Today is yet another birthday. (And thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more.)

The birthday boy is that mysterious shadowy figure whom I refer to as my son, even though his identity remains so vague - he may be Tibor Szégy-Légy, or he may be Gus Norbeck, or in an ectoplasmic sort of way he may even be Allan Janus hisself; it’s all very confusing, and what’s a mother to do? At any rate, whoever he may be, he hangs out over at Panabasis, along with our old friend Archie and the other denizens of the Janus Museum; and whoever he may be, his birthday gift is The Green Blob - along with his Mum’s blessings.

If you follow Panabasis at all, then you probably already know that Tibor and Gus and Allan, whatever they may say about each other, all share one special trait: a fondness for interesting headgear. Some time ago Panabasis featured a fearfully wistful and moving item about smoking caps. Well, thinks I… I bet I could do something like that. And for a while I seriously considered paraphrasing the very handsome cap shown there, as worn by Bob Hoskins in Cousine Bette, or the excellent one available from James Lock Hatters. But seeing as Gus had already acquired a Kufi and Tibor had threatened to do the same, I decided to try for a little diversity; I cast about for a different model.

I settled at last on this as a guideline for dimensions. I knew the drape and feel would be quite different, since I was working in felt and the original was velvet - but I liked the idea of a fez-like size and shape, with the scope that it would offer for, um, whimsical decoration.

I think it was a good choice. Here’s my version:

Gentleman’s Smoking Cap

Originally I was going to make my cap out of the same dark red stuff I’d used for Archie, but for this purpose I wasn’t quite satisfied with the way it swatched and felted. So I took a stash dive, and unexpectedly turned up a good-sized ball of ancient dark green handspun, the last remnant from a sweater I’d made in another life for my ex-husband. (Which sweater is another story; if I ever find pictures from that bygone era, I’ll tell it.) And knew This Was It. And then, as if further proof were needed, came the miracle of the matching lining fabric. (See under: Horse, Gift; Mouth, Not Looking In.) Decision made.

As you may have noted the other day, I started with my favorite medallion top, adding a spoke to make a star/flower shape; then turned the corner and worked two lace patterns down the sides. Regular readers of Panabasis will not need to think twice about my reasons for choosing “Janus” and “Cat’s Paw.”

The felted-lace thing may require some explanation, though. Invented or unvented, I’m not sure which, but I stumbled across this technique by chance when I made the original Swan Lake boots - because I’d hand-felted most of my swatches I hadn’t realized at first how thoroughly the real fulling process was going to close the eyelets, more or less defeating the purpose of the lace altogether. So I regrouped and decided to use the vestigial holes as embroidery guides, which had two consequences - it gave me a reliable base for even embroidery, and it allowed me to “sink” the stitches into the fabric, which made for a nice embossed effect. Oh, sorry, three consequences - it also looked wicked cool; at least I thought so. So I’ve taken it a step further, in a couple of different directions. I now thread nylon cord through the holes before fulling to make sure they won’t get lost entirely; and I’m a little selective as to which holes I actually use, and which ones I connect to which. Here is the victim, trussed for its ordeal:

Of course I forgot (don’t I always?) to take Before pictures of the lace as knitted. “Cat’s Paw” is pretty standard - I used one of the six-hole versions (not my preference as a rule, but it works well as a base for embroidery). As for “Janus” - here (with more acknowledgments than ever to Barbara G. Walker II) is what it looks like knitted:

and here’s my chart for working it:

… and here it is after fulling, selectively embroidered with simple double lines of chain stitch, worked in gold silk:

Other details:

Crown

Crown, Center Detail

Edge and Lining

Hand-knotted Tassel

And here The Boy^TM demonstrates that, hey, what do you know, the cap fits him too (he also bats his eyelashes to remind me that he too, ahem, has just had a birthday).

He wants one. So does Lauren.

Guess I’d better start shopping for more of that gold silk cobwebweight….

Late-Breaking Smoking Cap Coverage!

This just in! Reportage of the Smoking Cap in situ:

I guess this answers the question of just whose birthday it is. (Or whose photo-op, anyway.) Tibor, with a trace of the green-eyed monster in his delivery, relays this from Gus (can you see why I have difficulty keeping track, here?):

Here ’tis - as you see, it fits fine. I’m experimenting with different ways of wearing it - cocking it well back zouave-style, centered in the classic Orthodox priest fashion, or off to the side with a dashing 30 mission crush, as shown here. Oh, it’s the jolliest cap!

I think I can tell which style is which… sort of. And I must say, no matter what Tibor may think - that there Gus, he is a fine, dashing fellow, after all. (And so is Leroy, with that elegant tail. Can’t wait to see how he looks modeling the Smoking Cap.)

Anyway, happy birthday, Sonnele, whoever you are!

(…. and my apologies to Mrs. Calabash….)

 

This entry was posted on Friday, June 15th, 2007 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Swan Lake, Family, Felting, Hat Designs, Smoking Cap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.