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You are here: Home / Knitting Charities by Recipient / Homeless / Do You Want to Warm the Homeless Lavishly in NYC?

Do You Want to Warm the Homeless Lavishly in NYC?

Homeless, Knitting Charities by Recipient, Knitting Charities by U.S. State or Country, New York

Knit for Hats for the Homeless and provide warm knitted items for homeless folks in New York City.Hats for the Homeless

John Carroll was a young man with a mission.

Once upon a time, he gathered a group of friends together during the holiday season. They would wander through New York City and distribute toasty gloves, scarves, and hats to the chilly homeless folks they found.

John died in 1998, but his friends and family were determined not to let his generosity die with him.

Instead, they founded Hats for the Homeless. Then they sat down and started knitting!

At the end of the year, they handed out their warm, knit-with-love treasures to homeless citizens at St. Francis Xavier’s Soup Kitchen on West 15th Street. They’ve continued the tradition every year since.

In time, other volunteers started to contribute their creations. They began to gather new store-bought items too. In fact, brightly colored collection boxes have become a big part of the Hats for the Homeless tradition.

Clothing Homeless Folks in Dignity: Why You Should Knit for Hats for the Homeless

Think, for a moment, how cold you get in the winter. Feel the chill of the bracing wind on your face. Feel the numbness in your fingers and toes that can turn to pain when you must be outside too long.

Now imagine that same numbness, pain, chilled-to-the-bone feeling being a daily reality and a nightly nightmare. That’s life for the homeless in New York City.

Now, why wouldn’t you want to think about getting out your knitting needles and putting together a hat, a pair of mittens or socks, or a shawl for Hats for the Homeless?

Easy to Knit, Easy to Give – Offering Warmth to Homeless Folks

Most items Hats for the Homeless needs are easy to knit and don’t require much yarn. Hats, for example: a knitted cap might just use up that odd ball of yarn you’ve been wondering what to do with. A pair of mittens or a scarf won’t take up much more.

While these items won’t take much of your time (or your yarn), they help immeasurably for homeless folks. Remember that not only can they struggle to get warm in the winter, but every other part of their daily lives are a struggle, too. They often feel forgotten and uncared for.

Offering hats, mittens, scarves, and other toasty knitted items help them get warm, and there’s another benefit too. These items serve as tangible reminders that they are not forgotten and that they are worthy of someone else’s time.

When you’re desperate to be warm, you’re not likely to worry about a few dropped stitches. Nor will you care what color keeps you warm. So don’t worry about such minor issues! Sadly, there are far more homeless people than available items.

New York City’s Homeless Need Your Help

The charity focuses on the homeless of NYC. But you don’t have to live in or near New York to knit for Hats for the Homeless. Recent contributors have included knitters from as far away as Wisconsin, Florida, and California!

For more information on how to get involved, go to the Hats for the Homeless website. They most need knitted gloves, mittens, hats, shawls, scarves, and socks. Use whatever patterns strike your fancy.

Machine-washable yarn is best for your Hats for the Homeless items, because the homeless rarely have the access to the facilities needed to hand-wash their clothing. Furthermore, darker colors are preferred, since they won’t show soiling as easily as lighter hues.

Remember what it’s like to be cold in the winter? Now consider what it’s like to be cold in winter without any way of warming up. That’s why I know you’ll want to consider knitting for Hats for the Homeless!

Are you ready to knit for Hats for the Homeless? Check out Knitting for Charity, One Stitch at a Time and put together your perfect charity knitting plan!

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Nicole

I believe there's someone who needs what you love to knit. If you'd like to knit patterns you love for people you care about, I can help!
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Last Updated: September 14, 2018 ·

About Nicole

I believe there's someone who needs what you love to knit. If you'd like to knit patterns you love for people you care about, I can help!

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I believe there's someone who needs what you love to knit. I'm here to help!

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Do you have your ticket yet? (I just got mine!) Jo Do you have your ticket yet? (I just got mine!) Join me and a multitude of fabulous knitters and artisans for an amazing couple of days at the @knitandescape Virtual Galentine's Day Weekend event! I'll be showing off these wonderful bonding hearts and telling you how you can use them to benefit the Mighty Miracles Foundation to help premature infants & their families. I can't wait to see you "there" this Friday night at 8 pm Eastern time!
Are you missing your in-person knitting nights? If Are you missing your in-person knitting nights? If so, let me tell you about a virtual knitting event you won't want to miss! 

