There's nothing like a good hat -- an allegory?

[dsteele]

No, an allegory isn't a type of hat.

 

I spent this week at home on vacation. I probably should have gone out of town, but it was a relatively relaxing week and I spent some time reflecting.

 

I also bought a new hat! I'm excited about my new hat, even though I don't consider myself a hat person per se.

 

A hat can be all kinds of things . . . from the knit caps they put on the heads of babies to cover from sunshine and weather to religious wear.

 

I remember several hats being important in my life. My tastes have changed over the years, but there always seems to have been some sort of hat in my life.

 

When I was a young boy I was never without the plain red ball cap my father gave me. One time, when my Dad was late arriving at the family reunion at a cabin he'd never been to before, my Grandpa put my red hat on the mailbox to show my dad the driveway. Dad arrived while I napped and hadn't yet missed my hat. I missed my Dad, but not the hat.

 

Evnetually I outgrew that dear little red hat given to me by my Dad. I went for years without any hat at all and didn't notice the absence.

 

I had a series of hats when I joined Scouting. Some struck me as cool, but none ever really grabbed my heart. I had the blue cub scout cap with the yellow braid running up to the top of the crown and Akela embroidered in gold on the front, the overseas Boy Scout cap (the one you could fold over your belt), a cool one with an insulated cap and ear flaps of red knit fabric you could pull over your ears. But none of those was ever MY hat . . .know what I mean?

 

They weren't for everyday wear and even the ghost of those hats were nothing more than a happy thought.

 

When I got involved in high school forensics (speech) I somehow convinced my friends that we should each wear a different colored fedora. Fedora's weren't in style at the time, but we wore them with pride. I think it was the beginning for me of a hat I chose myself to wear freely, frequently, and with pride in spite of the opinions of others.

 

While I was in college, I had outworn that beloved fedora. It's a hat after all, and not impossible to destroy. In fact, I think I just wore it out.

 

But when I spent a summer in South America, I found another hat. This one was in the style of a fedora, but the felt was thicker and more durable. I wore it everywhere and it served me very well.

 

Somewhere, for some time, I outwore that hat too. I've spent the last 10 years looking for one like it.

 

I found it at the Levine Hat Company. They have a web site. I ordered the Logarmarsino Jack while I was on vacation. It's a fine felt of hare and otter fur in the fedora style. I got mine on Wednesday of last week and all is right with the world.

 

Do you have a favorite hat?

 

Just thinking alone on a Sunday afternoon . . .

 

Unc.

[Laurie]

Unc, I hope it was a good week, and enjoy your new hat

 

I was never much of a hat person, but I had a bandana that I loved. I wore it to day camp, to overnighters, pretty much any place I went to hike or spend time outdoors.

 

Interesting you should bring this up now, as I'm the market for a good hat. I just took a hike and brought home wonderful photos of a butterfly, a chickadee (I think--have to check that out), and many wildflowers. As I was putting the photos on the computer, I learned I brought home a black legged female deer tick--ugh!! Time for a hat...or maybe a new bandana. I miss mine; good memories were attached to it.(This message has been edited by Laurie)

[nutz4scouting]

While I've never been accused of thinking on a Sunday,or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday or Friday,

My favorite hat is my campaign hat. It's not the feel,or the looks, that I get in the hat,but the remembrance to an old memory or two.

Now my campaign hat doesnt really fit to well,(a size too big)

And not that I have ever gotten any more respect when I wear this hat,

And now that I think about the memories in that hat, Now I know why I try to not think on a Sunday,or a Monday, or a Tuesday,etc...

Thanks Unc,for the memories

[orennoah]

Yes, I DO have a favorite hat. It's sheltered my head in hot dessert sun and heavy rainfall. It's been frozen solid and covered in ice on back country snow camping trips.

 

It's an Australian (Boy) Scout hat. They look a lot like the $125 Acubra hats, sort of an Australian Outback hat and are made out of quality fur felt with real leather sweatbands. The best part is that they only cost $35, including shipping from the Scouts Australia on-line store, www.snowgum.com.au.

