2019 Crochet Challenge for Warm Up America Preview | Podcast Episode #95

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THIS CHALLENGE HAS CONCLUDED BUT YOU’LL STILL LEARN SOME INTERESTING STUFF ABOUT WARM UP AMERICA IN THIS EPISODE.

Mary, from Warm Up America, shares the details of the 2019 Crochet Challenge for Warm Up America, an event that took place just after we recorded this episode. She shares how each lap blankets and hats that are made and donated for the challenge will go to the wounded warriors at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, MD.

The 2019 challenge kicked off in January 2019 and has since concluded. But tune in, learn about how amazing the Warm Up America Foundation is (and why they’re the official charity for B.Hooked), and look forward to our next Annual Crochet Challenge for Warm Up America.

You’ll Learn

• The story of the Warm Up America! Foundation
• About the Walter Reed Hospital and the wounded warriors who will receive your gift
• The challenge details – when and where finalized details will be available

Episode Transcript

Brittany:
Well, hey there, and thank you so much for joining me in episode 95 of the BeHooked podcast. Today is the day. I am so thrilled, so excited, all of the feelings about today’s show. Today, I’m going to spill the beans about one of the most anticipated events or patterns that I release every single year, and that is the Warm Up America Challenge 2019.

Now, just to put this in perspective, if you’ve never heard about the challenge before, it’s an organized event where I write a pattern and I also coordinate with the folks over at Warm Up America and they find an organization in need of a donation. Throughout this process, hundreds of generous makers have dedicated countless hours into making afghans for people in need. It’s one of my favorite times of the entire year. It is my favorite project of the year.

Well, before we get into the details, I want to mention that this episode is sponsored by Red Heart. Now, Super Saver is one of my favorite yarns to use for projects like the Warm Up America Challenge. It’s really important for me to have a yarn that’s both affordable, easy to find, but also easy for the recipients to care for. So you can pick up Red Heart Super Saver at pretty much any craft store. So that accessibility part, it’s right there, and it’s really affordable. It comes in larger skein sizes, so you can make a lot out of very little.

Well, as an added bonus, Super Saver is available in dozens of different colors, so your creativity really isn’t going to be limited. Well, in 2019, I will be recommending Super Saver as one of the yarn choices for the challenge.

Okay, so you know these episodes are recorded slightly in advance. So before you listen in today, I want to tell you about a slight change in direction that I had in terms of the design after talking with Mary.

It’s always really important for me every single year to incorporate some learning opportunities into these challenges. The way I see it, it’s called a crochet challenge for a reason. I want to challenge you just enough, but also let you learn something too.

Well, I had this idea for what I thought is just an amazing project—an afghan that has great texture and incorporates some really great techniques and lots and lots of learning opportunities.

Well, after chatting with Mary, I’m working up some of these blocks. Now, you’ll hear in the episode where I tell Mary that the idea for the afghan or for the lapghan that we’ll be creating was to use the traditional 7 by 9 inch blocks that Warm Up America has sort of always used, held as their traditional method of afghans. So I really wanted to incorporate that. I know it’s important to Warm Up America and we haven’t really done that before.

But I’m working through one of the blocks, pattern testing and just generally making up the project. And I’m thinking to myself, okay, this is taking a little bit of time. I’m doing some of the math and thinking, okay, we got to make 20 blocks like this. And one block had taken me several hours.

And I was chatting with my husband and—God love him—he always opens my eyes when I just, I just got stuck on this idea. I, I just loved it. And I wanted to share it as a part of the challenge.

And he reminded me, he said, Brittany, I understand that you wanna make this really great and look really cool and incorporate all kinds of really cool techniques. But perhaps the more important part is how much time somebody’s putting into it. Because if the pattern takes less time, then they can make more afghans.

When he was saying that, a light bulb went off in my head. And you’ll hear Mary and I chat about this, that the sheer scale of our soldiers that are in need of something like this is baffling. And when we were chatting about it, I felt so emotional about the idea of somebody being left out. I don’t want any of our soldiers to be left out.

