Minnesota Knitters Lift Their Needles in Support of Knitting Charity Hats for the Homeless
Back when I was compiling suggestions for knitting for the homeless, one of the charities I spoke with said that their group had taken some suggestions from a group called Hats for the Homeless in Minneapolis, MN. I bookmarked the group because I wasn’t sure KnittingforCharity.org had ever featured them. Today I rediscovered that bookmark and took a quick inventory. While we have featured a Hats for the Homeless in both New York and New Jersey, the group in Minnesota had yet to be featured. Now that will change! Hats for the Homeless in Minneapolis began simply enough, in the autumn of 2009 as one knitting friend said to another, “you think we could get the knitters at church to make 50 hats to take to the homeless shelter on Christmas Eve?” and the friend responded, “yes!” What happened was quite different: they wound up taking over 300 hats that came not just from church knitters, but from knitters all over Minneapolis, Minnesota, and even the entire United States! Over the past 5 years, the number of hats donated has continued to grow exponentially. It jumped to 900 in the very next year, and in 2014 they received 2500 hats! The terrific thing about receiving so many hats is that Hats for the Homeless has been able to take hats to many different shelters. 13 different shelters for adults, children, and families receive the warm knitted items brought to Hats for the Homeless. They can always use more, and that’s where you come in!
How You Can Help
If you live in Minnesota, this is a great project to be involved with your community and state. Check out their guidelines here. You’ll also want to read the blog post for the beginning of 2015, as a few changes have been made. For one thing, they would really love to receive more scarves. So if you’re tired of knitting hats, or if you really enjoy knitting scarves, they would greatly appreciate them! You can read the blog post here. If you need some inspiration, you can see photos here; and if you need patterns, you can look at this page. Hats for the Homeless also has a Ravelry presence, which you can visit here. Minnesota residents, I hope you will consider knitting for this very worthy knitting charity!