Dateline: Vancouver..Adventures in Crocheting..The Third Installment..

I decided I needed to make myself a hat one day in 1995..
I was attending what was referred to at the time as a Christmas Craft Fair (*clutch pearls* *shudder*), and there were some young girls with some nice - looking knit caps in a slouch design. I tried on the largest they had, but it was like a skull cap on me..they bravely smiled and said, "Oh, that looks nice" but we all knew it wasn't true..it was supposed to 'slouch,' and it didn't.
I was embarrassed, once again, by the massive size of my noggin..and they were glum..no sale..

Okay, some background...
It has been one of my many unfortunate physical drawbacks, this gigantic head of mine, present since, apparently, birth. One of my mother's stories about me is that when he delivered me, the eminent Dr. Baldwin told her I had the largest head he'd ever seen on any newborn baby..
As I grew older, poor Mom tried in vain to find a sunbonnet for me, or just anything, but it wasn't gonna happen..little Miss Wendi had a head that would be the envy of any egotist you could name..
Mom used to threaten, when I sassed her, to "put you back where you came from"; as i got older, I never failed to point out that that it would hurt her more than it hurt me.

As I grew older, of course I harbored secret lusts for hats of all types..a nice fedora like Edward G. Robinson, a cowgirl hat like Dale Evans, or a jaunty, fabulous cloche like Ingrid Bergman always seemed to wear in every film noir..but it was not to be..every hat I tried on was too small..even in men's hat stores, the biggest hats they had were too small..*sigh* it's not easy being me..

I decided, after that Christmas Fair, that I was going to try my hand at a slouchy cap..the only problem was, I didn't know how to knit, and since I'm left-handed (what else would a giant-headed woman be?) never found anyone to teach me..
I finally got some yarn, and just played and played til I figured it out..and then, one day, found the yarn that would change my life forever..
Melodramatic? You bet! Still, it's true, because I walked into this wee yarn and sewing shop on 4th Ave in Vancouver, BC one day in 1996, and found a faux fur-ish ombre'd brown yarn that looked like an unraveled teddy bear..I bought it, made a great slouch hat for myself with it, and every time I wore it that winter, people would ooh and aah over it..and ask where I got it, and try and buy my creation right off my head..I used to entertain myself by letting them try it on, and laugh when the brim would drop over their eyes..
And, that is how I got started making my crocheted hats.