A Break

I've taken a break the past few months, focusing more on quilts than on knitting.  Next month I hope to join a knitting circle which meets one day a week at a local knitting shop and this should help jump start me on knitting again.  In the meantime, I am organizing my yarn stash, making lists of patterns I want to try, and looking for resources on-line.

One resource I found is a database of hospitals looking for items.

My Secret Heart Project

This is something a little different but I'm having so much fun with it, I thought I'd share

I love the phrase ""practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" and wanted to do this.  But how?   I've knit a lot of socks in the past 10 years  and have a lot of sock yarn left over. How could I use it?

Looking around my quilt studio I found a stack of little decorative envelopes I'd bought a few years ago and never used as well  some "Happy Summer" tags.  Eureka!  I could put all of these to use.  I call it My Secret Heart Project.  I've been knitting tiny little hearts from sock yarn using size 1 needles, attaching them to one of the tags on which I've written "Take me!" and on the back, a short phrase about love or kindness like "Believe in love" or Chose joy" or Love is all you need" or "Always chose kindness"  and placing them in one of the envelopes.  Now comes the fun part!  Leaving them in public places where unsuspecting people can come across them and doing it without being found out!  I've put them in a variety of places -- stores, libraries, parks, fairs, post offices, doctor/dentist offices. I left a few at the zoo and at the state fair when I was there a few weeks ago so all around in different places in Oregon. .  I have a little ziplock bag in my purse now with a dozen ready to go out to their new homes.  Such fun!  

School has started so summer is over.  The little tags I use now say "Hand knit with love".  Starting in November, I'll begin using "Happy Winter" tags.  I'm thinking about what I can do special in the month of February to celebrate Valentine's Day. 

Bonding Hearts

 

These little hearts are for Mighty Miracles.   They provide care packages for NICU babies which include these hearts. Parents can wear the hearts and then place them with their babies which allows parents to feel connected with the babies even when they can't be there.  They also become keepsakes.The pattern can be found here.

The Plan for the Rest of 2018

Instead of new posts each time I make and add more hats, I will just add them to the post for each campaign/organization.  That means you will need to scroll down to see where I've added hats. So it may look as if there are no changes unless you look further down.  I'm not working very much on the red hats for the Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign right now as the deadline isn't until January.  I'm also listing the number of hats I've completed in some sidebar posts. 

Red Hats for Little Hats, Big Hearts Campaign

Purple Hats for Click It for Babies Campaign

Newborn Hats for Sacred Heart Riverbend

Preemie Hats for Doernbecher NICU Hopsital

Plans for Rest of 2018

I am knitting little hats in the next six months for various hospitals and organizations.

I'm working on preemie hats for the  NICU Doernbecher Hospital in Portland, Oregon.  My youngest son, now in his 30s and healthy, had open heart surgery here as an infant and I am forever grateful for the care he received.  He wasn't premature, he was full term and weighed over 10 pounds (!) but because of his heart condition he was put in the NICU and I saw all the little, tiny babies when we visited him.  This is something that broke my heart and which I'll never forget. 

I'm also working on newborn hats for Sacred Heart Riverbend  in Eugene, Oregon.  This is the hospital where all four of my sons were born.

An organization I support is Click for Babies campaign, organized by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome. The campaign strives to raise awareness for the Period of PURPLE Crying and to prevent the shaking and abuse of infants.They collect hand-made hats for newborn babies which need to be at least 50% purple and are distributed in hospitals in November and December.  The deadline is at the end of September. I will be contributing to the Oregon chapter.

And lastly, I'll be knitting all-red hats for Oregon's  Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign sponsored by the American Heart Association    I'll be sending them in early January, 2019 for distribution to babies born in hospitals in February.

I will put up a post for each of the four groups I'm knitting for and add photos as I finish hats.
I hope you enjoy them and perhaps you'll join me in knitting little hats for preemies and newborn babies.

Sixteen Hats for Little Hats, Big Hearts Project

These sixteen hats will be mailed tomorrow to the Little Hats, Big Hearts Project.