I want this challenge to be the biggest it’s ever been because there are so many hundreds of soldiers that are in need of this little gift. So just know that as I’m telling Mary about the design idea, just know that it has changed. My course has changed just a little bit.

Because rather than incorporate something really intricate into this elaborate and beautiful pattern, I want to make it quick and easy for anyone to do.

So with that said, I will be sharing some teaser photos with you on social. So if you don’t follow me on Instagram, Facebook, all those wonderful places, now would be the time to do it if you’re really curious to see this pattern come together.

And just know that that brilliant idea that I’ve had for a more textured and a lot more difficult—we’ll say, more time-consuming—project that I had originally wanted to use for the challenge, well, I will be releasing that later on in 2019. So stay tuned for that.

And now let’s just get to it, shall we? Let’s listen in with Mary from Warm Up America. She’ll tell you all about the history and we’ll just generally geek out a little bit about this year’s challenge.

Mary, thank you so much for joining us today. How are you doing this morning?

Mary: 6:47
Oh, I’m just fine. And it’s so nice to be here. Thank you for having me.

Brittany: 6:51
It is my pleasure, really. It’s always such a joy when you and I get to chat. And we get to chat about something really special today. So I’m extra excited about this one.

So the last time we had you on the show was back in January in preparation for the Warm Up America Challenge that we did this year. And now we’re a little ahead of the game. We’re going to talk about next year’s challenge, which really is only a few weeks away.

Mary: 7:18
We’re very excited to be working with you and everyone who follows Be Hooked on Crochet, and we’re hoping—last year’s support was so amazing—and we were just delighted at the quality of the afghans that were completed and sent. And the recipients, the—you know, the project, the Build a Bed project—we’re delighted. So we’re looking forward to another exciting challenge.

Brittany: 7:54
Well, that’s so great. It warms my heart to know that the quality was great and that the participants had a great time, first of all, and then the recipients really enjoyed that.

So this is really just one of those projects that I look forward to every single year. And I just, I can’t wait to start talking about next year’s. It’s been on my mind for several months and now things are starting to roll out and we’re finalizing some details. And I think we’re taking it up an extra notch this year.

So before we get started in talking about all of those things, though, I’d say most of my listeners are pretty familiar with you, especially since you’ve been on the show before. But for a new listener who might not know who you are, can you tell me a little bit about you and what you do?

Mary: 8:42
Yes, I do. I serve as executive director for the Warm Up America Foundation. And it’s an organization that was actually started in the early 1990s. And I’d love to share a little of the history with some of your newer listeners. Oh, yeah, I would love to hear it. Because it is a wonderful, you know, history to share, to talk about.

It was really, the idea for the program was the brainchild of Evie Rosen, who owned a yarn shop in Wausau, Wisconsin. And not only was she well-known in her community, but she was a national teacher and author. In fact, she had prepared one of Leisure Arts’ most best-selling leaflets, which was Teach Yourself to Knit. So she was certainly someone who had a passion for knitting and all sorts of activities with yarn, but she was also passionate about helping others. She was a trained occupational therapist.

And in the 1990s, when the homeless situation was becoming a national crisis, she started knitting afghans for a local shelter. And the need was so great, she couldn’t keep up with the request. So she thought about how she might be able to engage more people in helping her to make these afghans, and that’s when she came up with this idea of breaking down the task of completing an afghan and making it into a manageable part to get more people engaged.

And she came up with her seven inch by nine inch size because it could be assembled easily into various sized afghans. Forty-nine would make an adult blanket, twenty a baby-size blanket, twenty-five perhaps a lap robe. So it was important, she felt, to have one size for those people who could perhaps only do a couple of sections so that they could be joined together to make completed afghans.

And I know, Brittany, you’ve seen a lot of our afghans over the years. So the traditional Warm Up America afghan is like a patchwork quilt. It’s a variety of colors and textures, but it’s certainly done with lots of love.

So, you know, Evie first engaged her customers. She went to members of her synagogue and other community groups she was involved in. And everybody said, oh, I can do at least a section. And she was delighted with the response.

So she shared her idea with other retailers who introduced the concept in their communities. And pretty soon, there were a lot of people crocheting and knitting these sections. And she began receiving so many donations. She often joked that it even filled her back porch to the point she couldn’t open her back door.

