Rose Window Hat: A Fiber Artist’s Giving Tuesday Initiative

Notre Dame burnedIn April, I like so many watched in horror as Notre Dame burned.  I wanted to do something to help, even though I lived half a world away.  A medievalist who admires stained glass (including the irreplaceable beauty of the cathedral’s famous rose windows), I designed this hat as a tribute.   Made from our farm’s hand-dyed sheep’s wool to celebrate the window as an art-inspires-art piece, this hat also gives to the efforts of rebuilding after the fire.

$10 from the sale of each Rose Window Hat will be donated to French Historical Society’s Notre Dame Fire Restoration Fund.  You can learn more here.

Feel good about your purchase:  supporting both a contemporary fiber artist and the preservation of a medieval masterpiece.  View my full Etsy listing for the Rose Window Hat here.

Three ways to wear the hat!

Slouch

slouch hat

Beanie (fold up brim)

beanie hat

Beret/Tam

beret hat

Use the pictures included as inspiration for shaping and wearing your Rose Window Hat in whatever style fits you best.  The ribbed brim is naturally stretchy, and the hat fits most adult/teen sizes.  Hand crocheted using an adaptation of tapestry crochet technique.

Care instructions:  hand wash with mild soap (like Ivory).  Lay flat to dry, do not wring.  Wool from our farm’s flock of happy sheep is warm and cozy, and the hat should last for many years of enjoyment.

If you or someone you love has a heart for the rose windows of Notre Dame, please feel free to share this post with them (or send them a hat!).  I’ve set aside enough yarn to make 80 of them, and I hope they all find wonderful homes.  I’m grateful that the windows were saved from the terrifying fire, and I have hope that they shall be able to last for many generations to come.