Consumer Filter - Where To Find - Mongolian Kublai Khan Tall Wool Knit Hat??

October 25, 2007 11:25 AM

I hesitate posting this question, but I have the highest of faith in fellow MeFi's to not only answer my question but understand why I ask for help to find a hat I thought was so cool...

I had a friend who got this crazy cool knit hat 10+ years ago from a friend who traveled in Asia.

I called it the Kublai Khan hat as it invoked images of a conquering Mongul (or at least what I thought he would look like).

The hat could be Mongolian or Tibetan in nature, probably the former. Very thick, tall, for lack of a better term, very bulky in texture. I am 95% sure it was wool. It did not seem like it was particularly fine or refined wool (see bulky). Color was grey or natural. Hat had no flaps, and was pretty tall (between normal and silly), cone shaped (though obviously not a cone). No tassels, etc.

I have been looking for this hat for years and have not come across anything similar. No level of bribes or begging would convince my friend to part with it. He knew that it was too awesome for words and that he would never find another one if he let his go.

And so far he has been right. Obviously this is a most desperate post. If anyone knows of a wool knit hat that is similarly described please post!

posted by gnash to clothing, beauty, & fashion (12 comments total)

Did it have cables on it like this or this? Or was it relatively flat as far as the texture went?
posted by iconomy at 11:58 AM on October 25, 2007

Here's another hat knit by the same guy who made the gray hat. Looks like you could commission him to knit you a hat if no one can find one readymade for you.
posted by iconomy at 12:02 PM on October 25, 2007

This is a completely awesome hat, found by searching Google images for tibetan hat. And here is a page on Mongolian hats. Any of them close?
posted by 6550 at 12:06 PM on October 25, 2007

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your help!

To answer the questions:

1) No cabling - if any, obscured (see below)
2) Not flat - actually looked like it had big rough hewn blocks of wool sewn together. Kind of hard to describe, but that is my best attempt.
3) Re: commission - I would definitely be up for it if I could find a good example even picture of it.
4) Re: 6550 link 1 - the height is of the hat I am describing is pretty close. No feathering, and no "back part" of the hat.
5) Re: 6550 link 2 - those Mongolian hats are very cool and ornate. The one that I am thinking of is fairly primitive - think conquering Mongols

I am sorry I am not doing a great job describing it. It is really pretty unrefined in every way, but it is executed really well and was warm as all get out. It was rather thick for a knit hat as well.
posted by gnash at 12:31 PM on October 25, 2007

Is it something like the white one halfway down this page?
posted by Ruki at 12:55 PM on October 25, 2007

You're positive it was knitted? (Not woven or felted or something?)(
posted by Don Pepino at 1:17 PM on October 25, 2007

did it look like this one?
http://www.asianturkey.com/Cappadocia%20Images/Whirling%20Dervishes.jpg
posted by lgyre at 1:38 PM on October 25, 2007

Can you draw a picture of it?
posted by iconomy at 1:45 PM on October 25, 2007

so... many... hats...
http://www.skiouros.net/varia/ncmpr/ncmpr.htm

It is definitely not the summer cap of the Barguts or the Uzumchin man's winter cap "Boolt." Maybe it is the cap of the Bayits.
posted by Don Pepino at 1:50 PM on October 25, 2007

Did it have tufty lumpy stuff on the inside? One way of making a knit hat very warm is to thrum it, basically attaching fat tufts of unspun wool on the inside.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:04 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks again for everyone's responses and help, I am sorry I haven't checked again for a few days (work). You have helped to narrow down what has been a nagging obsession for me over the past several years.

Thanks for the links - the pictures aren't close to what I saw, but someone did ask if the hat was not woven or felted.

As I recall it did have some kind of stitching, the thruming is close to what the texture looked like, but on the outside as well as inside. As I mentioned it was pretty unrefined but super cool looking (always got positive comments when my friend wore it).
posted by gnash at 10:12 AM on October 30, 2007

Don Pepino, the link that you put out has links to outstanding hats, but they are more ornate and flat then the one I saw. Very cool link though!
posted by gnash at 10:13 AM on October 30, 2007