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Knit a Purple Hat to Help a Baby

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click for babiesIt’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.

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Textured Hat Knitting Patterns

There are all sorts of knitting techniques you can use on hats, but some of my favorites are textured stitch patterns or cabled hats worked in a single color. Check out these great textured hat knitting patterns and find your next fall favorite. 

The K?pekapeka hat from The Practice of Fibre was the one that got me started thinking about textured hat knitting patterns. This one has a simple zig-zag pattern worked with purls. This hat uses centered double decreases for shaping to help keep the pattern going as you finish the top of the hat. It uses worked weight yarn. 

Little Totz Designs has this simple knit hat that uses worsted weight yarn and an allover knit-purl stitch pattern that’s easy to memorize. This one would be a great first hat in the round pattern if that’s something you haven’t tried before. 

The Fia Beanie from Honey and Grace Fiber Co is another simple stitch pattern that’s full of texture. It calls for bulky yarn so it should stitch up in no time in this great textured diamond design. 

Kalurah Hudson’s Cindersmoke hat is an interesting stitch design that uses double moss stitch and bands of slipped stitches throughout the pattern, which is where the decreases are worked, keeping the rest of the pattern as established. It uses bulky yarn and is sized for adults, and you can find it on Ravelry.

Benjamin Matthews has such pretty designs that often turn out to be simpler to knit than they look. The Snow Carved Beanie (find it on Ravelry) for example only uses knits, purls and slipped stitches, but it has a design that looks almost like cables. The pattern uses worsted weight yarn and has a foldover brim for extra warmth. 

While I wanted to keep the focus in this roundup on simple stitch patterns, basic cables are not that much more difficult than regular knitting, and the lattice pattern on this CrissCross Hat form the Purling Princess is so charming I couldn’t resist sharing. This hat comes in three sizes (baby, child and adult) and uses worsted weight yarn. It would be a great gift to knit if you’re thinking about that.