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.

More Hats

Second Five Hats

First Five Hats

Forty Preemie Hats for Lent

I have many balls of small amounts of yarn, perfect for knitting little preemie hats.  My goal is to make forty of them during Lent.  Here is a sample of yarns I'll be using.

Jack O'Lantern Finger Puppet Pattern

Cast on 10 stitches with orange yarn.
Rows 1-8: Stockinette stitch
Row 9: Knit 2 tog, K6, K2 tog (8 stitches)
Row 10-12: Stockinette stitch
Row 13: K2 tog across (4 stitches)
Gather together.
Embroider face
Sew up seam
Pick up three stitches at the top with green yarn
Do i-cord for 3 rows
Knit 2 tog, Knit 1
K2 tog, and close

Ghost Finger Puppet Pattern

I made a dozen of these.  Now back to making regular people finger puppets.

Here's the pattern for the ghost.
 
Cast on 10 stitches with white yarn.
Knit stockinette for 6 rows
Row 7: Knit 2 together, Knit 6, Knit 2 together (8 stitches)
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: Knit
Row 10: Purl
Row: 11: Knit 2 together, Knit 4, Knit 2 together (6 stitches)
Row 12: Purl
Row 13: Knit
Row 14: Purl
Row15: Knit 2 together across (3 stitches)

Cut yarn,,thread through remaining stitches.
Embroider eyes and mouth with black yarn.
Sew seam with white yarn.

Monster Finger Puppets

Here are 20 little monster finger puppets.   I've used the same pattern, just changed the colors and added a zig-zag mouth.

Finger Puppets

I thought a long time about what I could make with small amounts of yarn that would work well for charity giving, had free patterns, didn't involve a lot of weaving in ends, and was fun to make!

My answer was---finger puppets! There are many free patterns on the Internet to make animals-- here and here are two examples-- and monsters like these as well as people. I have decided to start with the ones found here. I'll modify the hair and clothing from other patterns I've found so I'll be able to make dozens of them, no two alike. And because it's close to Halloween I'll be making some monster ones as well. Fun!

And what will I do with all these finger puppets? Give them away to the phlebotomy departments of a children's hospital so that children can be given one when they have blood work done!   I'll be sending mine to the Doernbecher Children's Hospital Phlebotomy Department in Portland.

Here is a photo of the first eight: