Knit Little Red Hats for Preemies

You may not know this, but my little girl was a preemie, born six weeks early. We were lucky and she didn’t have any major health problems, and only spent a week in the NICU.

But a lot of families have babies who are in the hospital much longer, and it can be difficult to feel like celebrating holidays when your little one isn’t home.

One awesome photographer in the Kansas City area has rallied a bunch of people to help make Christmas a little more special for families with babies in the hospital, by providing them with little red hats and a visit from Santa. (Just thinking about this makes me cry a little, so if you’re a sap like me do not watch the video. You’ve been warned.)

Jessica Storm of Believe in Preemies is collecting hats for local hospitals again this year, and they’re needed by December 7. You can email believeinpreemies @ gmail.com to get the pattern and shipping address. It’s asked that all hats be knit in red with white trim so the babies match Santa, and hats of various sizes, from teeny to full-term are needed.

We’re pretty close to Kansas City and a local yarn store is collecting hats to send, so I’m definitely going to have to stitch some up. (While Santa can only visit a couple of hospitals, all the hats are distributed to local NICUs, so all the hats will be used to spread holiday cheer.)

Let’s overwhelm them with tiny red hats, why don’t we?

[Photo via Believe in Preemies.]

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The felted slipper craze that began last year doesn’t seem like it’s fading away. The Sailor Slippers, often striped knit and felted slippers made with super bulky yarn, because the project of the moment late last year (check out more knit slipper options in this post all about sailor slippers) and they’re still consistently popular with knitters.

Which makes sense because they are fun and fast to knit, and seeing them go from this giant thing to something that actually fits a foot feels a little magical.

I have always loved felting (in fact my first book was about felting knitting) and it’s always fun for me to see people rediscover this technique.

If you’ve knit enough plain slippers to fit all the feet you know, maybe it’s time to stitch up some tabi style slippers instead.

Maymade Knits has designed these cute tabi ballerina slippers, made with bulky yarn and felted. They’re worked flat at first and then in rounds, and are available in 10 EU sizes (the Internet tells me add 31 to your American shoe size to get your EU size). The designer says the slippers are meant to have a close fit and you should choose a size a little smaller than your foot for the ideal fit.

The pattern includes a video tutorial along with the written pattern.

You can grab this pattern on Ravelry. The same designer has her own version of the striped felted slipper as well, called Sarah’s Striped Slippers. These are worked in super bulky yarn and have a contrasting foot and a striped body. These are knit flat and seamed and there are 7 size options available. Check that pattern out here if you’re looking for a more traditional slipper shape. They also look roomier so you can wear them with socks if you like.

[Photo: Maymade Knits]

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