Not sure how to put this...

[Carol]

I make baby hats for hospitals, and I don't want to offend anyone who makes items for charity, but something happened recently that bothered me: My first grandchild was born 10 days ago (YAY!!! ), and right after he was born, a nurse scrounged around in a drawer and gave him a homemade hat that had been donated to the hospital. This hat (knitted, not crocheted, so I know it wasn't from any of you!!) was way too small, wouldn't stay on his head, was very poorly made, had missed stitches, was crooked...the thing was so slipshod that I cringed every time my daughter tried to put it on him. (It was a stocking cap that just kind of balanced on the top of his head and made him look like a conehead; wouldn't even go on his ears. She didn't complain, but, as a maker of baby hats, it was killing me!)

 

Anyway, she is going to keep the hat, of course, because anything you get for your newborn at the hospital automatically becomes a "keepsake." So now this poorly made hat is being elevated to a status it doesn't deserve.

 

So, just a reminder to those of us who make baby hats and other items for charity, please take just as much care with them as you would if you were making them for your friends or family. These little hats become keepsakes, plus those precious little babies deserve our best effort.

 

I suppose this all sounds so ungrateful of me. (For all I know, the knitter was an elderly woman or someone with arthritis or whatever and did give her best effort.) I mentioned my feelings only to my sister, who also does charity work, and to you here in hopes that we remember to give our best when we give. I truly don't want to offend anyone, and I'm not lumping anyone here in that slap-dash category.

 

PS BTW, for those of you in the home birth thread, my daughter ended up at the hospital. Baby was facing the wrong way, but she still pushed him out on her own, and everyone is doing well!

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

First congrats on the new granbaby Maybe the person possibly even a child wanting to do some charity work made the hat. Alot of groups scouts and other kid groups get together & do things like that. It could have been from anyone at any level of learning making the hat to give to a good cause. Try to think of it as a thought that counts kindof thing. I don't think anyone would intentionally make a bad product because it's for charity.

[Carol]

That's true; I didn't think that it might have been a child. And you're absolutely right: It's the thought that counts. embar

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Oh don't be embarassed at all I just thought of my son and daughter trying to use the knifty knitter loom and said hmmm that could have been a hat they made

[Amy]

Anyway, she is going to keep the hat, of course, because anything you get for your newborn at the hospital automatically becomes a "keepsake." So now this poorly made hat is being elevated to a status it doesn't deserve.

 

Actually, why not just go ahead and dispose of the hat if that is the way you both feel about it? I tossed out a lot of stuff that I brought home from the hospital with each baby. Or just frog it and make up another hat that will be more meaningful and actually useful.

 

Okay, with Abby (my first), I saved a lot of stuff for a couple years. Like the super-thin, flimsy little scrub suit dh had to wear while in the operating room with me. A bunch of papers. All sorts of stuff. But then a couple years later I went through it all and said, "Why in the world did I keep this stuff that has no personal meaning for us?" And in the trash it all went.

 

I'm with Chiscrochetcrazy, perhaps this hat was made by a children's group working on a charity project. The hospital staff probably would feel bad if they had to refuse to accept the children's work because they felt it wasn't up to the usual quality they receive. Of course, they could just choose not to distribute anything like this, and maybe they don't except when they have absolutely nothing else available. The hat could also have been knitted by an adult with some sort of disability that prevents them from achieving a higher skill level. Or maybe a relatively new knitter who didn't realize that others would see her hat as being of low quality.

 

If I kept the hat as a keepsake, despite any poor quality, I'd be thinking about the person who really wanted to help others despite not having the skills to be as proficient at knitting as I am. I'd concentrate more on the thought behind the effort than on the actual hat itself. I would prefer to believe that somebody worked to the best of their ability to produce this hat, even though their best might not equal my best or somebody else's best.

 

Oh, as far as the hat being too small, babies' heads do come in all different sizes. (My babies had HUGE heads! Family feature!) Perhaps the hat your daughter received was actually meant for a premie.

[busy]

Congrats on your grandbaby. As far as hats, I'm not good at making them so I don't. But I agree. I think if you make something for anyone else (charity too) you should take the same care. I would never give something to someone I wouldn't want myself.

[lhasaapsolady]

Carol, congrats on the new edition. I am glad mother and baby are doing well. You sound like a doting gramma.

 

There are lots of reasons why that hat might not have been the neatest. I don't believe it was anyone's shoddy work. Maybe it was made by someone really young or really old. It could have also been made by someone who is legally blind. I know a lady that is and she does lots of hats for hospitals. On occasion she misses stitches, but that's okay she is doing it out of love.

 

I'm glad your daughter decided to keep it.

[mamaoso]

Congrats on your new Grandbaby... Might have been a little kid making hats for the hospitals..Maybe her first..

[Krystal16]

I agree, though - I make afghans/blankets for charity, and I have seen many that people make and think "OH MY GOSH!!! It looks like this is all the mess that no one wanted!" OK, so I'm funny about scrap afghans, especially the ones with every color in the rainbow slapped together, and I guess that's just me. But whenever I make an afghan or hat for charity, I try to make sure it's coordinated and meets the same standards I would have if I were to hand it to someone I cared for. No mess-ups, not ugly color combinations because that's just what I had "on hand"... I want my effort to really make a difference, so I make sure that I do put effort into it.

 

I don't want the person receiving my blanket to think that they should be thankful "just because" I thought enough to make something for them. I want them to be truly thankful, because what I made was special. It shouldn't matter if my gifts are donated anonymously.

[Amy]

Um, I just saw Carol's post that she's embarrassed a bit about what she posted originally, as she hadn't thought about the possibility that the hat was made by a child.

 

So she doesn't feel like anybody's piling up on her or anything, I'm going to close this thread out. Not that anybody is currently piling up on her, but the more posts made about the subject, it might seem that way to Carol.

 

I think we all agree that nobody should just dump off their shoddy work or "failed" project attempts on to charities, and that we should make sure we give our best efforts on projects we donate that will be used by people.

 

I'm sure there are a lot of pet charities out there that would be grateful for even our "ugly" "oops, those colors didn't exactly work together" afghans and similar items!