Caps to the Capitol

My crocheting skills are pretty rudimentary - I can crochet a baby blanket - my favorite pattern is called "Alternating Puff" - two SC, then 3 DC in one SC, etc, etc. It makes a very cool pattern - especially in a variegated baby yarn - (I always use a yarn that can be thrown in the washer & dryer - I figure that new moms don't have time to screw around with fancy care for baby blankets)

The blanket I just finished was actually started for a little girl who is in kindergarten now - so, I'm not a very fast crocheter either...

But something recently caught my attention. In mid December, My friend Nancy, who has a yarn shop in Bellingham called NW Handspun Yarns ( http://www.nwhandspunyarns.com/index.php ) emailed an "Action Kit" from Save the Children & Warm Up America Foundation called "Caps to the Capital" http://www.savethechildren.org/campaigns/caps-to-the-capital/# - Actually that's the link for the Save the Children Foundation web site page about this project. Quoting from their web site: "After Save the Children's State of the World's Mothers 2006 report highlighted simple, low-cost practices that could save newborn lives, like warming their heads with a knit or crochet cap, Save the Children received numerous calls and e-mails from Americans around the country wanting to organize their friends and family to knit and crochet caps for newborns in developing countries."

This blossomed into a project that culminated on Jan. 2, 2007, with over 50,000 caps being made in all 50 states and donated to this wonderful cause. Called "Caps to the Capitol" - the Save the Children Foundation was going to present the caps with messages to GW to show that Americans want to do more to save the lives of newborn children all around the world. Here is a link to their video - it was very cool to watch and realize that my three caps were part of this big project http://multimedia.savethechildren.org/video/caps-2006.asp

The Action Packet had directions for caps - knitted & crocheted - I figured, OK, I can try that -(they requested that you use the patterns that they provided, because they were smaller and designed to fit the heads of babies born in developing countries - many are born premature and have very tiny heads) So, I made the first one, had to take out part of it, because I didn't read the directions right and left out "rows 9 - 13".... Oops - well if at first you don't succeed... anyhow, I think they look like little Easter eggs, don't you . . . As you can see, I ended up making three of them and got them to Nancy's shop the day before she was going to send them in. She had 137 caps just from here in Whatcom County - I wish I'd had my camera, she had them strung on a line in her store windows - they looked very festive! Many Thanks & Kudos to Nancy for spearheading this local effort!

I figure they will do this again, so I'm working on some more caps - next time I'll be ready, and next time, I'll make sure I let you know sooner, so you can knit or crochet a cap of your own to help save a child's life.