Gosh, Thanks!

I walked into The Yarn Haven one afternoon last week and got surprised...big time surprised! You will recall that just a couple of weeks ago I was happily knitting away on preemie hats as a part of the 2009 Yarn Bowl Challenge: Alabama vs. Tennessee. Our Tennessee knitters and crocheters were absolutely amazing, creating 3,171 hats to warm the heads of tiny preemies and the hearts of loving families here in East Tennessee. Our worthy competition in Tuscaloosa, AL made 1,738 hats. That's a lot of hats folks!!! Here in Tennessee we were thrilled to win the challenge. We would have been happier is we had made that last field goal to win the football game as well, but I guess you can't win everything, right? We'll get 'em next year when the Crimson Tide comes to Rocky Top :-)



I particularly enjoyed knitting the hats because I used the experience to learn and improve upon my colorwork knitting skills. I did a little designing as well, creating girly hats with ruffles and bows and little guy toppers like a baseball-style cap. The last night of the challenge I put the finishing touches on a pair of hats perfect for any preemie-sized Vol fan. One hat supported the Vols while the other touted the Lady Vols as our favorites. It's hard to say I had a favorite hat, but I am particularly fond of these two.


I guess I was not alone in my inability to choose just one favorite hat. Apparently the anonymous, independent judge of the Yarn Haven hats also had a hard time choosing only one as well. That's where the surprise comes in. I created really cute hats (IMHO) because I was enjoying myself. I also did it because I *know* what such a simple thing means to preemie parents. My aim was for cuteness and quality, not quantity or anything else. I knew that Sandy, my LYSO, had announced there would be categories and judging at the end of the competition, but I paid no heed to all that. So when I walked into the shop that afternoon and was greeted by cheers and congratulations by my friends and fellow knitters I was stunned. I had won the most unique prize. Oh my!!! There was a nice gift certificate to the shop to go along with the kind words and cheers. What else can I say but thanks!!! The Yarn Haven is the BEST!!! It's such a good feeling to be associated with so many wonderful, caring people. I love ya'll!!!

I Love Preemies

After months, no, make that years of knitting beautiful lace I have been putting my needles to work in a different way lately. I've been making preemie hats. Lots of preemie hats. Pretty preemie hats. Hats I know stressed Mommies will love to see on their precious little bundle of joy. It's hard to believe it's been 10+ years since I last worked in the NICU. It doesn't seem that long ago to me. Back in the day I used to crochet custom-sized booties by the dozens to outfit the kids in the unit. You can't buy booties to fit, and most kids can wear them no matter how sick or small they are. But I was a much better crocheter than knitter in those days and I never cared for crocheted preemie hats so I didn't make them. Now that I'm a vastly improved knitter preemie hats are quite fun to create.

The sudden need to knit preemie hats comes at the challenge of the LYS in Tuscaloosa, AL to my LYS here in Knoxville, TN, The Yarn Haven. It's the Crimson Tide vs. the Vols and the big football game is in 2 weeks. Which shop will create the most preemie hats???? All I can say is that I've seen the masses of hats at TYH and I know that between the 2 major NICUs here in Knoxville (East TN Children's Hosp. and UT Med Ctr.), no tiny head will go bare for at least a couple of years. Yikes!!!

I confess I haven't taken the time to photograph most of the hats I've made over the past 2 weeks. Most of the ones I did were for little girls as they fulfilled my need to knit lacy edgings or concoct I-cord flowers. I've been practicing my meager colorwork techniques by knitting stranded hearts into the hats. A pastel pink and mint green version turned out esp. cute. I'm kind of sorry I didn't take a picture of that one. One of my knitty friends gave me a partial ball of lt. blue/white Dreambaby DK yarn, my newfound favorite baby acrylic (not iccky-crylic). Thus I felt encouraged to knit a few darling things for boys too. In reflecting back on my nursing days, I think I was a primary nurse for more boys than girls so it is only fair that the little guys get some Kristina-knit loving too. I'm playing around with some red, white and blue yarn and try to knit a baseball cap. So far so good, but I don't know if it will work or not. Playing with yarn for preemies is fun :-)