How to Get a Free Hat Pattern, Volume 2

My younger nephew at age five
modeling the Astro Hat

I am very pleased to say that in the year since the original post, I've had quite a few requests for

patterns from my readers. It warms my cold, dead, tired heart. Heh.

So please, please, PLEASE, keep up the good works, and keep requesting those freebies. I will gladly continue to send out those free pdfs to any of you who request them. Now, for those of you who have no idea what in the world I'm talking about, keep reading . . .

Since my income doesn't allow for a whole lot of charitable contributions, and because I find most charities to be shams, I choose to contribute what I CAN give: crochet. Cancer patients, among others, can always benefit from hats/chemo caps, so I make all of my hat patterns available free to those of you who pledge to make at least two of the pattern as donations to the charities of your choice.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me first give you an updated list of, and links to, all of my hat patterns:

1. Big Girl Hat #1*
2. The Blog Collection Beanie*
3. Simple Earth Hat
4. Astro Hat

Okay, now a list of organizations I like to support or that have been suggested by my readers:

• Dana Farber Cancer Institute because several friends of mine (survivors and those not so fortunate), who have had cancer, have spent quite a bit of time there
• Boston Children's Hospital because one of my closest friends, who died of Cystic Fibrosis, called this his second home
• Teal Hat Project (yes, your donation to them should be teal, their signature color) begun by an online pal a couple of years back, gathers hats to donate to ovarian cancer patients
• Halos of Hope recommended by Jessica, one of my blog readers, last year

Now for more details and the official rules:

• Place your request and your email address in the comments below this post and I will send your pattern via email within about 72 hours. (The best way to post your email is like this: biggirljewelry at yahoo dot com.) Some of the patterns will come from my biggirljewelry email, some from ravelry. It depends on where I have the file stored, so keep your eyes peeled.
• For each hat pattern you request, you pledge to make two hats to give to the charity of your choice. You don't have to choose from my list; you may give them to whomever you want, like your local church or homeless shelter.
• Just for clarification, if you request all four patterns, you pledge to make eight hats for charity. After you've fulfilled your obligation, go right ahead and make as many as you wish for family and friends or even to sell on Etsy or local craft fairs.
• More clarification . . . this applies to my hat patterns only. Requests for other patterns will not be filled. The original purpose of this program was to encourage my readers to make chemo caps. I began it in memory of a friend of mine who lost her fight with leukemia last year.
• I would love to see pictures of your finished projects. Please don't be shy about emailing them to me.

My older nephew, then age eight,
modeled the Simple Earth Hat

I plan to continue this program for as long as I have this blog. If I add any hat patterns to my collection, regardless of whether I have posted them in the list, I will include it.

*In the interest of full disclosure, know that each of these two patterns is also available here on the blog at no charge, but I don't sell the pdf versions. If you request it, I will send the pdf to you via email, but the same rules apply to these as my paid patterns.

My niece reluctantly modeled The Blog Collection Beanie for me when she was three

Happy Crocheting!

To reiterate: You are pledging to make two hats for each pattern you request. Four hats are available as of 1/8/2013. If you request all four patterns, I would expect that you would make and donate eight hats, two of each pattern. Also, I specifically request that you do NOT email your requests to me. Leave a comment below in the comments section. Emailed requests are not likely to be answered as this is not my main email account.