Another Reason to Knit Red Baby Hats

Earlier this month I told you about the campaign to knit red Santa hats for preemies and other babies in the NICUs in Kansas City for the holidays.

But if you want to help babies in other parts of the country, here’s another project for which you can knit red hats. Looking for more Baby Knitting patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

The Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign began in Chicago and has now expanded to 29 states. The aim is to provide knit or crocheted hats in the color red to all the babies born in participating hospitals during the month of February to raise awareness of heart disease, which is the number one killer of Americans, and congenital heart defects, the most common birth defect.

Hats are being collected through the end of the year, and you can contact a local chapter at the link above to get patterns, shipping addresses and more information.

This is such a sweet campaign and I hope some of you can squeeze in a little extra knitting this holiday season for some special little babies!

[Photo via American Heart Association.]

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I don’t know if you all know this about me, but I’m a huge fan of the Studio Ghibli movies and the books that inspired them. Calcifer, if you don’t already know, is an important character in the book and the movie Howl’s Moving Castle, which is one of my daughter’s favorites (though she did like the book better thanks to some changes that were made for the movie).

Whether you’ve got a Ghibli (or Diana Wynne Jones) fan in your house or you just want to knit a roaring fire to sit in your fireplace in the off season, the Calcifer Knitted Plushie from Kamila Hernandez Firl is here for you.

This irresistible pattern is super cute even if you aren’t familiar with the story (which I won’t spoil for you, but you should check it out!).

The pattern calls for DK weight yarn in eight different colors, for of which make the colors of the flame, two browns for the log and black and white for details. You’ll also need some black embroidery thread for finishing the details on the face. The project is worked in the round, with the flame and the log worked separately, stuffed and sewn together. The general instructions for the pattern are written, but the color changes (and some shaping on the flames) are shown in chart form, so you should have some familiarity with reading and following charts before you start this one.

It’s well worth learning how to do it if you know someone who loves Calcifer, or even just to make a pretend play “campfire” for your kiddos who aren’t old enough to know who Calcifer is yet. They’ll thank you later.

This pattern is free to download on Ravelry, so go check it out and get ready to stitch up some firey fun.

[Photo: Kamila Hernandez Firl]

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