Internationally-known felt artist Chad Hagen shows just how simple, good-looking, and varied feltmaking can be, as she guides you through the basics of making more than a dozen spectacular hand-sculpted hats. Here are 15 patterns with endless variations, all in classic shapes, and transformed into unique fashion statements with fanciful touches and exquisite embellishments. Berets have 'wings,' snoods come with long tails just right for scrunching up, and caps feature soft felt spikes or long "dreadlocks" to tie in knots. Even the most traditional designs, such as pillboxes and brimmed hats, sport whimsical tiny safety pins or beads and buttons. For those who prefer not to start from scratch, there's even advice on jazzing up store-bought hats.

Beautifully rendered, heartbreakingly adorable, and wonderfully wacky knitted caps for newborns and toddlers Thirty-eight million Americans knit, and that number grows every day. The baby hat is the perfect project for knitters of any level, with enchanting patterns that are easy enough for rank beginners but also interesting enough for the most accomplished needle wielders, in yarns that range from silk and linen to cashmere and mohair. Susan Anderson’s Itty-Bitty Hats presents thirty-eight irresistible designs for infants and toddlers—fun, hip, creative patterns with decorative flourishes that are witty, whimsical, and undeniably unique. The projects are arranged by order of difficulty and accompanied by beautiful photographs, instructive how-to illustrations, and utterly clear instructions (with no confusing abbreviations or insider shorthand). Anderson also provides an indispensable introductory section on stitches, materials, equipment, terminology, and techniques, allowing even the most inexperienced knitter to get started confidently. Made for boys and girls, by parents and grandparents, aunts and even uncles, and, of course, best friends, the handmade hat is the perfect shower or birth or birthday gift—and Itty-Bitty Hats is the perfect gift for any knitter.

Critically acclaimed author Tom Miller reveals the making and marketing of one Panama hat, from the straw fields of Ecuador’s coastal lowland to a hat shop in Southern California. Along the way, the hat becomes a literary device allowing Miller to give us his impressions from the tributaries of the Amazon to the mountainsides of the Andes. The Panama Hat Trail is at once a study in global economics and a lively travelogue.

This volume explores the very best the country offers, including the San Blas Islands, offshore Barro Colorado, and urban Panam City. Parks and nature preserves are covered in detail.