 

My Troop adopted them as our official leader hats. All registered adult leaders are entitled to wear them, as are all boys who complete the Council's Junior Leader Training Conference (soon to be Youth Leader Training).

 

My hat works well in both hot and cold and looks good, both in and out of uniform.

 

Alas, those zany Australians, who had the coolest uniform hats in all of Scoutdom, went the way of their English brethren and got rid of their uniforms, in favor of generic (to me, at least) polo shirts.

 

Thus, their wonderful hats are no longer available. A Scout tragedy.

 

I LOVE my hat and hate the idea that it cannot be replaced when it is, invariably, worn out.

 

- Oren

[hops_scout]

I have worn many hats and many varieties of such.

 

From my red and green Scout hat with the mesh back, to the organge and white Tiger Cub hat; to the tan and OD knit hat I wear in the winter to the OD boonie I wear whenever in the outdoors. To my Camo Patrol cap with a "Scout" scroll sewn on.

 

I have many baseball caps. In fact, I have nearly 40!

 

I have St Louis Cardinal hats, Fighting Illini hats, Dallas Cowboys hats, and many Waterloo Bulldogs hats.

 

My baseball hat I wear with pride. I am a very dirty type on the between the lines, and I wear a hat showing just that. My cap has not been washed in 3 years. It will never be washed! Started being black with an orange "W" it is now nearly more brown than black. A true baseball cap is dirty, discolored, and ratty. Mine looks like that:)

 

That is why it is my favorite hat to wear. While it doesnt fit all ocassions, it fits many and I always like wearing it:)

[frank10]

I've had many hats over the years, mostly of the ten gallon type. Mostly Stetson but a few other brands thrown in too. All but the first were/are Bever fur, the first was a cheap wool job. If I'm not on the motorcycle, it's on my head. It's been down several rivers and in a few hot tubs over the years but it holds it's shape just fine. May be not the shape it came out of the box with, but a fine shape just the same.

 

But back in my school days at an unnamed state University my self and a few friends had a diference of opion with some of the profs. Some of them felt that if it wasn't on the lesen plan we should not have an interest in it. Since several of us had been scouts this jsut didn't feel right. When the staff made their feelings know we felt the need to experss our side of it. Two cases of plain white ball caps to let the world know we were the good guys did the trick. Never forget the day that the Dean of Engineering came down from the main campus and was presented with one of the hats. Knowing only that it came from the Micro computer club he slaped it on his head and toured the campus. Shure caused a stir. If only I could go back...

[packsaddle]

I wear a brown leather western style that I bought years ago at Woolarock in Oklahoma. Made by Minnetonka...inexpensive but comfortable. It's my hat. An airline pilot in SLC recently offered to trade. I know he was joking but I politely declined, saying that there are lots of pilot hats, but only one of this one. Like I said, it's my hat.

 

The most memorable hat was one my father wore while sailing. It was a Greek captain's hat and he loved it. One of my lasting images was of him at the tiller, wearing that hat. A few days before he died, he slowly took the hat off his bed and quietly placed it on my head, sort of a passage, I suppose. At the funeral I placed it on his body so he could be buried with it, knowing somehow it would never really fit me. It was his hat.

[dsteele]

Amen, Pack. I understand about your father's hat.

 

When it comes down to it, we all have our own.

 

Unc.

[resqman]

I have never been a hat person. I have lots of hair and am almost always too hot. A hat agrevates the heat.

 

The only hat I remember wearing with any kind of pride was the red beret scout hat in the 70's. Our troop adopted the red scout beret as the offical troop hat. Some wore it like a board across their head. Others pulled down to their ears. I liked the way my flopped to one side like the military wear their berets. I think it made a jaunty presentation for a uniform hat.

 

Not terribly useful for those of us living in the south. A lined wool hat that did not provide any shade. Served only to trap the heat on your head.

