This Summer's Charity Knitting

Although I've been pretty inactive on the blog this summer, that doesn't mean I haven't been busy crafting. One of the projects I've been working on is making items to donate to the local charity Note in the Pocket. Their mission: "We provide clothing to impoverished and homeless schoolchildren in Wake County [NC] with dignity and love. Note in the Pocket believes that it is unacceptable that children are limited in their educational and social development because they do not have appropriate clothes for school.

This is the latest batch I've finished: 2 scarves and 34 hats. I've gone through so much of my stash of acrylic yarn that I've had to buy more to continue making the hats. The majority were knitted using a simple pattern that I modified from one I found in my library of knitting books. The pattern works up very fast so that I can make a hat in just a few hours of knitting.

Here's the pattern that I used for the majority of the hats:

Child's Simple Knitted Hat

Hat body
1.       Cast on 80 stitches on 16" circular needle.
2.       Join & place marker.
3.       Work K2 P2 rib for 8 rows.
4.       Continue in stockinette stitch for 28 rounds.
Crown Shaping Decreases
Change to double-pointed needles when there are too few stitches to fix on the circular needle.
1.       (K8, K2tog) -- repeat pattern to marker
2.       K next round -- 72 stitches
3.       (K7, K2tog) -- repeat pattern to marker
4.       K next round -- 64 stitches
5.       (K6, K2tog) -- repeat pattern to marker
6.       K next round -- 56 stitches
7.       (K5, K2tog) -- repeat pattern to marker
8.       K next round -- 48 stitches
9.       (K4, K2tog) -- repeat pattern to marker
10.   K next round -- 40 stitches
11.   (K3, K2tog) -- repeat pattern to marker
12.   K next round -- 32 stitches
13.   (K2, K2tog) -- repeat pattern to marker
14.   K next round -- 24 stitches
15.   (K1, K2tog) -- repeat pattern to marker
16.   K next round -- 16 stitches
17.   K2tog 8 times -- 8 stitches

Cut yarn leaving 8" tail & thread through the remaining stitches.
Pull together tightly & secure end.
Weave in any loose ends.