Calling All Hat Knitters!

Do you have yarn lying around in your stash waiting to be knit up?  Do you have little balls of fun colors which were left over from various projects?  If you do, you can knit them into HATS!  I imagine you are thinking, "Once they're knitted up, what can I do with them? All my family members and friends already have been gifted with my marvelous fibery prowess."  Well, do I have the perfect opportunity for you!  This month, you can pull out those partial skeins and knit (or crochet) them up in to hats to keep little heads in the Chicago area warm this winter!

I noticed a post on Robyn the minimalist knitter's blog about making hats for all the children who attend a Christmas party at a food pantry in the Chicago area.  Since I have an abundance of those little leftovers and I have been steadily knitting down my yarn stash, I thought this would be a great way to use my yarn and talents and also bless those cold ears from wind and snow.  I contacted Robyn who put me in touch with Kathie.

Here is Kathie's response and explanation:

"When I first started knitting the ladies in our church were very supportive. One lady volunteered in a food pantry and she thought some hats would be great for the children who come to a holiday party in early December each year. Last year I knit 60 hats and she said they went fast. When I asked her how many children came to the party, she said over 1,000 children. I just couldn’t believe it.


The food pantry is in a middle class neighborhood on Irving Park Rd. in Chicago. Last year they gave bags of food to over 30,000 people. This is a very small location that is only open 2 days per week. The most wonderful group of volunteers work there and they think there will be an even larger group of children coming to the party this year. So I’m looking for people to help crochet or knit hats. I’ve knit over 100 hats this year and have received 130 hats from people on Ravelry so there is over 230 hats ready to donate.


I’ve been putting descriptive labels on them that say the name and state of the person that made them. “Handmade for you by Mary in Georgia”. I want to show the kids that people from all over the country have thought of them and volunteered to help. My hope is that they will see this and feel special. Hopefully some day they will think of others and pass on their talents.

Kathie"

Kathie needs to turn in all the hats by the end of November so we have only a few weeks to knit and crochet and drop those boxes in the mail.  So far, I've knitted seven hats and have cast on for my eighth!  According to Kathie, any size is welcome although women's small or medium caps are a good general size.

You can contact Kathie through ravelry (her Rav name is kathied5732) or you can e-mail me at willowknits@yahoo.com for her address.

Don't leave all that yarn in a bag in the back of your cupboard when it could keep a child warm this winter!