Oh, wow. And that’s when she knew this was bigger than she could handle. And at the time, I had a consulting business and a business partner, Christina Holmes, and I had worked with Evie on many educational projects.

And, you know, Evie came to us with her new idea, which we loved. And Chris actually came up with the Warm Up America name, and we helped Evie incorporate Warm Up America as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and secured initial funding from the National NeedleArts Association to expand the program.

And the real breakthrough came in 1995 when we approached the Craft Yarn Council about taking over Warm Up America as their charity initiative. And the rest is history for us. Though Warm Up America is a totally separate entity, Craft Yarn Council generously provides office space and staff support, which has enabled Warm Up America to create a distribution network and engage crocheters and knitters around the country.

Today, we estimate there are approximately 20,000 volunteers working on Warm Up America at any one time. And since 1991, almost a million afghans and accessories have been donated to people in need. So that’s where we are today, and it continues to grow and engage even more volunteers around the country.

Brittany: 14:20
Well, that is an amazing number. I had no idea that there have been over one million donations. Oh, yes. So is that individual Afghans, or is that parts of Afghans, too? Yes.

Mary: 14:36
No, that’s the finished items. Now, since Evie started the program, and as a result of our working with various social service agencies around the country, we have branched out into other items, other accessory items, primarily hats and scarves and gloves, because there may be a specific need. Some shelters have large family populations, and they like to have hats and gloves for the kids. It just depends.

We’re working on one project right now called the Tiny Babies, Tiny Hats campaign, and we’re asking volunteers to make preemie caps, which will be distributed by the University of California San Francisco’s preterm birth initiative in East Africa. So we run the gamut of items, but that total represents finished items that are actually donated. I suppose if we started figuring out how many sections, we’d be… Certainly up into many, many millions.

Brittany: 16:03
That just blows my mind because each one of those donations, to me, that symbolizes a life. That’s someone’s life that you’re changing, that you’re helping or warming, brightening up their day. That’s just, I had no idea it was that big. I mean, I knew it was big, but that’s crazy.

Mary: 16:22
Well, and… You know, in so many situations, you know, we’re now trying to set up contacts in, you know, California’s Butte and L.A. counties who are dealing with the folks who were just dislocated because of the fires. And we know they need money desperately, but… We also know that there’s something about having a personal item that somebody has made. It doesn’t replace everything they’ve lost, but it does bring comfort and warmth. So it really makes a difference.

Brittany: 17:10
Yeah, well, I would love to hear the details of that once you have it rolled out. I know listeners right now are thinking, well, the challenge, yeah, we’ve got a few weeks, but I have some free time now. And I know, like you said, there are things that’s going on with Warm Up America that people can get involved with, like today, if they wanted to. And I would love to make sure that I have those resources for them. And so what I’ll do is I’ll get the info from you here on the back end, and I’ll make sure that everything is included in the show notes.

Mary: 17:41
Oh, that would be great. And also, I’d just like to mention, we have just rolled out a new website, warmupamerica.org. And there’s information, of course, on the website about our current needs and we try to keep that as up to date as possible. And we’d love people to join our Warm Up America Makers group on Facebook to hear what they’re doing and within, you know, either for Warm Up America or other activities in their community.

Brittany: 18:22
Oh, yeah, that would be a great idea, too. I’ll have that in the show notes as well. What’s the name of that Facebook group? So somebody could just go type it in. It’s Warm Up America…

Mary: 18:30
Makers. Now, you have to register, as you know, to maintain some control, but it’s very easy to be a part. So just submit your name, your contact information and then you’ll have access to that group.

Brittany: 18:49
Perfect. Okay. So let’s circle back around to some of the things that you have going on right now. Let’s, let’s circle back around to that towards the end of the episode. I want to talk about those tiny hats and that sort of thing so it’s fresh in people’s mind.

