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.

Another Group Looking for Charity Knit Items

I recently found this information on the Ravelry Charity Knitting group.

Stitching for One Nation Walking Together is currently seeking items for their current ‘Warding Off the Cold Project’. The items most needed are hats, scarves, mittens, socks, cowls, lap throws, shawls, blankets or anything else that helps us retain warmth.

The items donated are sent to the various Indian Reservations in 8 Rocky Mountain States.
Please mail any items to:
One Nation Walking Together
Attn: Kae Elliott
3150 N. Nevada Ave
Colorado Springs, CO 80907

Project Amigo

I've been looking for an on-going charity knitting project which will allow me to use all the small balls of different weight yarns I have left from other projects. 

I found this: https://www.projectamigo.org/ They are looking for volunteers to knit or crochet five or six inch squares (any color, pattern or yarn type). They will be sewn into afghans and distributed to poor families of students in Mexico who are being sponsored by Project Amigo www.projectamigo.org . This is a charity that supports students from Colima in rural western Mexico so that they can create their own educational opportunities and better their quality of life. Instructions and details can be found here: www.srbrown.info/afghans.

I'll begin work on these after the holidays and the end of the Little Hats, Big Hearts challenge.  

Card Enclosed with Hats Going to Military Hospital

First Hat for Little Hats, Big Hearts

This is from the Little Hats, Big Hearts website

Volunteers from around the country are joining the American Heart Association, in connection with The Children's Heart Foundation, to celebrate American Heart Month by knitting and crocheting red hats for babies born in February at participating hospitals. Little Hats, Big Hearts, honors babies, moms, and heart healthy lives in a very special way. Supporters are knitting and crocheting red hats to be given out to thousands of babies during American Heart Month in order to empower moms to live heart healthy lives and to help their children do the same.

Together, we are working to raise awareness, provide resources and inspire moms to take their family’s heart health to heart while also raising awareness about Congenital Heart Defects.

I'll be working on these little hats from now until the beginning of January which will be a great way to help de-stress during the holidays.

Here is the first hat.

Pattern:

DPN: Size 4

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft 

Colorway: Autumn Red

Cast on 60 sts and divide among 3 needles.

K2, P2 for 10 rounds

Knit 1 round

K1, P1 for one round

P1, K1 for one round

Repeat

K1, P1 for one round

Knit 15 rounds

Begin decreasing as follows:

Rnd 1: K8, K2tog 

Rnd 2: K7, K2 tog

Rnd 3: K6, K2 tog

Rnd 4: K5, K2 tog

Rnd 5: K4, K2 tog

Rnd 6: K3, K2 tog

Rnd 7: K2, K2 tog

Rnd 8: K1, K2 tog

Rnd 9: K 2 tog (6 stitches remain)

Pull stitches together to close.  Weave in ends.

The Rest of the Hats

I'll be mailing a total of 40 hats next Monday.  I've added a photo of the tag I'll be attaching to each hat.

This Week's Hats

I want to mail these hats on November 20th so they'll be received around Thanksgiving, just as the holiday season begins.  This gives me ten more days to knit.

Four More Hats This Week

These are the hats I completed this week. The pattern is a an eyelet mock cable and is free on Ravelry here. I plan to make more of these in different colors.

More Hats!

Finished Hats

Some of the little hats I've finished for the army hospital.   My goal is to make two dozen hats.

More Information About Oregon's LIittle Hats, Big Hearts Program

I contacted the co-ordinator for Oregon's program and found out the following:

** The deadline is January 12, 2018
** The hats need to be all red with the only exception being a small amount of white as an edge or accent
** Hats need to be made of washable wool/acrylic/cotton
** Preemie hats as well as hats for newborns will be accepted

I am excited to become a contributor to this great program!

Camo Baby Hat and Hospital Chosen!

I understand that not everyone understands why I would knit camo hats for a baby but I'll tell you  why.  I send these hats to military hospitals and in the thank you letters I receive from the nurses he/she always mentions how much the parents, particularly the Dads, love these little hats.  And so, I knit them.

The hospital I've chosen is one I've sent baby hats to before.  It is Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, Texas. 

Little Hats, Big Hearts

I've just discovered this charity which distributes red baby hats to babies born in Februay.  I want to participate but the deadline is the end of December which will cut into my time for knitting holiday hats.  Here's my new schedule:
Now- November 23 (Thanksgiving)--  I'll knit holiday hats with a goal of 24 hats
November 24- December 31--  I'll knit red hats

Information about the Little Hats, Big Hearts program can be found here.  Participating hospitals in Oregon include Doernbecher which makes me happy because that's where my youngest son had successful open heart surgery to correct a congenital heart defect.

Click for Babies!

Last summer I began knitting purple baby hats for the Click For Babies campaign.   These hats for newborns, which must be at least 50% purple, are given to new parents in November and December.  The goal is to increase awareness about the purple period of crying and shaken baby syndrome through education.

Frustration with infant crying is the the number one thing that triggers a person to shake or harm a baby, so it is important for parents and caregivers to know what to expect from newborns. That way they can be prepared to handle this incredibly stressful and frustrating time.

All babies go through a normal period of increased crying in the first few months of life. This increased crying typically begins at about two weeks of age, peaks in the second month of life, and becomes less in the third or fourth month. Some infants cry more than others, and in some infants you may not even notice the increased amount of crying, but ALL infants do cry more during this period.

I put this little tag on each hat and mailed them to Randall Children's Hospital at Emanuel Legacy in Portland, Oregon at the end of September.  I've now started knitting more little purple caps for next year's campaign. 

Still Knitting for Charity

I have still been knitting for charity although not as much and not as consistently.  What I've knit can be found on my Ravelry project page, here.

I've begun knitting newborn baby hats, many of them holiday-themed, to mail to a hospital (yet to be determined) just before Christmas.  I'm also continuing to knit preemie hats.

Here is the first of my newborn baby hats.

I have eight weeks to knit as many as I can with time to mail them off so they're received by Christmas.  My goal is five hats per week, an ambitious goal, but then I've always liked a challenge.  I will post again on October 27th with a photo of the hats I've completed this week.  I do want to knit at least four pumpkin hats and four Santa hats as well as an assortment of other fun hats.