Rounding out 2011

We are humbled and honored to report that we have received and distributed 1,200 hats and 200 scarves this winter season thus far. TWELVE HUNDRED! Wow. Knitters, you have outdone yourselves with the amazingly beautiful and warm hats and accessories that you have made with your own two hands for our homeless friends. Each and every one was given to a person in need and each and every person in need was grateful. And we are continually grateful for your efforts, handiwork and kindness.

A complete list of collaborating organizations will be posted soon. For now, we are still weaving in a few loose ends and still collecting and giving hats (Old Man Winter seems to have finally arrived here in the Northland, and it's cold). And...we're still knitting too.

Please continue to send in hats throughout the winter and we will be sure to share them with those in need.

Thank you! May 2012 find you happy and warm.

Halfway There!

With the addition of another beautiful 72 hats just today, we are now officially at our halfway mark to our goal! Keep 'em coming, wonderful knitters! We can totally do this.

So many beautifully warm hats have been coming in, see the tally to the right! -->

The only trouble with these incredible hats is that the vast majority of them are for women and children. We will gladly (happily! joyously!) distribute these hats to the women and children, but our male homeless neighbors may be left in the cold at this rate.

Please consider knitting a much larger hat with very plain, dark wool and don't put any creative flairs on it. I know, I know, that's very hard for creative knitters to imagine! But trust me, they will be warmly received and very much appreciated. See pattern notes above or previous blog posts below for details on the hats for men.

And...THANK YOU!!

When in doubt, knit it LARGE!

We are in need of LARGE HATS FOR MEN. As you think about your knitting for Hats for the Homeless, please consider knitting a hat for a man. Make it big (bigger than you think, really large), dark, and solid-colored (time and time again, we've been told by the men who've received our hats that they just don't like the patterns, brights or even stripes). We have so many BEAUTIFUL hats for women and kids, but now it's time to focus on the men for a semi-balanced ratio to distribute this year. Thanks!

Going Strong

We are off to an amazing start this year and just wish that we could broadcast an ongoing THANK YOU ticker on this blog and elsewhere to all of those who have knit hats (and scarves and mittens...) and to all of those who are telling friends about Hats for the Homeless. It's truly an organic project and is so fun to see it grow. We have received 20% of our goal for this year and have already put a lot of those warm woollies out into the community. Just today, 55 hats went to a Minneapolis ECFE group for under-privileged kids whose families can use some help this winter. It may be 75 degrees now, but we all know it won't be for long.

We spread the word to piles of knitters at two local farmer's markets this fall--Fulton Farmer's Market and the Midtown Farmer's Market--and had a lot of fun sitting and knitting with so many of you in the presence of good food, great fun and lots of curious people. These knit in public charity knitting events are a great tool to spread the word and create excitement about Hats for the Homeless, so watch for details of more events to come!

Here's another great article about Hats for the Homeless too: "Knitting for a Cause: Hats for the Homeless." Thank you, Allison Nowak of the Southwest Minneapolis Patch!

Kick-Off Party

Bring your knitting supplies and join us for an afternoon of knitting as we kick-off our “Hats for the Homeless” for the upcoming winter. We will have patterns and experienced knitters on hand to help with questions. Spread the word and bring a friend!

StevenBe's Yarn Garage
3448 Chicago Avenue South, Minneapolis, 55407
Saturday, August 27, noon-3pm

RSVP: bjm AT visi DOT com ~or~ joangilby AT gmail DOT com

900 Hats!

We are proud and--at the same time--deeply humbled to share the total from last year's Hats for the Homeless effort: 900 hats were collected and distributed to our homeless neighbors here in Minneapolis last year! This project has taken off with very little effort on our part and we are beyond thrilled with this total, which represents a 200% growth over the year before. In just two years, we've shared 1,200 hats with people in need and it's happened all at the grassroots level, by word of mouth and with zero exchange/cost.