Friday, January 7, 2011

Hats for the Homeless

Last year my goal for the year was to knit one hat every month to donate to our local homeless shelter in downtown Knoxville called Knox Area Rescue Ministries.

Along about October I realized that 12 hats would not be a drop in the bucket so I began to knit hardcore. My younger sister Diantha knit 4 or 5 hats for me, and I found a couple laying around the house I'd knit for no one in particular so I washed them and tossed them in the pile.

I ended up with 36 different hats!! That's more than twice my goal!
I don't know if I'll do it again this year; I wanted to. But it made me so sad when I dropped them off, it was not quite cold enough to snow and even though it was only about 2 in the afternoon the streets around the shelter were already lined with homeless who were sleeping or just hanging out on the sidewalks. I was thinking maybe my time and money would be better invested to buy in bulk things like sweatshirts, tube socks, etc? things that would help more people than just the few I was able to help this year?

I haven't decided yet; I'm still thinking about it. Whatever I decide, I'm pretty pleased with my turn out last year and I was excited to get to try some new patterns like the HeartFail hat (pattern on Ravlery) which was just great. Will definitely have to knit it myself again.

If you'd like to cruise my ravelry projects, most of the hats are listed as projects there. If you're not a raveler, here's a picture of all of them together just before I dropped them off!

5 comments:

  1. Personally I think it was an awesome idea!
    Of course I love hats so..maybe I am slightly biased.

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  2. I think you totally rock for doing this! Way to go! I think that your hats do more then just keep the people warm on the outside. When someone takes the time to make something for you, that is very special. Often enough the homeless are overlooked, ignored or even treated rudely, since society would rather have them gone then deal with helping them. I think a few people will count themselves very lucky to receive one of your hats and I think it will give them a bit of dignity back that maybe someone else took from them with the way they treated them.

    Keep it up!

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  3. What a wonderful donation! I think hand knit items are just as essential as bulk purchases of socks and sweatshirts and the like. Hand knit items tend to be made out of better material so they are warmer and last longer. Just think how quickly the socks you buy from Wal-Mart wear out but how long your hand knit socks have lasted. What a great gift to give these people who are truly in need.

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  4. Really have to commend you ...that's truly a great effort...if only everyone who is able to would do just a little bit...it DOES make a difference...well done!
    We hand paint buttons thereby offering employment to women in south Africa...these women are their families sole breadwinners...
    You can see their story on our blog
    http://incomparablebuttons.blogspot.com
    Keep up the good work...somebody out there is thanking you for it for sure.

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  5. Your caps color and design are so good, i think all they are hand made, with different beauty full colors.

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