Moving forward though, I’m just totally ready to spill the beans here. So in 2019, we’re going to have another crochet challenge for Warm Up America, but that has expanded a tiny bit. As you know, and as my listeners know, I’ve been doing a lot of knitting myself lately. I love to write patterns that are very beginner friendly. Some of the things that I started knitting myself when I was learning and just recording and writing those things down and helping people make that transition from their hooks to their needles, we’re incorporating a knitting pattern in the challenge this year as well. And I am just so over the moon, excited about it.

So we will be sharing a knit hat and don’t worry, it’ll be completely beginner friendly, just knits and purls and a lap size afghan. I’m just, I’m so excited. Can you share, though, where these items will be going?

Mary: 20:07
Oh, I’d be delighted. You know, over the years, one of the ongoing donations that we’ve made have been to veterans facilities because so often, and I know there’s been a lot in the news about the frustration of veterans getting services that they need. So we were so pleased to reach out to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which is really the nation’s largest and most renowned joint military medical center.

And it’s really, they sometimes refer to as the nation’s medical center or the president’s hospital. And it’s a medical facility that serves all of the armed forces, Army, Navy, Air Force, and I should say all the uniformed services with a healthcare system. So they support 24-7 clothing and necessity to our wounded warriors and their families. From the moment the wounded warriors and their loved ones arrive and throughout the recovery and follow-up care and a number of clinical therapies and lodgings and transportations, they’re available to help ease their stay in transition.

And we’ve reached out to them and they would very much like to have lap robes to distribute to the military personnel in this program. So we’re looking forward to developing this campaign with the help of BeHooked followers.

Brittany: 22:11
It means the world to be able to participate in something that can give so much thanks. What do you think with your experience with working with Warm Up America and being involved in several different donations, what does it mean to somebody to receive a handmade gift?

Mary: 22:34
Well, I think there’s several things. There is a personal connection that is made with the donor to the donee. And I think the fact that somebody has taken the time, the personal time, to create this item and then give it to them is a wonderful, it’s a thoughtful gesture, and it’s also a functional one.

I think we’re never too old to have a favorite item—throw, call it what you will, blankie. I think that never leaves us. It brings comfort in addition to warmth.

Brittany: 23:28
Yeah. And earlier you mentioned how the traditional Afghan for Warm Up America has sort of always been like a patchwork sort of throw. And I mean, you know that I kind of like to do things a little bit different. So previous Afghans were maybe off base from that. But this year… I had this amazing idea that really flows in with that aspect of Warm Up America.

So as we work through these lap robes, we’re going to be working in squares and putting them together, but still, of course, keeping a unique spin on it using some textured stitches and some creative placement to make an overall look—different type of texture. So it’s going to be a doubly textured lap robe.

And the other part that participants love to play with though is color. And for me, I know that’s a big part of the challenge, but I really just can’t think of a better way to serve them in this way than to use the colors of our country. So, I mean, yeah, there are lots of different variations of reds and blues, and I know people will be creative in that aspect, depending on the yarn that they’ll use. But for me, that’s the blanket that I want to create, something that they can look at and maybe remember their service.

Mary: 25:01
Oh, that sounds so exciting. I can’t wait to see your recommended blanket.

Brittany: 25:07
I can’t wait to share it. I am just, you know, chomping at the bit. Everything is still in the works. My listeners know we record these in advance, so not everything is finalized. But that design, when I thought of it, it just never left me. And so that’s how I knew—that’s it. That’s the design that I have to make.

And I struggle year after year, to be honest with you, because every year, it just seems to get bigger and bigger. And people tell me, I don’t know how you can top last year’s. And so that puts a lot of stress on me as a designer. And I think, oh, I really have to just knock their socks off.

Mary: 25:48
Well, you know, I think I have noticed over the years, mainly, I guess, from my experiences of working with Evie, she often would engage in her customers, she’d say, well, why don’t you try this new stitch and do some, you know, do it to the size that I need. So you practice and you learn something new and you learn a little bit about gauge because you have to make it seven inches by nine inches. And it was always such a fun idea because we would get a variety, as you said, of textures. And that was, I think it makes such an interesting combination with others.

Brittany: 26:40
It does. And that learning aspect is really important to me. I mean, it’s called a challenge for a reason.

