I made myself a super cute green hat when I was learning to knit cables, so of course my daughter Savannah wanted to try it on, which led to her asking for her own. She always wants what I just finished knitting, but in her size and color of choice. Because she was born to be a princess.
I made this particular hat from bulky wool I had lying around, with a long double-folded brim and thick cables to keep me extra warm on the coldest days. It never occurred to me there was another way to wear it. Until I made Savannah her own hat.
She wanted hers in pink but settled for purple since it was all I had. I put it on her and folded the brim and she looked so cute! But inevitably, wherever she wore the hat, the brim would slide into one big piece, leaving much of the hat slouchy behind her head. It looked cute but it also irked me so I kept trying to fix it, because that’s not how the hat is supposed to go. It sounds silly typing that out but whatever because humans are silly.
After a handful of times in this hat “fixing” cycle, I stopped to look at Savannah in the hat. I mean, really look. And what I saw was Savannah being Savannah. Doing it her way. Refusing to be held to some old, preconceived notions on how a hat is worn. Refusing to believe so many of the old, ridiculous norms we all cling to for their familiarity.
It would never have occurred to me to try wearing the hat this way. I’m too much of a rule-follower by nature, not to mention that I like things how I like them.
But Savannah isn’t that way.
Savannah makes her own rules and changes the way we all see everything.
And more power to her.
michelle roth 