The great folks at Knit + Escape are holding a Galentine's Day virtual celebration from Feb. 4 to 6. A $10 ticket will give you access to vendor virtual booths and a whole lot of free content that includes fiber demos and lectures, farm tours, charity knitting, and much, MUCH more. 

And here's a bonus that I hope you'll love: your Marketplace Ticket includes access to the Friday Evening CHARITY KNIT NIGHT, an exciting event led by Kristy Glass, where I will be a special guest. We’ll have several opportunities for participants to ask questions and celebrate the spirit of giving!

I'm going to be talking about creating Bonding Hearts and how these wonderful little creations can help preemies and their families through an amazing organization called Mighty Miracles Foundation. 

I would LOVE to see you there, so I hope you'll join us! You'll find a registration link to this event in my profile.
(Please note: the following has nothing to do with (Please note: the following has nothing to do with charity knitting. But I can't be silent any longer. If I - and Knitting for Charity - am going to be for making the lives of others better, I have to speak up.) I've been wanting to say something for well over a week. But I felt like it wasn't my place to talk. This isn't my experience. I should be listening. 
But I want to make something clear. 
Systemic racism is not a theory. It's not a kooky idea. It's a fact of life. And whether white people feel like they've benefited from it or not (I'm sure most of us feel like we haven't)... we have. 
Sure, slavery is no more. Sure, Jim Crow laws are no more. But racism? It's still very much here. And it pushes down our brothers and sisters of color every. single. day. It makes them fear for their lives, no matter what they're doing. It makes their very existence a risk. 
And I've finally realized that it's not enough for me to believe these things in my heart and go on with my life as if there's nothing more I can do. It's not enough to be proudly "not a racist." By my silence, by my inaction, I'm perpetuating a system that feeds off black and brown human beings. 
So: this is my first step. 
I discovered Brownicity.com. And there, I discovered this book. It's a workbook, actually - kind of like a course in book form. Here's what the page says about it: "This journey guide was designed to lead the ‘beginner’ through an enlightening and introspective first steps of race/ism analysis and healing. It can be used to support a group or individual’s study." I've dived in and I'm already getting an education. And I can't wait to learn more. 
We're not going to change the world in a day. Or even a week. But each of us can start taking steps to unlearn racism. (Yes, even a proud "non-racist" like me has racism to unlearn.) This doesn't have to be your book or your path. But do *something* to start listening. In the barest glimpses of social media, you're bound to find lists of books, movies, documentaries, podcasts, and so on. I've already seen more of those than I can count. (Cont'd in comments)
Proof that I've been in quarantine waaaaaay too lo Proof that I've been in quarantine waaaaaay too long. Check out the paragraph above the divider line. This is from the newsletter I sent out today that goes to over 7,500 people. 🤦
My first sock knitting lesson is LIVE on YouTube! My first sock knitting lesson is LIVE on YouTube! Link is in my profile. Comments are very welcome! #learningtoknitsocks
Spent some time this weekend recording the first v Spent some time this weekend recording the first video lesson of my spiral rib tube sock knitting class. It will be releasing very soon... who's excited? #charityknittersofinstagram #learningtoknitsocks
I've been so inspired by all the people releasing I've been so inspired by all the people releasing free help during this time of crisis. Zoos and aquariums and nature livecams all over... Broadway offering free videos of their shows... musicians offering free living room concerts...and so on. 
So I decided to offer my own kind of help. 
If you're a knitter, I want to teach you how to knit socks!

Visit my profile for the link to my video explaining what I'm teaching and why, and the supplies you'll need. 
You can subscribe to my YouTube channel for notifications, or you can subscribe to my newsletter to get email notifications of new videos. The link to subscribe to my newsletter is also in my profile. 
#charityknittersofinstagram #sockknittersofinstagram
How is everyone doing? I've got a set of socks goi How is everyone doing? I've got a set of socks going on my new Hiya Hiya Sharps, so I think I'll be good to go for a while. How about you? Are you staying home as much as possible? And, of course, what are you knitting? #KnittingTogether
So this happened. 😭 Thank God for Friday nights So this happened. 😭 Thank God for Friday nights in which there's nothing going on, so we can drive to the nearest yarn shop (40 minutes away). #SockNeedleCrisis
We voted! (Well, technically we shared a vote. Sad We voted! (Well, technically we shared a vote. Sadly, owls can't vote...even if they're hand knitted. 😆) #SuperTuesday

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