Operation Warm Heads

[CHARCREATES]

What a wonderful picture of all the children with their new hats!!! You did a great job in only 2 weeks!! How sweet of you to do this and you know these little ones will remember this day forever :-) BTW I don't believe we have met I live in Florence Ky with my twin sister. I just came back to crocheting about 1 1/2 yrs ago lots of new things going on in the crochet world but I love learning the new things. I see you are in N.J. And saw someone ask you about Vineland my daughters best friend from college grew up in Vineland and a lot of her family still lives there. It's a small world as they say. Nice to met you and welcome to crochet talk I just love this site and the wonderful people here. I am looking forward to getting to know you better. (((Hugs))) Winnie

And Hugs back at ya, Winnie! The kids may have gotten much needed hats but I got quite a bit in return, also. First, my yarn stash is reduced. Second, and best of all, is the warm, fuzzy feeling I got when seeing those smiling faces and hearing that one of the little girls slept in her hat that night because she didn't want to take it off.

[lgiguere]

That is a wonderful thing that you did. Its makes you wonder how many kids are without hats when it cold outside. I am going to try and make hats for next year for the little ones in my town.

[CHARCREATES]

Wonderful! Be sure to post pics of all those happy faces.

[CHARCREATES]

Thanks to everyone who posted, read but didn't post and to those who are inspired to do a similar project. If I may, I would like to suggest a few guidelines which you may choose to follow or not. First, no wool or any other material that my excite allergies. Many people, including myself, are allergic to wool. I can't even work with it, much less wear it. If possible, choose yarn that is machine washable and dryable. Kid's things get dirty fast so they get washed often. Many of these moms, not having their own washers and dryers, must use a public laundromat where everything gets washed and dried together with no choice of temperature. Keep shrinkage in mind when using a blend. Since I didn't use a pattern, I used my own head for size, adding or subtracting stitches as needed. When the hats shrink they will be kid-size. If they don't shrink, I figure the kids will just grow into them. Make extra. A couple of the boys asked Carol if they could have a hat for their sisters which I thought was just too sweet. Luckily, there were so many extras she said yes. Thinking the boys wouldn't want a fancy hat I made some very plain, while the girls hats were made with some decorative stitches. Was I wrong! The boys choose hats from the girls table (but none with flowers) and the girls choose hats from the boys table. I made a couple of hats that, because of the number stitches required for the decorative stitches came out a tad too big. I put a draw string through it. Problem solved. One or two were a tad too small. They found their way to kids with smaller heads. The point is - have fun while warming those little heads, honing your crocheting skills and reducing your stash. The rewards can be seen in the picture.

If anyone has other suggestions please feel free to add them.

[Pixieglitter]

You're an angel, Char. Lots of love to you. <3

Shelley

[SusansSoulShines]

Thanks to everyone who posted, read but didn't post and to those who are inspired to do a similar project. If I may, I would like to suggest a few guidelines which you may choose to follow or not. First, no wool or any other material that my excite allergies. Many people, including myself, are allergic to wool. I can't even work with it, much less wear it. If possible, choose yarn that is machine washable and dryable. Kid's things get dirty fast so they get washed often. Many of these moms, not having their own washers and dryers, must use a public laundromat where everything gets washed and dried together with no choice of temperature. Keep shrinkage in mind when using a blend. Since I didn't use a pattern, I used my own head for size, adding or subtracting stitches as needed. When the hats shrink they will be kid-size. If they don't shrink, I figure the kids will just grow into them. Make extra. A couple of the boys asked Carol if they could have a hat for their sisters which I thought was just too sweet. Luckily, there were so many extras she said yes. Thinking the boys wouldn't want a fancy hat I made some very plain, while the girls hats were made with some decorative stitches. Was I wrong! The boys choose hats from the girls table (but none with flowers) and the girls choose hats from the boys table. I made a couple of hats that, because of the number stitches required for the decorative stitches came out a tad too big. I put a draw string through it. Problem solved. One or two were a tad too small. They found their way to kids with smaller heads. The point is - have fun while warming those little heads, honing your crocheting skills and reducing your stash. The rewards can be seen in the picture.

If anyone has other suggestions please feel free to add them.

Me again! Char, I was telling you on an earlier post in this thread that I posted websites on my blog of organizations / charities and their addresses, items they want & need, patterns they suggest that people use for a particular item, the yarn types that work well for their needs that people can tolerate, different things work for each type of piece that someone may be thinking of making. There are also sizing charts I posted with sizing for hats, blankets, throws, lapghans, prayer shawls, you name it, of every age and size that they've figured out as guidelines for people to use, who might wonder exactly what size is needed for what and how to get that size.
Some people can't figure sizing out for so many different pieces, and some might not realize that all of this information is available online. You got involved with a local need, but local, national even international programs like this are all busy at work with items made with love by and for others! I m going to talk to you again today to get your full story for my blog as an ongoing idea for people to get involved with things like this. There is a huge need for this.

[CHARCREATES]

You're an angel, Char. Lots of love to you. <3

Shelley

Thanks, Shelley. The kids may have gotten warm heads but I got quite a bit out of it too. Even my hubby got something out of it. He's just happy as a clam seeing my stack of yarn bins get shorter and shorter. LOL!

[Pixieglitter]

Thanks, Shelley. The kids may have gotten warm heads but I got quite a bit out of it too. Even my hubby got something out of it. He's just happy as a clam seeing my stack of yarn bins get shorter and shorter. LOL!

Char, I can't really relate to your hubby LOL. I'm single, I've been single for over 20 years now, and my yarn stash is all mine! There's no one around to complain about it to me. And I love my stash!

Shelley

[Operationwarmheads]

Love what you've done! It seems we think alike. I have an organization in Little Rock, AR that is called Operation Warm Heads. We do something very similar to you. It's nice to know that this is happening somewhere else as well! I'd love to share your story on our facebook page if possible. Feel free to check us out first. Our website is Operation: Warm Heads and our facebook is https://www.facebook.com/operationwarmheads

[CHARCREATES]

Love what you've done! It seems we think alike. I have an organization in Little Rock, AR that is called Operation Warm Heads. We do something very similar to you. It's nice to know that this is happening somewhere else as well! I'd love to share your story on our facebook page if possible. Feel free to check us out first. Our website is Operation: Warm Heads and our facebook is https://www.facebook.com/operationwarmheads

Of course you may share my little story. Last week I delivered 147 hats to my local grade school. All the kids in 5 kindergarten classes got hats. The leftover hats went to the special ed classroom. This week another 57 hats went to a school in a neighboring town. Here's a picture from last year's giveaway. The lady in the picture is my friend, Carol, who volunteers to help with reading. She took them to the school for me.