softer, an analogous palette where I combine colours adjacent to each other on the colour wheel, then add in a neutral. Another attractive option is to use different shades and tints of a single colour.