Knit a Purple Hat to Help a Baby

It’s a fact of early childhood that babies tend to increase the amount of time they spend crying around the age of two weeks up to three or four months of age. Some health experts call this the period of purple crying, which is characterized by an increase in crying from day to day that often comes on unexpectedly and not because of a problem in their environment, crying that is resistant to soothing and looks like the baby is in pain and crying that is long-lasting and often happens in the afternoon and evening.

This sort of crying is normal and does go away, but it can be a great frustration to parents and other caregivers, sometimes causing them to abuse and harm the child in an attempt to get them to stop crying.

One effort at preventing the abuse of babies during the period is called CLICK for Babies, and it involves knitting purple hats that are distributed in hospitals across the United States and Canada to remind parents that this period is just a phase. There are chapters in 10 states and three Canadian provinces, but knitters and crocheters anyway can help in the effort.

The deadline for hats — which are distributed in the winter months — is Oct. 1. You can send the hats to your local chapter if they happen to have one, or send them to the national office in Utah, which will distribute them where they can be used.

Baby hats are really fun, quick projects and the fact that you can potentially help a child by knitting one (or a few!) is really great.

Specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get, well, knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next.

Looking for more Baby Knitting patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

Next Pattern:

Sometimes I feel like knitters get intimidated to try new things because they think they need to start with a big project. Your first time working in the round doesn’t need to be a sock, and your first colorwork doesn’t need to be a sweater, for example. You can find little projects that use the skills you want to learn to build your confidence before you move on to something that requires more time commitment.

This adorable knit bunny, for example.

The colorwork bunny from Knit Picks was designed by Amy Munson and is a kind of bowling pin shaped bunny complete with a knit hat, contrasting inner ears and a little stranded colorwork on its body. Note that the ears are attached the the hat not the bunny, but you could stitch them to the bunny if you’d rather.

It’s worked from the bottom up and also has a tiny pompom tail you can’t see in the picture but it’s a really cute touch. There are a variety of little fair isle patterns to choose from to make the best bunny for you.

The bunny comes out about 8 inches tall (or just over 20 cm) and use several colors to complete the colorwork, depending on the design you choose.

You can purchase the pattern by itself from Knit Picks, or make a kit that includes sport weight yarn in all the colors you need for your creation. There are gray and brown options for the main body of the bunny, but of course if you’re using your own yarn you can make it whatever color you like.

Once you’ve tried colorwork (maybe also working in the round and shaping if those are skills you haven’t used before) in a little project like this you’ll be ready to take on something bigger in no time.

Check out the pattern on Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

Next Pattern:

Comments

Have you read?