not knitted and not made by me, but hats nonetheless. we purchased them a couple of weeks ago and they are on a wall in the den, pretty well protected from sunlight.
the hmong are a tribe located in the east in china, thailand and laos, with large immigrant pockets in the US in wisconsin and minnesota. i never even hear the word hmong without thinking of the book the spirit catches you and you fall down.
the written language of the hmong was once banned in china, and hmong women attempted to preserve it for younger generations by stitching the characters into their dresses. the original written symbology is all but lost, and although there are currently printed materials "written" in transliterated, romanized hmong, most hmong people have a hard time reading them.
look at this hat. it has a tiny little baby person riding on top of it!