[MR] I got the funk......hat

[RoxyGreenstreet at aol.com]

Greetings!
 
     I believe the bar parts are clove  hitches, and I think the cap section 
is something different also.  Maybe  tiny tiny knots, could be another stitch, 
I want to do some research  first.  It could be mounted over a little frame 
and then attached, with the  ropes sewn under it.  I want to look at bottle 
covers some before I would  start.
 
     Square knots can't make the bar  sections, the physics don't lend them 
selves in the flow of the project.   That is some sort of wrapping technique.
 
     There is a pipe cover in the Mariners  Museum that I want to take a 
better look at, it looks a lot like the cap  section, I think that is going to be 
the hard part.  I think more lines  could be added as the pattern goes along, 
to make the hat bigger around the  head.  I think this hat is fairly tall.
 
     I would make a bunch of cardstock  bobbins, and use 50 weight or lower 
linen Londonderry.  I would probably  start off a ring in the center of the 
crown.  I believe the cap portion  covers a rough start.  I would work over a 
frame, like a big coffee  can.  There could be a padded frame inside the lining 
of the hat since I  think it would lack much shape.  I also think there is a 
contrasting lining  that shows through the gaps in the knots.  The brim could be 
knots placed  over a padded brim affair and then it looks stitched to the 
hat, sort of like  some Italian women's headresses. 
 
     I think there are a lot of liberties  that would have to be taken to get 
the effect, the hatters who made this would  have been very secretive about 
their process.  (Heya, wes a gonna tella ya,  but then youse gots to sleep with 
da fishes) but it is macrame, just a little  smaller.
 
     Hey James, why don't cha make your  own hat?  Heheheheheh.
 
May your threads never tangle,
Rokse