What's with the Tiny Little Hats?

I came up from the “Underground” yesterday evening to join a group of knitters knitting tiny little hats. I am not a knitter but have done an amount of crocheting. Knowing this, my friend Stephanie (an obsessed knitter and ring leader for this project) sent me a crochet pattern for a tiny little hat along with a message that said “join us for this project, we will be serving wine.” This came about a week ago. This afternoon I dug through my stash of yarn and unfinished projects, found the correct size crochet hook, some red yarn and started crocheting a little hat. When I left to join up with the group, I had crocheted maybe an inch;

 

but no worries I would work on it while sipping wine and every little hat counts, right?

So, what is the project? This is the interesting part. When I entered the room I was greeted by the clicking of knitting needles and over 200 tiny little hats in the middle of a table, contributed by knitters all over town.

 

 

Also there was a stack of tags to be attached to the hats. The tag gives information on the Seamen Church Institute ministry.

 

The hats will be distributed around Paducah and elsewhere; some shops have agreed to let them sit on wine bottles,

 

 

some will be left in vacant seats in public places, some will be attached to trees , just wherever they can be seen. Hopefully when folks see the hats and read the tags they will be motivated to donate to (or knit for) the Seamen Church Institute.

So, you might ask, what does the Seaman Church Institute do?  Affiliated with the Episcopal Church, it serves the North American and international maritime workers by providing pastoral care, education and legal services. The hat project is part of the SCI’s Christmas at Sea, that has provided knitted and crocheted items consistently since 1898 and are distributed to the mariners during the winter months, especially during Christmas. Since we live in a river city this is a project our community embraced. After all, it is our families and neighbors working on the river for 30 days at a time in all kinds of weather, including sub-freezing temperatures.

If you knit or crochet and would like to participate, visit the Seamen Church Institute’s web site. You will find patterns for hats, scarves, vests, etc., information on appropriate yarn, embellishments, etc. and the address to send the finished items. You will also learn more about the ministry.

If you see one of the little hats, please post a comment of where it was seen. Since this project is nationwide, it would be interesting to see just where these little hats turn up. If you are a twitter, you can tweet #watchthiscap and report the location.

I don’t think I will get serious about needlework again anytime soon, but I will finish my little hat and help with the distribution.