May KAL: Hats For Brain Injury Patients

May's knit-along (KAL) brings us to a unique group, The Amazing Flying Squirrel Karma Team. This Ravelry group makes it their mission to spread loving-kindness to others using knitting and crochet, and has joined together to send hats to a lovely lady in Arizona who has gone through a number of brain surgeries due to her having Chiari Malformation (link provides more info than I ever could!).

I was contacted by a fellow Raveler about this group, asking if I could help send over hats. Keesha (the woman in the photos) collects hats for the other people at the clinic where she receives her treatment, and has a goal to have a free hat for everyone who enters. I was touched -- that someone would think to ask me if I would send a few hats, and again at my ability to spread the word here, hoping some of you may send hats as well!

Hats can be made in any size, either knitted or crocheted, and can be made using any fiber type (please mark them so Keesha can be aware for allergies). While I may think a wool hat would go unloved in the Arizona heat, people's bodies adapt to their environments, and when you have no hair after surgery you need all the warmth you can get ... this to say send wool hats if that's what you love working with!

To send hats, contact Keesha directly via her blog Chiari Malformation, or send her an e-mail at "daswunderkind@cox.net". I hope to send a dozen or so hats by the end of the month, and will share my knitting progress here on the blog (of course!). This month I'll be knitting from my Simple Slouch Hat and Rain Down Hat patterns for the most part, so grab a free copy of either if you'd like to use them as well!