 

From time to time I wish to have a hat. I look around and so many people have something upon their heads. Many as a fashion statement, many to cover their thinning hair. I find hats for the most part unconfortable and more trouble than their worth.

 

Someday I may find a hat that makes me want to wear it. Until then, I will just remember the red beret that made me feel special.

[ManyIrons]

I too never used to be a hat person, but as the years roll on Ive discovered that I need to wear one. My problem isnt thinning hair, its that Im still growing - - yup, and Im pushing my hair right out of the way. Therefore I now need to shade the top of my noggin (at least until I stop growing and my hair catches up).

 

I usually don a ball cap if Ill be outside for any length of time. Most of my hats are Scout related (wonder how that happened?), but my favorite is my BSA Expedition hat. It keeps the sun off of my neck and the rain off of my nose. Unfortunately its too hot to wear in the summer, but that just gives me another reason to look forward to cooler weather (i.e. Spring and Autumn).

 

You didnt ask, but Ill share. My least favorite hat is the green and red Scout hat. I have nothing against the hat, its just that I dont think I look very good in it. Of course that has more to do with my face than the hat itself.

 

I wonder how Id look in a fedora?

 

[Amen, Packsaddle]

 

[jr56]

My favorites are the campaign hat, and the broad brimmed venture hat.

When the weather gets cold, I have to wear the scout stocking hat to protect my ears. The first 2 hats cover my little bald head, and also keep the sun off my neck and ears.

[ManyIrons]

Okay, I checked out the good folks at the Levine Hat Company and I've decided that No, I would not look good in a fedora. I do however like the "Stetson Airway" (straw shade hat) - I think I could pull that one off. Too bad there isn't a Scout version of that hat style (he said while backing away from that particular slippery slope).

 

[sigh] If anyone from national is perusing this thread, I'd like to make a personal request to have nice, wide-brim, ventinlated hat for us leaders to wear in the summer, the above mentioned hat would make a nice addition. If there's no room to add it to the Scout Stuff catalog, may I suggest you remove the "Island Camp Shirt". A straw hat would fit nicely in that amount of space

[ozemu]

I don't like the Australian Scout hat. We have several in the hall. To me it looks American. No offence. Australian drovers do not turn the brims up at the sides. Why did Scouts Austraia do that?

 

I prefer the Aust Army slouch hat. Akubra - rabbit felt. Fits like a glove after a while. Parade standard looks a bit ordinary but a weathered old slouch is iconic.

 

But for practical reasons I wear a Dizabone hat that is squashable. It is waterproof when bought. Lasts if treated properly but who has the time? It can be put under a pack flap or in a canoe barrel etc and doesn't get out of shape. I put some weed eater cord inside the brim hem to keep the brim from getting out of shape. Except I recommend that you don't put a washed hat in the dryer when cord is in the hem.

 

 

My favourite beanie got hot washed (I did that - no blame to others) and is not in god shape. Acrylic. Wool itches.

 

My old unit hat was a beret. Rifle green. That hat means a lot.

 

I wish I had kept my Venturer beret. Maroon. But I gave it away. Wish I hadn't.

 

My old Scout hat (like your campaign hat) was well worn but got passed down to a younger second cousin. That was a good thing. They are not out of date until holes appear.

 

We used to attach various types of nuts and seeds to the head strap cords tied at the front. The bigger the nuts the better. Was that an insecurity? Heck I was barely pubescent when I gave up the Scout hat and took up the beret.

 

[SemperParatus]

My favorite hat blew off my head on the swinging bridge on Grandfather Mountain. I miss it. Family and friends have given me new hats over the years, but they are just not the same. You always remember your first love. Thanks for helping me to remember.

[DugNevius]

Von Dutch

 

i used to always wear a Miami Hurricanes hat. I wasnt a fan of the team at all. When i was 10 i told a relative wanted a Florida Gators hat because i liked alligators. They made a mistake and got me Miami. Up until 11th grade i always had a miami hurricanes hat, one after another.

 

I also like scullies, or beanies or gobalines... how ever yu call a knit wool hat.