I've found my calling

... and, unfortunately, it's making silly crochet beer can hats.

Yup, turns out I'm good at a completely worthless craft.

It all started about a year ago when, out of the blue, my brother asked if I knew how to make a beer can hat. Sadly, I had no idea. Later, I gave it more thought and figured if I could help my little brother look like a jackass, far be it from me to deny him his dream. I then promptly forgot all about it.

In case you're not familiar with these ridiculous hats, they were big during the bi-centennial year celebration of our country's birth. Budweiser beer can hats in red, white and blue were everywhere that fine year. (I know there were at least a few dads on our cul-de-sac who wore them. They bring to mind drunken goof balls so I must have some hilarious Fourth of July memory I've yet to unearth that will explain it all.) Then, mercifully, all of those awful hats vanished.

My bro has wanted a beer can hat ever since a friend gave them as groomsmen gifts at his wedding. Can you imagine the meltdowns if a woman ever tried that stunt with her bridesmaids?

Well, fast forward to my recent success making granny squares and conquering other basic crochet stitches. I started feelin' pretty cocky. I decided to give the hat a try. I called my bro to discuss the "style" of the hat. He really wanted it to be a Pabst Blue Ribbon hat and instructed me to "make it as ugly as you can". Now there's a fun challenge. He supplied the Pabst cans and I selected the ugliest most bozo saturated color of red I could get my hands on. Turns out these things aren't so hard to make. With a little help from Stitchymcyarnpants I was on my way.

Behold my masterpiece:


My poor camera could barely handle that tone of red. God help us.

I delivered the magic hat to my brother this weekend and I don't know when he's ever been happier with a gift. He LOVED it. Mission accomplished. Now, the kids want one. My nephew wants an A&W Rootbeer hat (that can double as a Cleveland Browns hat with a brown and orange theme) and Little Miss has ordered a Squirt hat in bright green and pink piping. My sister in law wisely declined my offer to make her a hat. However, this morning she called to tell me I'd better work out a pricing structure because "others are going to want them". What?! LOL! She wasn't kidding. Apparently my brother showed off his hat to some friends and it was a big hit.

My brother will debut the magic hat at the Fourth of July block party. I'll be sure to update ya'll on how it goes. In the mean time, here is shot of my bro wearing the jackass hat in all it's glory.


(In case you're wondering about the goofy expression on his face. Well, let's just say the man never takes a serious photo. The one time I thought I'd managed a good picture of him, upon closer inspection, I discovered he had been flipping me off and therefore nullified the nice pic I thought I'd captured. Even here, as I warned "You're SO going up on my blog with that dumb look on your face.", he wasn't phased. The man wanted a beer can hat. I think it's safe to say he really doesn't care what others think.)