Horse hair hat bands and some not

I have been making hat bands like crazy. I have two more to finish before I start some more horse hair jewelry commissions. Business is booming. All proceeds go to the "Sydney is going to Ireland and going to probably spend way too much money" fund. Of course I have donated quite the few horse hair pieces in the past.

This one is for fellow blogger Linda of the late equine blog celebrity, Lyle.
Even though I have made hatbands several times before each piece I braid is different. Every time. Different hair means different braids and thicknesses and tightness of the strands and knots. Lyle's hair had several dark, almost black hairs that were black near the roots but light near the ends. It was also pretty brittle I had to re-start a couple of places with new pulls because some of the hairs snapped. Light hair is normally thinner than dark.
I had to count every single hair in this piece before I braid it. I have counted close to 1000 hairs for a hatband, button knots and ring knot included. Hat bands are rewarding to make out of horse hair. I greatly enjoy it but it is time consuming. Especially in the last two weeks. Normally I would have been done this quicker but with school coming to an end for the summer and my dads best friend (who was like an uncle to me) passing away, I found little time for more than the necessities.
The hat band did turn out. I love it. It's going to look lovely on Linda's hat.

I did however find a little time to make myself a hat band of leather, silver and shiny things OH MY!

How I love shiny things.
So much.
As my mom was ordering things from Tandy leather the other week (she makes purses, vest chains, dream catchers and other misc motorcycle leather stuff) I spotted a shiny silver buckle I liked. I pointed out how my black hat's band was plain ugly, white and red braided string on a cheap looking gold plasticy strap. I decided to splurge and make myself a show legal leather hatband with turquoise and white crystal rivets.
Fancy.
See horse hair hatbands with the tassels certainly are eye catching but they are not legal in the show ring for anything more than barrels or poles.
I do have plans to braid a hat band out of horse hair and get another, fancier buckle and make myself one of those for my other hat.

The weather is great today, I think after I go riding I am gonna head down to the dock to catch some fish if I don't come back too late.

PS- Does anyone know whats wrong with blogger? The actual number of comments to a post does not math the number shown.