1970s Hat made with StrawTex

This week's hat is from a flyer I bought at Vintage Knits; "Bucilla's easy-to-crochet Bonnets and Bags".
​
When I got it I realized all of the patterns except one use a specific type of fiber to make them. It was something I'd never heard of called StrawTex. StrawTex is 100% viscose rayon, a fiber made from wood pulp. I managed to find some StrawTex and HiStraw (I'll use that for next week's hat) on eBay at about $1 per skein and it included the perfect color to make the purple sun hat on the bottom right of the cover. While some of the other hats would have used less Strawtex, I wasn't sure that some of those beanie type hats would be more than just decorative.

The pattern asked for eight skeins of StrawTex and each skein is only 24 yards. I had six of the lighter purple and added a darker purple and navy skein to get up to eight. It said to use an H hook or the hook to get the specified gauge. I used a G hook.

This starts out by using a plastic ring at the top and while I was skeptical at first it was much easier to do that than try other methods with this type of fiber. The rest of the pattern was very simple and I was surprised that this fiber wasn't that hard to work with. I've used polypropylene fiber from Spinnerin before and that was sticky and hard to work with but this wasn't that sticky. My hands did get tired faster than if it was yarn though. I used the navy where the cord trim would go and used the darker purple on the very last rows to give it an ombre effect. I did not have enough StrawTex to do the cord trim so I did that in cotton instead. It's hard to see in the photos because it's much smaller than their version but it works to make the hat a little tighter.

The finished hat had a very ruffly brim that I didn't love and since this was a natural fiber I thought it might block. The fiber label said it was washable in lukewarm water so it shouldn't damage it at least. I wet just the brim and the StrawTex got very soft and I was able to pin it in the brim width I wanted. This is not a hat you should wear in the rain though. You would have a soggy mess on your hands...or head.

I'm giving this a 5 out of 5 stars. The pattern was simple and I used a fiber that was new to me. Next week I'll have another hat using the same type of fiber from a different leaflet.

I tried to take a photo with Tayla for the hat. This is how that went:

While I enjoy making vintage patterns I definitely don't want our country to go back to the 60s or 70s. I've been donating to Just the Pill for a few years and I believe in their mission to provide reproductive health care to to people who live in rural areas and to areas that are on the borders of the states it operates in. They use mobile clinics to reach these areas and provide the services. If you would like to learn more about them go to justthepill.com.
​
​