Friday 15 May 2015

Hats For Babies

It was back in September last year when I read a post on Sally's Crafty Northerner blog about some charity knitting she was doing. She wrote in her blog post When To Admit Defeat? about some yarn she'd bought for the charity project she was undertaking but she just couldn't work with it because of the way the colours were falling. I commented on her post that I actually quite liked the yarn and Sally offered to send me the second, unused ball she'd bought.


The yarn is Wondersoft, Stylecraft's baby yarn, so I thought I may use it to make something for a baby. Afterall, it's lovely and soft.

Sally had intended the yarn to be used for charity knitting so I decided that I'd knit something for a baby charity. I had a look around the internet to see what I could find and I came upon a plea from Norfolk and Norwich Hospital: NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). They're in desperate need of blankets and hats for the babies in their care. To give you some sort of idea, they need 900/1000 hats in the coming year. I thought this was a good charity to knit for.

I started with a pattern I'd found on Ravelry for a Basic Baby Hat by Heather Tucker.


I then remembered the Easy Bright Stripes Newborn Baby Hat by Marianna Mel which Alison from Life At Sylvan House wrote about on her My Gift For A New Baby Boy post, and knit one of those too.


I used a range of sizes, afterall, babies come in all different sizes.


I managed to get six hats out of the one ball. It's interesting how the patterns from the variegated yarn form. A different hat results in a different pattern.


If you fancy doing some knitting for charity I found the UK Hand Knitting Association website very helpful. If you look under the Directories tab at Knitting for Charity, there's lots of current projects which need your help.

18 comments:

  1. Good for you, and well done. The pattern variations are really noticeable aren't they. Flighty xx

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    1. It fascinates me how a pattern works out with variegated yarn, you really can't guess it, it's just a case of watching to see.

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  2. What a fantastic idea ... charities of all kinds are so dependent on peoples good will, and there is always something we can do to help.

    Well Done Jo

    All the best Jan

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    1. I always say that we don't have to contribute to charities with monetary donations, they need our help in all kinds of ways. We've all got skills that we can help with.

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  3. Well done on the hats, Jo, you've put the yarn to good use. 900-1000 hats in a year is a lot and that's just for one hospital. Also on blacksheepwools.com there is info on knitting for the premature babies at Liverpool Womens Hospital, if anyone else is interested.
    Well done again Jo and thanks for the mention :-) xx

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    1. I thought that as Sally had originally bought the yarn for charity knitting it would be a good idea to knit something for charity myself. I didn't know about the appeal for Liverpool Women's Hospital, that's the one which is on One Born Every Minute, isn't it? I shall have a look at that appeal, thanks for letting me know about it.

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    2. Yes this series is at LWH but they've used a couple of different hospitals around the country. I seem to remember the first series was filmed at Leeds General. You've inspired me now with baby hats, but I really have to get to grips with the sock along first!

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    3. Yes, the first series was at Leeds General Infirmary and St James Hospitals. The thing with baby hats is that they hardly take any time, or yarn. So easy to help these worthwhile causes. Good luck with the sockalong.

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  4. You know I almost like the patterns on your hats - but sorry still not one for me :-) I was just wondering if you'd chosen what to knit with that extra ball. I'll take a look at the website for charity knitting to see who to make things for this year.
    It amazes me how different the 2 hats look with the same wool.

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    1. I think they've come out quite well and they'll certainly keep some babies nice and warm. It's actually a lovely yarn to work with, very soft, I'd definitely use it again.

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  5. How lovely, Jo. You are such a kind and generous person.

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    1. Thank you, that's very kind of you to say. I do think we can all help others in small ways, the world would be a much nicer place if everyone thought of other people.

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  6. What a wonderful thing to do, make hats for little babies. And in Norwich too!
    Lisa x

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    1. I thought it would be a good thing to use the yarn for charity knitting, afterall, that was its intended purpose in the first place. I think the tiny ones are so cute, hard to believe they'll fit an actual baby.

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  7. Wow, that website is amazing. Definitely going to try and do a few things for some of them. So much knitting, so little time though! Hats looks smashing, really different.

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    1. I'm pleased you found the link to the website helpful. There's so many charities crying out for help, it's good to help where we can.

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  8. How wonderful! So happy you were able to use the donated yarn for such a wonderful project!
    Ali
    www.simplysummerstreet.wordpress.com

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    1. I was really pleased that I used the yarn for charity knitting, afterall, that was it's intended use when Sally bought it. I had a lovely email back to say that the hats had been received and thanking me for knitting them.

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