The Hero of Canton

"A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything." 

In our house, we like to watch the show "Firefly." If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest that you take 13 hours of your life to watch the whole season. Yes, I said season, as in only one. For some reason it got cancelled, but they did try to rush a movie together to appease all the truly (and rightly so) annoyed fans. So for an extra 2 or so hours you can watch "Serenity." It leaves a lot of questions unanswered, but it suffices, I suppose. 

One of the characters, the man they call Jayne, receives a hat from his mother and it's sort of become icon in the world of sci-fi-ness. Since we like the show and Jayne can be down-right hilarious and Fall is fast approaching (how is it almost October?!?) I decided to recreate the hat. 

The colors I ended up using aren't quite as garish as the ones used in the show, after all this hat was going to be worn in public by at least two members of my family and I did not want to expose them to ridicule (I have since made 2 virtually identical Jayne hats). 

These hats are quite easy to make. There are so many wonderful tutorials out there that I hardly feel like I can add to what has already been said, especially in the way of hats, but I will tell you this: 

For the toddler sized hat, I did 15 rows of HDC (HTR in UK terms) in the mustard yellow and 4 HDC rows in the burnt orange. For the ear flaps I did 9 rows HDC in Rust and started the decreases at row 4. The tassels are equal lengths of all three yarns braided and knotted and the pom-pom was made by wrapping all three colors together and cutting. I liked how the pom-pom wasn't really consistent and had a bit of ragginess to it so I left it in a rather untrimmed state.  For the adult sized hat, I did 16 rows of HDC in the yellow and 7 in the orange; the ear flaps, tassels, and poms are exactly the same. The use of HDC gives it quite a bit of stretch but isn't overly floppy looking when worn (and slept in). 

 

What's in a name?

I've thought long and hard about the decision to begin writing a blog. I've had several (at least 2) in the past and all (both) fell totally flat. I think the failure was in large part due to my own lack of focus and questioning what to share. In this day and age, anonymity, especially for children, is a pretty big deal so I don't want to infringe on their rights or lives. In addition, I wonder whether I have anything to say that hasn't already been said, anything to share that hasn't been shared.

I think I do.

I have things to say, things to share, that might not have been said or at the very least someone out there needs to hear. So I delve, yet again, into the blog world. This time hopefully with a sustainable idea and one that I am so very interested in and passionate about.

But what do I call my little space in the blogging universe? If you remember the beginnings of this internet phenomenon which resulted in picking an email address. This was the coolest thing my young self had yet to do and what did I choose? Space dragon. Yep. Totally true. Later I came to my senses and chose something much better. Briar Rose. (my name is Rosie so it makes so much more sense). But this space. This space needed a name that could not only be a little blogging corner, but also (in my wildest dreams) potentially a business name. Something I could fit on a label if needed. Something catchy yet subtle. Something that embodied me and what I wanted to accomplish. These are lofty goals for something that might not even last a month. And I'm not even sure if I've chosen the right name. However, this is it. Wish me luck!

Welcome to Rose & Toast

.... I am so glad that you're here!