Now, the knitting, the hat, the knitting pattern will be pretty straightforward, very beginner-friendly. But the challenge in that is that most of my listeners don’t knit. And so it will be a challenge for them to try something new.

But in terms of the lap robe, I promise to incorporate as many opportunities to learn as I possibly can—through new stitches, like you said, tension and gauge, that is a really good lesson in that and that is a question that comes up quite a bit for me, as well as changing colors. And surprisingly, that is a recurring theme of troubleshooting that people have to go through.

So we’re going to incorporate some color changes, some cables—so there’s a little sneak peek for you there—and gauge, getting it the right size, piecing it all together. So it will be a challenge, but I don’t want to scare true beginners away.

A lot of crocheters in my audience are beginners as well. And I do everything I can in my tutorials, film it as long as I need to. Some of my tutorials are upwards of an hour. And I just like to take the amount of time that I need to be able to teach somebody how to be successful. And that’s the biggest part for me in this challenge, is to make sure that everyone has the tools that they need, no matter what level they are, so that they can complete the challenge and just participate in this wonderful cause.

Mary: 28:19
Oh, it sounds really exciting. And I know for people who have been following you, they know how helpful your videos are. I have watched them. And it really takes… Any concerns somebody has—oh, I can’t do that—you realize once you see it.

For instance, making a cable. I know I’ve taught over the years. And, you know, people say, oh, it looks like magic. I can’t do it. And then you just show them. They said, is that it? Yeah.

So I think it’s so helpful to have that support, as you always provide, to get people over that initial concern of, oh, I can’t do that. So it’s going to be—you put together a good package.

Brittany: 29:12
Wonderful. That’s music to my ears. Yeah. I do put quite a bit, I probably put more effort into this than any other project for the year. And that’s just because it’s bigger in the grand scheme of things. But some of the info that will be available—well, let’s first maybe answer some of those frequently asked questions.

We always put together a Facebook group. And that’s so people can interact with one another, ask questions, find support or find help for the questions that they might have. It’s a great place for people to share their photos, the colors they came up with, just their progress and just have a community that’s really excited about what they’re doing.

This year, I wanted to do something a little different. Now we had—we actually did this for the first ever crochet challenge—we were able to select some winners after the Afghans were sent in. And a couple of years after that, we sort of tested things, right? We just tried to see what worked. We ran the giveaway beforehand so that people could have some of the supplies and the tools that they needed.

Well, this year, I wanna go back to what we did for that first year because I think it worked really well. And we’re going to have several winners for some different giveaways that are—the things are still in the works right now—but we will have several winners that are just randomly selected after you’ve sent in your goodies, your lapgan or your hat.

Now, another question that might come up is, do I have to do both? And the answer is no, you don’t technically have to. I would encourage you to try knitting if you haven’t done so before, but you don’t have to. You can absolutely just pick one or the other. Are there any questions on your side of things that come up that maybe we could chat about?

Mary: 31:13
Well, you know, I don’t know that we’ve had… specific technique questions. You know, over the years, I think one of the challenges a lot of volunteers face—because many make entire afghans, so they can put it together any way they want to. But sometimes groups will get involved, and they have a variety of sections.

And joining groups’ individual sections can sometimes be a little challenging just because there are differences in yarns that might be used. And, you know, some might be a half an inch smaller or a half an inch larger. And so I think it’s a good exercise in learning how to join things together in an attractive way.

So there are questions we’ve had over the years, you know, from people saying, well, what’s a good way to join things? And so we have information, again, at the website—suggested joining techniques. And I’m sure you’re going to have to make that information available as well. Absolutely.

Brittany: 32:40
Yes, that part I agree is really—I think because there are so many different ways you can join things that it really trips people up. They try to say, well, I want to do it the right way. And there may not necessarily be a right way. I mean, there are several right ways.

But I will make sure to dedicate a good portion of the tutorial to the joining because I know that, especially for me, when I make something for somebody, I want it to be perfect. I want it to look perfect. And especially for this purpose, because it means so much to me, I want to do the best that I can.

