Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Man in Hospice Has Made More than 8,000 Hats for the Homeless

by

91-year-old in hospice still knitting hats for homeless.There was a lot of great knitting-related news happening while I was too busy to share it, but just in case you didn’t see the story of Morrie Boogaart before, I wanted to make sure you did.

Boogaart is 91 and in hospice with terminal cancer. But that hasn’t stopped him from continuing a charitable mission he’s been on for 15 years: loom knitting hats for the homeless.

He says he stopped counting when he had made 8,000 hats, and though his illness has slowed him down he can still make a hat in a couple of days.

He learned to knit in 2001 and says he spends his days knitting and watching TV, only putting his knitting aside when he sleeps.

I love this story and I hope that we can all remember that we can be useful and help others regardless of our situation in life.

[Photo via Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat]

Next Pattern:

Comments

  1. Yes, I read his story a few days ago. Bless his heart. He won’t be forgotten. I began crocheting wearables for the homeless last year and it helps past the time away when you’re confined to home.

Have you read?

Yarn Cozy Knitting Patterns

I’ve been toying with the idea of making a yarn cozy or yarn ball holder on the circular knitting machine, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. In the meantime, here are some yarn cozy knitting patterns you can make with knitting needles. Use yarn to hold you yarn!

In its simplest form, a yarn cozy is just a sleeve or a little basket that holds your yarn when you’re working with a center-pull ball so it doesn’t fall apart when you knit. The easiest ones I could find are from Love in Stitches KN, which has a regular size and a mini size. They’re worked with sock yarn and there are options for making them with ribbing, faux cables and with self-striping yarn.

For bigger cakes there’s a project called We call it the “bail holder” from Nicole LeBlanc. This pattern is available on Ravelry and you can use any yarn and make it any size you like. It features an I-cord edging that has a loop in it so you can thread they yarn through the loop to keep it extra contained as you knit.

Another large one that has a slightly fancier pattern is this one by Mareike Meye. You can use any yarn and any gauge, and slip stitch pattern worked in different colors on the sides makes it a little more fun and uses a bit more stash. A strap buttons across the top to hold the ball in place and you can add a buttonhole to the middle of the strap to thread the yarn through. Check this one out on Ravelry.

Adding lace to a yarn cozy makes it fit a wider variety of balls and expand or shrink a bit as needed. Jennifer Sugarman’s Ball Sack uses sock yarn and is made to hold sock yarn. It has the option of making I-cord or using ribbon or cord you already have to make a drawstring at the top. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

Another lacy option is the yarn ball holder from Frugal Knitting Haus. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has an easy mesh lace pattern and an I-cord drawstring that’s sewn together at the ends so you could loop it over your wrist while you knit if you like. This pattern is also on Ravelry.

Speaking of wrist yarn holders, I also found this one form Knituition. This one uses sport weight yarn and has a spiral rib pattern on the body. The strap is attached to the bag with D-rings, or you could make it a little longer and just sew it into the bag.