Friday, July 17, 2009

Summer Knits: Heads Up on Infant Mortality

I haven't felt the urge to knit in months. It's hot. It's humid. Almost sticky, Florida summer heat. But when I saw Orlando midwife Jennie Joseph's campaign to raise awareness about infant mortality in the United States, I knew it was time to pick up the needles. I cast on 64 stitches and alternated knit and purl rows for about an inch, creating a garter stitch. I switched to stockinette until the hat measured about 4", then began my decrease, K8, K2TOG, then K7, K2TOG, etc.

If you have the itch to knit for a good cause, please knit a simple baby hat and mail it to:
The Birth Place
1130 E. Plant Street
Winter Garden, Florida 34787

Jennie's goal is to collect 1,687 hats by September, which is National Infant Mortality Month. 1,687 represents the number of babies that died in Florida in 2007 alone.

3 comments:

Kathie said...

Thank you for giving me motivation to contact the neighbor next door for my Learning to Knit lesson. I originally wanted to start off with a scraf but I think I will start off with this hat for this cause. THANK YOU for sharing. :o)

Kangaroo said...

kathie thank you so much. it's intense work and much harder than knitting for a living baby, but it will serve to raise visual awareness about a very important problem.

Shary said...

I used your picture for the Heads Up page at CommonsenseChildbirth.org. Please let me know if this is a problem...

http://commonsensechildbirth.org/heads-infant-mortality-campaign