And I know everybody else is in the same boat. They want to do the best they can. So I will include that in the video tutorials as well. And I know there may be some questions circling around about—or going through your head right now of—well, what are the details? Like what happens exactly? How does this work?

And I promise to have all of that information available for you in one easy-to-access post. So typically I will publish a blog post like a week or so before. And because a lot of details are in the works right now, I’m hesitant to say, you know, exactly everything, but I will make a post and it will have all of the information you need—from the supplies, how much time you’re going to have to invest in this, how to send it in, how to get involved on Facebook, how to participate in the giveaway—all of that stuff. I’ll have it there for you.

Mary: 34:18
That’s great.

Brittany: 34:20
Now that we know, we’ve spilled the beans, we know about the challenge. Gosh, right now, I just—I really want to hit home on why somebody should participate. Now, it means a ton to me. It means a ton to you. I…

Mary: 34:35
Don’t get tired of saying it, but there’s such a need. When Evie first started this, she said, well, maybe we’ll get to the point where people won’t want anything. But, you know, they won’t want these Afghans. And it’s never the case.

Brittany: 34:54
Yeah.

Mary: 34:54
You know, we—for instance, specific to what we hope to accomplish, you know, with this year’s challenge—we still have soldiers overseas, and they’re coming back and they have to go through these rehab programs. And, you know, to provide them with this—it’s a small gift, but it’s a gift that carries a lot of love with it. And hopefully that helps in their transition.

And also, they’re not in it alone. Their families come to Walter Reed as well because they’re impacted by what happens to the service member in their family—whether it’s a man or a woman. So again, some of these may actually go to the family members. They may need it emotionally as well as the service folks who are going through various physical rehabs or psychological rehabs.

So I think on so many different levels, we are so pleased to be working with the Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed—and hopefully providing them with this little gift of a hand-stitched throw that they can keep with them.

Brittany: 36:41
Yeah. Can you give me an idea of the scale of this hospital? Are we looking at hundreds, thousands, many thousands of people who were there? Yeah.

Mary: 36:53
Well, I’m just reaching for my one. I was stunned when I read the size of Walter Reed. Let me see if I can find it quickly because it encompasses an astounding—it’s on 243 acres. It’s enormous.

And if you see photos of the Walter Reed at Bethesda—and they support other outpatient clinics—but this is the major part in Bethesda. There are buildings all over the place, and each building has a different function. Yeah, there’s 2.4 million square feet of clinical space. And they serve over a million people per year. A million people.

So, and again, it’s not just exclusively service people—though they will, you know, they also help their families. But because so many of the service people have to stay for extended rehab. So this is an amazing place.

Brittany: 38:16
Yeah.

Mary: 38:17
And the fact that they provide this 24-7 support and guidance and clothing and any necessity for the Wounded Warriors is quite astonishing.

Brittany: 38:31
Yeah, and I can’t help but think that with that scale, that size, we have to make this the best challenge ever. We’ve had—and you’ll have to refresh my memory here—a couple hundred were sent in this past year, correct?

Mary: 38:48
I think it was 276. It was an amazing number.

Brittany: 38:54
Yeah, I mean, that is a ton. That is wonderful. And I’m so happy with that number. I would love to double that or triple that. Just come up with a crazy number because I don’t want anyone to be left out.

Mary: 39:09
I understand. Well, your followers have been amazing supporters. And who knows? Maybe we’ll engage—we’ve always done, as you mentioned, crochet in the past—but maybe we’ll engage other knitters as well, new knitters, and that’ll help us double that number.

Brittany: 39:36
Yeah, that was all part of the strategy, definitely—making it the biggest that we can possibly make it. When these are delivered, how exactly does that take place?

Mary: 39:49
Well, as it was explained to me—and I anticipate it would probably be sometime in March of 2019—which would give us time to organize and ship the lap robes that BeHooked followers who participated in the campaign have sent us.

And I would personally love to be at the hospital. And they said we could come and help distribute the Afghans. And it would be wonderful if I could be joined by some of the BeHooked followers in Bethesda at that time, when we have the opportunity to actually meet with some of the service people and their families and give out these wonderful afghans and lap robes.

