Hats Are Not Just For Christmas

This year I was gifted 5 hats for Christmas

The Fun 

Wookie Hat from fellow star wars fans Andy and Linda.

The Silly

Knitted Viking helm complete with knitted beard from my brother and his wife Carmen who bravely cooked a Christmas meal for 15 of us on Christmas Day.

The Very Silly

Elf with ears from my daft game shop friends and larpers Andy and Heather.

The Practical

Waterproof hat also from my Andy and Heather.

The Excellent

Knights Templar Hat from Andy and Linda.

Happy Christmas 2016

A collection of photo edited images of me in a with Christmas themes

Sailors Cap GI Style

American Navy Sailors cap GI style, GI standing for general issue.

This hat also known as Dixie Cup Hat or Dog Bowl based on the shape of disposable cup or dog bowl one assumes. 

While researching this hat I came across this fact that in April 2016 it was decided women in the US navy would be allowed to wear the same hat as their male counterparts, bit slow on equality there.

 Made of white canvass, the white seems to have come about to help operations in hot climates or it could be because they were made from spare sail cloth, the latter seems more likely.

Practical hat

The brim can be flipped up to stop water running down your face into your eyes.

The brim can be turned down to protect your ears from sunburn or shield your eyes.

The hat can be used as a flotation device by capturing a pocket of air.

Can be stowed away flat since space on ships can be short in short supply.

This is cheap copy of an American Navy cap and is basically bush hat with the brim turned up, but looks similar enough to be sold as one. A bush hat in itself is based on fisherman's hat so this does lead back to source. 

How the West Was Lost

This hat is a fedora with cowboy hat styling, the band around the crown is leather and thin giving a cowboy hat look, the brim is slightly wider than typical fedora. 

Most cowboys hat have a wider brim this. 

Most cowboys hats have a wider brim than this. 

This hat is very battered, the felt as lost a lot of its shaping, another cheap find at car boot market.

Danger Girl Hat

This baseball cap was gift and takes it theme from the Danger Girl comic books.

Its a baseball cap, can't say much more about it.

Seen here wearing it at the Chatworth Country Fair

Get On Your Bike

Cycling laws in the UK do not currently require you to wear a safety helmet and as I'm not a cyclist I don't feel its my place to comment on if this is a good or bad thing, the law that is, wearing a helmet just makes sense even if it provides a small percent of protection its just got to be worth it.

I have not really cycled since my school years, however a friend took up cycling and needing to get fit I decided it might be idea to give it a go so I bought a cheap bike and helmet and then quickly decided the roads a scary dangerous place for anyone on a bike.

I suggest all car drivers try it and they will give more room in the future when passing cyclists

The cycling helmet is basically a low speed shock absorber for your brain, they are not designed for high speed impacts to protect against object hitting them like some safety helmets. 

Evidence says cycling helmets have reduced head injuries somewhere between 18%  to 50% 

Those against helmets point to helmet strangulation from the straps and the fact helmeted riders take greater risks or look more competent to other road users so give them less space. These are all claims without evidence as far as I can see.

Made usually of expanded polystyrene or dense foam and then coated in plastic,straps and a liner are then added.

Witchfinder Hat

So called witch finder hats are wide brimmed, with a tall flat topped tapered crown and with a large single buckle around the base of crown at the front.

The hat gets its name from the witch finder general Mathew Hopkins who hanged over 100 people accused of Witchcraft and can be seen wearing a hat of this shape in contemporary imagery.

Historically this shape of hat is a 17th Century hat style worn during the English Civil War and would have been made of felt.

The stiff dark leather witchfinder's hats you will find nowadays come from modern imagery and films.

The proportions have all been exaggerated in the hat I'm wearing. 

This is very heavy hat, but not uncomfortable to wear, you just have to remember your a bit taller and duck or you will lose the hat to low hanging branches or beams

Coonskin Cap

The coonskin cap was originally worn by native Americans but were adopted by some European colonists as hunting hats 

The hat is associated mainly due to film and folklore with Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, although according to Wikipedia the font of all knowledge Daniel Boone never wore a coonskin hat.

A real coonskin hat is made from the whole skin from raccoon, tail and all stretched over the head.

This reproduction was a gift from my mother when she visited Texas this Autumn, the label says Dan'l Boone Coonskin cap.

Why am I wearing fur inside, its too warm

I surrender

I need a bigger beard

100th Hat Blogged

I've now blogged about 100 hats, so here is collage of the hats so far

I have plenty more to follow.

French Foreign Legion Hat

This is a reproduction Kepi Hat from a ex BBC drama prop box and cost me £2

The Kepi hat is most commonly associated with the French army, french police or american civil war.

The badge, colours and style of this one as far is as I can tell make it a copy of a WWII French Foreign Legion Kepi Hat.

The term Kepi is french word which respelled from German word Kappe, which means Cap.

Swiss Baseball cap

This baseball cap was purchased as I left Switzerland on business trip would not think to buy from a airport shops normally but there was deal on and I fell for it.

Not got anything to add other than its well made and I got a t shirt as below in the deal