Spreading Hope, One Knitted Heart at a Time

The Peyton Heart Project is a simple handcrafting charity designed to help prevent suicide

Note: all the statistics in this post come from the Center for Disease Control website from the year 2023.

Did you know that suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States? It is a particularly troublesome cause of death for ages 10 through 54:

• The 2nd-leading cause of death for ages 10 to 34 (following unintentional injury)
• The 4th-leading cause of death for ages 35 to 44 (following unintentional injury, heart disease, and cancerous tumors)
• The 5th-leading cause of death for ages 45 to 54 (following cancerous tumors, unintentional injury, heart disease, and liver disease)

What surprised me even more, though, was finding that it is the 8th-leading cause of death for ages 55 to 64! Sadly, suicide reaches across all age groups.

The Devastating and Stubbornly Pervasive Problem of Suicide

It is heartbreaking to realize that so many people (49,000 deaths in total) felt that they had sufficient reason to end their own lives.

While it has been many years, I definitely know what it’s like to feel so much pain that death seemed preferable to living. And I have many friends and relatives who have felt this way as well. (Sadly, I have also lost both an uncle and an aunt to suicide.)

According to the CDC, suicide ideation–ie, considering suicide–is horrifyingly common:

• 12.8 million people seriously thought about suicide.
• 3.7 million people made a plan for suicide.
• And 1.2 million people attempted suicide.

You may wonder why I’m relating all this to you. What, you might ask, does knitting have to do with suicide?

What if I told you that knitting could have something to do with suicide prevention?

Allow me to introduce you to the Peyton Heart Project.

How the Peyton Heart Project Spreads Hope

The Peyton Heart Project, or PHP, was launched in 2015 by Jill Kubin, Sue Harris, and David James. David James is the father of the boy that the project was named after, 13-year-old Peyton James, who ended his own life after years of bullying.

Jill and Sue asked him for permission to put his son’s name on the project, and he agreed.

The purpose of the project is threefold:

• To bring awareness to the issues of bullying and suicide
• To encourage conversation around these issues
• Most of all, to remind everyone that their lives are worth living, and every life matters.

How does PHP do these things? Through handcrafted hearts with encouraging messages attached to them. These hearts are then placed public spaces, in hopes that they will be found by people who could use timely reminders of their own worth and that of others.

In addition to encouraging crafters to make and distribute hearts with messages, PHP also sends hearts to folks and organizations that wish to distribute them.

How You Can Help Shine Bright Lights Through Hearts

Peyton Heart Project offers a number of ways to help their project!

Create Hearts

First, of course, you can create hearts. You can knit them; you can crochet them; you can cut them out of felt; you can sew them; you can even cut cardboard hearts and wrap yarn around them.

Creating hearts is quick and easy! That makes PHP an especially lovely project for beginning knitters or slow knitters who want to be able to turn out a large number of projects in a short amount of time.

Be sure to check the guidelines before you start knitting. Certain colors and fibers are prohibited, and they request a specific type of hanging loop as well as knots.

PHP has many patterns available. You can also use one of the adorable patterns below! All use tiny amounts of yarn, so you can gather up your leftover yarn and get cracking.

Simple Valentine Heart Pattern: This is the simplest pattern of the bunch. I also like that there are two variations: one imprints a tiny cross in the center, the other does not.

Another Valentine Heart Pattern: I love this heart-within-a-heart design.

Seamless Heart: A 3-D heart that can be stuffed, and it’s knit in the round–so no seaming!

The pattern page has not only knitting patterns, but also a crochet pattern and a tutorial video on wrapping cardboard hearts with yarn.

When you have a stack of hearts completed, don’t forget the tags! PHP has a tag page, where you can download tags in your own language, then print them, cut them, and attach them to your hearts.

What to Do When You Have Hearts to Distribute

Once you have hearts ready to distribute, you can do one of two things:

1. Take them out into your community and distribute them yourself. If you choose this route, be sure to check the laws in your area to find out where you can and cannot leave hearts. PHP has a few handy reminders as to where you should not leave hearts:
   • Any card or money slot, like in ATMs, gas station pumps, or vending machines
   • Mailboxes
   • National or state parks (they have strict littering laws)
   • In general, any place where they might be seen as litter

Where can you leave hearts? Always check with authorities, but these are some ideas:

• Public benches (hang them from the back rather than leaving them on the seat)
• Low-hanging limbs in public parks
• Shelves at public libraries
• Lockers at schools
• Fences in public areas

Again–and I can’t stress this enough–always check with the proper authorities before hanging hearts. The last thing you want is for your hearts to be thrown away–or for PHP to get a reputation as contributing to a litter problem.

2. Send the hearts directly to PHP. As of this writing, there are 2 locations where hearts can be sent. You can find those addresses on their FAQs page under “Do you accept donations of hearts or yarn?”

One more note about making hearts: do not sell them, not even to benefit Peyton Heart Project. The heart (no pun intended) of their project is to offer them to folks free of charge, in order to promote good mental health. Selling them takes away from that goal.

Distribute Hearts from PHP

Let’s say you have another knitting project you’re focused on, but you would love to be able to distribute PHP hearts in a particular location. Peyton Heart Project gladly sends boxes of hearts to anyone who wishes to donate them, for only shipping charges. You can find out how to request a box here.

Get More Information & Announce Discovered Hearts

Any questions about PHP? Shoot them an email at info@peytonheartproject.org.

For more information about the Peyton Heart Project, and to see photos of the many hearts that have already started working their way around the United States as well as around the world, check out their Facebook page, their website, or their Instagram page.

One fun feature of their website is their I Found a Heart! map. You can scroll to the bottom of the home page to see the map. Not only can you take a closer look at exactly where people have found hearts, but many also include photos of their discoveries! (And if you ever find a PHP heart out in the wild, you’re encouraged to include it in the map and add your own photo.)

Partnering with Peyton Heart Project is a simple yet profound way to help fight bullying and suicide. It’s also an incredible way to help all of us remember the beauty inside each human life. What an amazing way to knit for charity!