Brittany: 40:57
Yes, yes. I wish you could see the big smile on my face. I love that idea, and I too will do everything I can to get out there. Now, it is a little bit of a travel for me, but oh—it would be so worth it if I can make it happen.

So mention once again where it’s located. So if you are a participant or a listener in this area, we would love to have you.

Mary: 41:22
Well, the major facility is in Bethesda, Maryland. So it’s very close to D.C. I don’t have an actual street address because I’m not sure where—you know, they said as we got closer and we had a sense of when we would have all of the lap robes, then we could set up a specific facility, state and location. But it would be somewhere at the Bethesda facility.

Brittany: 41:57
Okay, perfect. So that will be included in the challenge info as well. Because like I said, you know, a lot of this stuff is still in the works right now.

But I think it would be great to have, you know, you there, me there, and however many participants that can possibly get there. And you said it’s close to D.C. I mean, I’m thinking that’s a cool opportunity to see D.C. I’ve never been there personally and I would love to. So, you know, kind of make a little vacation out of it, but we can take a day or an afternoon to meet up with one another and distribute some of these. And, oh gosh, that would just be…

Mary: 42:34
Oh, it would be so much fun.

Brittany: 42:35
It would. So I will have information on that and on the challenge page as well.

So… now, before we circle back around to the things that you have going on right now, there’s one other little secret that I kind of want to share. And that is about a second challenge for Warm Up America in 2019. So we’ve never done that before. We’ve only ever done one. And you and I are already talking about having a second one later on in the year.

So I’m super excited about that. I don’t know how much information you want to share on that right now, but just keep it in the back of your mind that if you love this challenge and you love this type of service, stay tuned for another one in the fourth quarter of 2019. So you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the summer and have some time in between.

And to work on your own projects. But yeah, we’ll be back at it in the winter of 2019. So I will share more information on that as it becomes available. I just wanted to give you a sneak peek right now because I just—I’m so excited about being able to do two this year.

You mentioned earlier the Tiny Hats campaign. You said that’s going on right now. Can you tell me how somebody who’s listening could be involved? Maybe what are the dates and that sort of thing so we can make sure we get those?

Mary: 44:12
That does have a, um, a deadline of December 31st. But because the request is for preemie caps—and these are items that even I can knit or crochet up very quickly—there are specifics on the circumference of the cap for the preemies at the warmupamerica.org website.

And I… you know, because preemies in different countries have different size heads. So these are specific for this project with the East African Preterm Birth Initiative. And they’re working in countries in Rwanda, Uganda, and there are several others.

These baby caps are used by the health workers from the community and from the U.S. to present to the new mothers. Because in many of the hospitals—and it’s not like here where our babies automatically have a little cap put on their head because so much of our body temperature, or heat, is lost through our heads—it serves a function, but it’s also a little gift that the health worker can give to the new mom.

And it’s an opening to discuss other health issues to help reduce the number of preterm infant deaths that are so prevalent. I think the last statistic I saw is over a million babies die just from hyperthermia or other conditions that could be prevented.

And so our little caps provide two functions: not only to help that baby stay warm, but also to allow the health worker to present this little gift to the mom. And it opens up the opportunities to discuss other ways that they can ensure the healthy growth of their preterm baby.

Brittany: 46:58
Yeah, definitely a much-needed thing. So you said the deadline is December 31st to send it in. Is that a postmark or is that when you need to have it in hand?

Mary: 47:07
Well, I think a postmark.

Brittany: 47:09
Okay, okay. And so as you’re listening to this, it’s the 20th of December. So you could probably make dozens of little tiny hats in that amount of time.

What I’ll do is have the information on the show notes page—those resources you talked about. Is there a particular pattern that goes with it, or can anybody make what they want as long as they follow…?

Mary: 47:33
They can make whatever they want, but we do have patterns at the website. If people would feel more comfortable following one of the patterns, they’re there—both knit and crochet.

And, you know, there’s more information about this project. And this year, in addition to working with the University of California at San Francisco, the American Association of Pediatrics is also involved. Because again, their health workers have found that these little items have helped—made all the difference—in engaging new moms in life-saving, simple changes to help their babies survive.

