Packing Up The Hats

Lynne and I began sorting and packing the hats into boxes today.  Our two ships are the USS Decatur and the USS Higgins.

It took us longer than it could have because we spent a significant amount of time stopping to examine the hats and admire your talent and creativity.  Here are some pictures from packing day.

We were stacking them in 10's.  You would be amazed at how easy it to lose count.  We get easily distracted by the knitting.

Not only did many of the hats have personal notes, we also included a general note in every box saying thank you from the Hats for Sailors group.

Each stack is 10 hats and each length had 10 stacks.  It made it much easier to keep track when we knew each column was 100 hats.

Aren't the boxes festive?

Thank you so much!  Every time we go through the hats again we remember how incredibly amazing you all are!!!

THE 2012 GRAND TOTAL IS 733 HATS! WOW!!!

We have set a new record for Hats for Sailors.  We have made 733 hats this past year and they are now being prepared to send off to the ships.  But until then, here are some pictures of the gorgeous hats!

Aren't they beautiful!  Check out our facebook page and Ravelry for more pictures.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

2012 Ships

Great news everyone ... according to Sandra, we have over 200 hats either in-hand, or on the way. That's really good because I have news on the ships we are knitting for this year.

On May 25 Shanti turned over command of the USS Decatur to the man who was her Executive Officer. It was a very bittersweet day, marking the end of her command-at-sea (for the time being anyway) ... but also marking the beginning of her next adventure. She will be attending the National War College and getting her 2nd master's degree. Only this time, she gets to do it full time and the Navy pays for it. Yay!

SHIP ONE
The USS Decatur heads out on deployment again in late summer/early fall. Over half of the sailors on the ship are new to her. Commander Joel E. was there when they received their first gift of hats in 2010 and was wondering if we could, again, gift the ship with hats for this deployment. I think this would be a wonderful way to thank them for again being away from their loved ones over the holidays.

SHIP TWO
Shanti has a good friend, Nicole, who is about to take command of another guided-missile destroyer, the USS Higgins. They will be deploying this summer as well. Shanti was the Combat Systems Officer on the Higgins at the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003 (I think I have that right), so there is continuity here. Nicole has heard some wonderful stories about the hats sent to the Decatur in 2010 and would love to have her crew on the Higgins become the recipients of your lovely hand knit hats, and warm wishes, as well.

So, now we have a goal ... to outfit both ships this holiday season we will need to have around 600 hats. I think we can do that. So please, fire up your knitting needles and lets see what we can do toward this goal.

Bless you all for all the knitting and love you are passing this way.

Lynne

May Prizes

Miss Purl has donated two sets of stitch markers for our May deadline.  I saw her at Stitches West and she wanted to help Hats for Sailors and kindly donated two beautiful sets.  They both include small matching tins.

Here is the blue and green set

and here is the white set

I have used her markers for a long time and I love them.  They are pretty jewelry for my knitting!  As with previous prizes, each hat gives you one chance to win a prize.  All hats sent in after our last deadline in November 2011 and our upcoming deadline of Memorial Day, 2012 will be included.  The winners will be chosen at random.

If you are interested in her stitch markers and don't want to wait until May, you can find her on Facebook, at some shows and here.

We currently have 58 hats and I know lots of you are hard at work.  We are getting fairly close to a grand total of 1000 hats for Hats for Sailors.  Isn't that amazing?