Just can’t get enough; hats and lots of them

If I kept all the crafts I made, you might eventually find me on a show where they help people reclaim their homes, by eliminating their accumulated items.

I create a lot of items with my hands, fortunately I also love to share with others. Shocking I know since I’m a selfish crafter, but as I tell my friends I’m only selfish in that I make what I want, when I want. I do have a fiber worthy list, for people I know, but when it comes to donating to charities… I’m all over that.

I mainly donate to local charities, but I do send items to people in other countries. I crochet bears for The Mother Bear Project. Donated crocheted and knitted bears are distributed to children, with HIV, in third world countries. I’m also a member of my Lutheran churches quilting group the machine sewn quilts we make are sent to the Lutheran World Relief. These lovely quilts are distributed to those in need here in the United States, and also in other countries too.

Hats are my favorite small project to crochet or knit… they tend to work up quickly (unless the pattern is extremely intricate). Recently I started knitting hats for a local hospital. It turns out preemie hats are much appreciated by the families who receive them. I must say, that it felt great reading the responses on my knitted preemie hat posts, and the additional emails from folks who somehow stumbled upon that post. It’s not why I do it though, I don’t need recognition to help those in need.

A few weeks ago, I joined the Chemo Cap Pattern Library on Ravelry, two of my family members lost their battle with cancer within the past five years. I’ll be whipping up stylish hats (for a local hospital) for those cancer patients that have experienced hair loss.

I also joined the For the Children of Pine Ridge Reservation a charity group that donates crocheted and knitted items to Indian children within Oglala, SD. My daughter and I both have Indian heritage, Black, Blackfoot Indian, and Irish from my father’s side, and from my daughte’rs father German, Lumbee Indian, and Irish.

With the amount of patterns I’ve discovered from the Chemo Cap Pattern Library, and the crocheted and knitted books I have, my hooks and needles will be occupied for quite some time.