So it’s very exciting. It’s really the only program that we do, you know, other than in the U.S. But we felt—and I know the volunteers who’ve been involved with this program, this is the second year we’ve done it—all feel that babies rule, and we want them to have the best life possible.

And as you said, it really is a quick project. And we have a goal, we have a lofty goal of creating 17,000. Now we’re just over a little over 10,000, but we are so confident that you just can’t make one. We’re going to meet our goal for the organization.

Brittany: 49:27
Oh, wow. Well, I know that’s something that I could very easily do myself. I would love to take some time—you know, it’s probably 30 minutes, not even that—to make a few of these hats and send it in. So I will definitely make some.

I challenge you as a listener to make some as well. And again, to get the information on where to send it and probably some yarn requirements and that sort of thing, head over to the show notes page. I’ll have all the details there and as much as I can share about the upcoming challenge.

For that though, just know that in early January—like the first week of January—you want to pay close attention to Facebook, Instagram, my website. I will have that post there. And on the podcast, of course, I’ll have more details on how you can get involved in this.

And gosh, thank you, Mary. This has been such a joy to chat with you. I just can’t wait for this year and growing that number so none of our warriors are left out. I want to send as many as we possibly can this year. And I just can’t do that without your help—without the help of my listeners.

Mary: 50:42
Well, thank you for having me and for letting me share a little more about Warm Up America. And thanks to your listeners.

Brittany: 50:53
Now I have to ask, will you be joining us in the 2019 Crochet Challenge for Warm Up America? I really hope that you do.

I know it’s a big ask. I know there is money involved to buy the yarn. I know there’s a lot of time involved to put it together. I know there’s more money involved to send it in—and time to go to the post. But this is such a wonderful, wonderful cause.

And I hope that if you are able to do this, that you will join us so that we can try to make as many lap blankets for our soldiers as we possibly can.

Now for the details you heard about today, you can visit the show notes page: behookedcrochet.com/session095. I will post some important dates there. You heard about the dates when the patterns will be available. Also, that informational post where it’s sort of like your “get ready”—it’ll tell you about the supplies and everything that you need to get started. I’ll have the date for that post as well over on the show notes page.

Now, you also heard about the Tiny Hats campaign that’s going on right now with Warm Up America. And as you’re listening to this in real time—so if you’re listening the day that it comes out—you have 11 days to make as many preemie hats as you possibly can if this is something that you want to do before that deadline.

So Mary needs to have your donations postmarked by December 31st for that particular campaign. And why not, right? It probably only takes a half hour—maybe an hour tops—to make a tiny preemie hat. So let’s help them reach that lofty goal of 17,000 tiny hats in their Tiny Hats campaign.

You can find the details on the show notes page for that one as well.

Our episode today was sponsored by Red Heart Yarns. I’m very grateful for them—not only for sponsoring the show, but for providing us with a great yarn that we can use in our donations: Super Saver.

So now that you know the idea of where these Afghans are going for the challenge in 2019, well, you can probably guess that I’ll be using red, white, and blue for the pattern recommendation. And that’s your big hint right there.

So once again, Red Heart Super Saver is available at just about any craft store that sells yarn, but you can also order directly from redheart.com.

Now, as you know, we are so close to the end of 2018 and it has just been a great year in so many ways. It’s also been a challenging year in a lot of ways. And so I want to wrap up this show for 2018 with an episode where it’s just you and I—talking about 2018 and talking about the direction for 2019.

So stay tuned for that next week. And please take some time to consider participating in the 2019 Challenge for Warm Up America. It is a wonderful cause. And I need your help. I really need your help with this.

There is no way that I can generate the amount of lap blankets that we need to give to our soldiers. I would love to set a goal of 500. So will you be one of those 500? And could you possibly share it with somebody who loves to crochet as well? So that maybe they can participate. And maybe they can tell somebody who will tell another person. And that is how we will make this challenge a success—together.

Thank you so much for that. Thank you for listening in today. And I just want to end with this: Thank you. I appreciate you more than you could ever know, and I look forward to serving you in next week’s episode.

Until then, have a wonderful weekend. Bye for now.