My friends, JR and Elias, have been expecting a baby since… well, obviously, since they found out JR was pregnant. Since I found out, I have been searching high and low for a perfect present. JR not only knits, she spins her own yarn and can quilt. They are probably just fine on the handmade afghan front. So, I’ve had this idea for months that I would get the baby a hat befitting the awesome, eclectic style of the household it is about to find itself in.
A snazzy hat.
The kind of hat a baby would put on to go downtown in the 50s. The kind of hat a baby could roll down his arm during a dance sequence. The kind of hat that would cause people to say “There goes a sharp-dressed baby.”
No luck. I looked everywhere. I found lots of cute hats and lots of weird hats and lots of wild hats, but the kind of hat a baby could wear while playing trumpet in a jazz bar? No luck.
Until yesterday.
At the fucking Gap. I had a moment’s hesitation–does getting a snazzy hat from The Gap cancel out the snazziness? But I cringed and bought it anyway, because that kid is going to get here literally any second and I am out of time to search for a snazzier outlet from which to buy said snazzy hat.
I hope the baby likes it.
Tiny Cat Pants 
Babies in hats are adorable. The bad news is that my baby, at least, was not very tolerant of hats. One does what one can do. But yes, I got a second-hand BabyGap hat that was cute as buttons. Zulily used to have some snappy hats for summer, but probably now has switched to polar fleece (not very swag).
Have you looked at etsy?
My wife gets lots of hats for the newborns she shoots from Etsy, but I wouldn’t describe any of them as snazzy.
My three year olds have a fedora. It looks equally snazzy on the boy and the girl.
A fedora is what I ended up getting the baby! A tiny fedora. It melts my uterus just to think about it.
As a knitter allow me to opine that many of the hand-knit hat patterns for babies lately are making me retch. They’re just awful. And if JR has been exposed to the same dreck as I, she’ll most likely adore a non-knit hat with actual snazz, no matter where it comes from.
Don’t you fret. Even my most anti-Gap friends admit that BabyGap is the shizz. Their fabrics are soft and wonderful and their designs are fun. The quality is fantastic. There is no shame in BabyGap, I promise. You did good.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/77131592/jazz-mad-hatter-collection-simple-sequin?ref=sc_2
http://www.etsy.com/listing/69926099/brown-baby-fedora?ref=sr_gallery_2&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=baby+fedora&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade
There is also, I believe, a section of etsy where you can describe what you want and crafters offer to make it, you check out there stuff and if you think their style will work, you place a custom order with them.