Knitting Hats for Ukraine
I was going to write about the new sweater I just finished - or the several new ones I started since I got involved in test knitting. But that has to wait for another day.
Just a little while ago, I opened my Ravelry tab and found a personal message waiting for me. It was from the founder of the Ravelry Resistance Knitters group with a call for making hats for the many refugees who found shelter in Poland.
Here is what she wrote:
In solidarity with Ukrainian refugees going to Poland I thought knitting hats in the colors of the Ukrainian flag flag-ua would be not only warm but uplifting and show support. Any pattern would do. Mostly women and children (men fighting age can’t leave the country). Knitting or crochet. Their flag means a lot to them so knitting hats with Yellow on the bottom and Blue on the top will be good.
So often, I find myself helpless in the face of so much misery in the world and knitting has been my place of solace more than once.
Actually, I think the first time I posted to this community, it was about my effort to knit hats for asylum seekers who were stuck on the Mexican side of the US Border without many resources and facing a cold winter.
Here is a photo of the delivery of the hats to a non-profit providing help to migrants.
Now, I am asking you to join me in making hats for Ukraine
I realize that not all of you can do this - availability of yarn, cost of shipping, and so forth might not be in your realm of possibility. But for those of you who can, please consider making a few hats.
As the quoted text says, the colors of the flag (yellow and blue) are preferred. But I am sure any color is welcome since providing warmth is important.
As far as material is concerned, it is your choice. Personally, I don't like to add more plastic-based anything to our already highly polluted world but you do you.
I did a quick search on Ravelry and there are over 40,000 free hat patterns available. Wow, that is a lot. Here is the link to the search..
Any kind of hat is welcome, knit, crochet, weave, felted, and I suppose a sewn hat as well. I will update you with an address to mail them to - at least for those of you in the US. I am assuming that similar actions are taking place in other countries as well. Please share any info you have in the comments - or better yet, write your own post of you know about a similar effort.
Here is a very simple hat I made before and it fits a wide range of head sizes.
It is a 2 x 2 rib carried through the whole hat. Just make sure to cast on a number of stitches dividable by 4.
If you decide to make a yellow and blue hat for Ukraine, please post about it here.
And a quick reminder about the Ravelry Group I started for Hive users. It is meant strictly as a support for whatever happens here...
Join Hive Fiber Artists on Ravelry here
Hope you all are safe and sound and happily working on your favorite Fiber activity.