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

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Why should the fireplace get all the fun? Instead of knitting stockings this year, why not whip up a pair of Christmas themed socks? These Christmas sock knitting patterns are lots of fun to make and you can wear them to holiday gatherings for years to come.

For our friends in the southern part of the world, there are the Christmas in July socks from the Kiwi Lodge – Kylie (Ravelry link). These shorty socks are covered in Christmas trees and have bright pink heels and toes for a tropical feel. There’s also an option to make a longer sock if you celebrate somewhere it’s colder.

Twin Stitches Designs (Ravelry) has a fun pattern with mix and match colorwork motifs you can use to build your own cozy Christmas socks. From the sample socks I see Christmas puddings, trucks hauling trees, Santa belts, ornaments and a couple of different borders. There may be more patterns included but the listing doesn’t say. Make a pair that matches or use different motifs on each foot for extra holiday cheer.

If you want to stick to Christmas puddings on your holiday socks, check out this cute pattern from Stone Knits. These lovely socks feature a band of puddings around the leg and a bit of holly by the toes.

These vintage holiday light socks from Grey Owl Knits by Sarah are classic looking and lots of fun at the same time. I love this color combination but of course you can make your lights and stripes whatever colors you like or have on hand. They’re worked using stranded knitting.

And if you’d like even more of a mix of patterns for your socks, try Barbara Ceglédi’s Christmas Chaos socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The pattern includes 25 little motifs you can choose from, ranging from snowflakes and Christmas trees to elf hats, reindeer and hearts.

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