Archiving this blog

Hi all -
I just can't manage multiple blogs any more, so I'll be doing my preemie hat stuff over on my normal one (Knitwithkt).

Many thanks to the several of you who sent me hats over the summer - we gave 57 to the UNC Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill, NC! In December I gave another 10 to Hopkins as well - making it a running total of 88 hats given to the two hospitals from Christmas '07 to Christmas '08.

I am still collecting hats for UNC, Duke, and Hopkins - if you'd like to send me some donations please leave a comment on this post with your email address so I can send instructions. I'm turning moderation on so that your email won't be made public.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped with this project to date - you are wonderful people!
- KT

Welcome Nancy and Laura!

We have two new participants tonight - Nancy and Laura. They are both interested in sending hats to UNC, and Laura is also planning to make hats for her local hospital (which only takes preemie caps).

How are the rest of you doing? I've got six hats done this year, so far, and am about to take a bunch over to the UNC NICU. I'll bring a camera!

Presto! Baby Hat

Sometimes it's fun to make a baby hat that you would never in a million years wear yourself, but that would be adorable on a baby - and this is one of those. Named Presto! because it reminded me of the collapsible tophats used by magicians, it has alternating stockinette and reverse stockinette ridges that gather into each other. Because of this, as well as the natural stretchiness of knitting, the hat will fit for quite a while - just pull it a bit longer as the baby's head grows a bit bigger, or squish it a bit shorter for a smaller baby.

Finished dimensions: 12in (14in, 16in) [30cm (35cm, 40cm)] circumference; height is between 1.5 and 6in (4cm and 15cm) depending on about of stretch (model is 14in circumference). This roughly corresponds to Preemie, Newborn, and Baby (approx. 3 months old) sizing.
Gauge: 14sts to 4in (10cm). Row gauge is unimportant.

Materials:
1 skein Lana Grossa Cotofilo Print (88% Cotton, 12% Elite) [85m/50g] or other worsted weight cotton blend
1 set US 8 (5.0mm) needles - whatever you prefer to use for knitting small tubes.
5 stitch markers - 4 of one kind, 1 unique
darning needle

Instructions:
Note: instructions are given for preemie size, with newborn and baby sizes in parentheses.
Cast on 40 (50, 60) stitches.
Join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist, and place unique marker.
Knit one round.
Purl one round. (this purl round prevents the bottom of the hat from curling up; you may omit if desired)
Knit 4 (5, 6) rounds.
Purl 4 (5, 6) rounds.
Repeat Knit and purl bands once more.

Crown shaping:
Round 1: [K8 (10, 12), place marker] four times.
Rounds 2 & 4: (K2tog; K to marker) five times
Rounds 3 & 5: K all sts. After round 5, 30 (40, 50) sts rem.
Rounds 6 & 8: (P2tog; P to marker) five times
Rounds 7 & 9: P all sts. After round 9, 20 (30, 40) sts rem.
Rounds 10 & 12: (K2 tog; K to marker) five times
Rounds 11 & 13: K all sts. After round 13, 10 (20, 30) sts rem.
Round 14: (P2tog; P to marker) five times. 5 (15, 25) sts rem. Preemie hat ONLY, skip to the last round
Rounds 15 & 17: P all sts.
Round 16: (P2tog; P to marker) five times. Newborn and Baby hats will have 10, 20 sts.
Round 18: (K2tog; K to marker) five times. Newborn hat ONLY, skip to the last round.
Rounds 19 &21: K all sts.
Round 20: (K2tog; K to marker) five times. Baby hat will have 10 sts.
Round 22: (P2tog; P to marker) five times. Baby hat now goes to the last round.

Last round (when 5 stitches remain): Cut yarn, leaving a long tail, and thread through remaining live stitches. Be careful not to thread it through the markers! Secure ends to inside of hat.

Hats/blankets needed at UNC Hospitals

I just got off the phone with a very nice lady at UNC Hospitals Volunteer Services. She said that the hospital always needs preemie hats, but particularly needs regular newborn hats as well. In her words, "We have so many lower-income families here, it's nice to be able to send their baby home with a handmade hat!" They also welcome blankets - any size is good, since they'll send it home with the baby. Smaller ones are useful for the hospital, but bigger ones are also nice. Sorry that it's not all that helpful for guidelines - but she was so happy that we wanted to help that she said pretty much anything would be more than welcome.

"Thank you so much, and please thank your friends as well!"

Welcome Teresita!

I'd like to welcome our newest member, Teresita! Here's how she described herself to me:

"I crochet, am an "advanced-beginner" knitter, and am a blanketeer for my local chapter of "Project Linus." I was looking for a new project to add to my activities, which include being an avid mystery reader and just happened to find your blog and patterns. I am an avid dishcloth knitter and a member of several dishcloth groups."

Welcome! Always happy to have more people join the group. Teresita has decided to work on crocheting hats for preemies and newborns - though she is also hoping to learn knitting on double points this year (you can do it!).

Teresita was wondering how big hats should be. Here are the guidelines I learned somewhere: Baby heads are about 16" circumference (40cm), newborns are about 14", and preemies are anywhere from 9-13". All of this is on average, of course. Now, I figure you want the hat to be slightly stretched when it's on (so it doesn't come right off), so I make my preemie hats 11-12" and my newborn hats about 14" (so baby can grow into it). An easy way to measure this is to lay the hat flat, measure it across the widest point, and multiply by 2.

However, here's a more "official" guide (found by Teresita - thank you!): the volunteer measurements guide from The Preemie Project. You may also like interested in the CYCA Standard Head Circumference Chart.

My mother suggested visualizing this in terms of fruit. I believe she said a 3 month old is like a grapefruit, a newborn is like a large orange, and a preemie is like a tangerine (might've been a plum). Any other suggestions?

Also, welcome again, Teresita!

Thank you from Johns Hopkins

Hello all -

On Christmas Day I presented 21 hats to the Chief of Neonatology at Johns Hopkins. I wrote in the card, "We cannot do what you do to save these babies. What we can do is knit. Enclosed are 21 hats knit by 5 women around the country." I also included the names and locations of everyone participating in the Project, with the name of the hospital to which you've pledged your hats.

This is a photo (taken and posted with permission) of the first baby to receive one of our hats and blankets! The mom was so touched that total strangers would send birthday gifts for her child, as were all of the nurses and docs in the hospital.

I also received a formal thank you note from the Nurse Manager of the NICU. She wrote,

"Thank you and all of the ladies who participated in the knitting of the hats and blankets that were donated to our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) recently. They are so beautiful and reflect the love and care that it took to create them.

Once again, thank you for your generosity."

Good job everyone! This has prompted me to keep up my knitting of preemie hats - I am working to do two a month on average. Once I get photos I'll have the January hats posted here. I hope to see yours, too!

Thank you KT

Thank you for such a warm welcome I am very excited about joining the group. I read about the site on 25 things for charity. I crocheted 9 preemie hats in the last couple of days. I told KT that I would commit to crochet 40 hats for Johns Hopkins NICU and 10 hats for the Chemo patients. I am also going to crochet 40 hats for Kings Daughter here in Norfolk, VA where my granddaughter spent a few weeks when she was born 5 weeks early let me tell you those babies will pull your heart strings I spent a lot of time with tears in my eyes. I crocheted a ton of hats while she was there and the people just loved them and they disappeared as fast as I could crochet them. So I thought I would have her and my daughter deliver the hats so they can see how big and strong she is now.

I love hearing from people so you are welcome to email me anytime at paulawstrauss@aol.com. I am recovering from my 12th operation on my leg and also from surgery to remove a ruptured gall bladder so I have some time to devote to this project