Stitchin' at the Ball Game

What a great idea! Take your knitting to the ball game. Officially. Encouraged. Wow. I know I for one have knitted my way through many a highschool, middle school, and little league game. As well as movies, dance recitals, band concerts, choir concerts, cantatas, who knows what else?

I honestly don't remember the last time I went anywhere without my knitting. (Well, except to a paying job.)

And I don't plan to ever again. (again, except to the job thing).

The Return of the Can Hat

Joy, oh! Joy!
The Post Carrier Cometh, and I have my new copy of knit.1. And I’m having flash backs again. Remember, if you can remember the ‘60’s, you weren’t really there……….

Retro Alert: Who can tell me what year this must have been?

One of my hyper-crafty aunts used to sing a song about “Everything Old is New Again”. She also showed me how to make “can hats” from Beer Cans. One of my other crafty aunts was absolutely appalled that we were making hats from Used Alcohol Containers! And then she found out where we got most of our cans! And the Women and the Children were wearing them! What a family Discussion that was!
I remember scouring the local dump (yes, it was a Dump, not a Land Fill, or a Transfer Station, or a Recycling Center) for cans. What a memory, the cans had to be “de-gunked” because no-one separated their trash. Yummmmy. We especially liked the “new” aluminum cans. Most of the Beer Cans were Steel, and I don’t remember if pop came in cans at all back then. Coors was THE beer with aluminum cans, but it was rare. Coors had a limited shipping zone from Colorado, and we did most of our camping East of their territory. Believe it or not, there were actually people that would “smuggle” Coors, for a price. The Dads and Uncles were required to help if we were using the steel cans, as they were much more difficult to cut up and punch holes in. They were willing to do it though, for a Can Hat in their favorite brand, and very few Real Men drank Coors.
There was a very much more macho men’s version of the Can Hat, while the ladies and children’s hats had wider brims than this new one shows. The top was a circle of can also. It threw a much larger shadow, and protected more space from the sun’s heat and burns. Remember, this was before Sun Screen really came into play also. We had Sun Tan Lotion that helped you tan faster, not to block the UVs.
But, I digress, again, ….. We crocheted our hats together with spiffy yarn that matched the logo colors on the cans, and I don’t think it occurred to us to mix brands within one hat. All the panels matched each other! We bought our all acrylic yarn from TG&Y, or K-Mart, or maybe one of those New Wal-Marts! (Yep, I shopped at the first WalMart as a kid on vacation in Arkansas!)
One of the best things about these hats was that they could be folded up without ruining them. And, it was easy to wash the fishing bait and goo out of them if they got icked while fishing. The steel ones did sink awfully fast if dropped into the lake though.
I wonder if any have survived in the atic? Dad's was blue Hamm's and mine was brown Schlitz or Fallstaff? I think?

Who comes up with these names? Shivaree?

Do they have any idea what a Shivaree is? I really like this Berroco pattern, but why that name?

shiv·a·ree (shv-r, shv-r) n. Midwestern & Western U.S.
A noisy mock serenade for newlyweds. Also called regionally charivari, belling, horning, serenade.

Hmmm, usually knitting is a fairly quiet sport, isn't it?
Regional Note: Shivaree is the most common American regional form of charivari, a French word meaning "a noisy mock serenade for newlyweds" and probably deriving in turn from a Late Latin word meaning "headache."

Well, it just keeps getting better, doesn't it? How often do we find French words that combine the concepts of "Newlyweds" and "Headaches"? And then: Why would someone want to name a Sweater, a Scarf, and a THROW by that name? Yep, I've been to a real Ozark Shivaree. But the wedding was in June, so this wouldn't even be appropriate for the Shivaree-ers to wear. Maybe if the wedding, or honeymoon was in, say, what? October? Yeah, that's the ticket: When there's a fall wedding, you can wear this special Shivaree outfit to go down to the holler to THROW them A SHIVAREE and make up some racket to really make sure your best friends can really have a good headache for their honeymoon.

Yeah, Git' er done!
And now we know why those elopements are so darn popular.