when i set a goal for myself, i set it in the way i was taught in my masters degree: make it measurable, attainable, and most seriously - make it realistic. that's why when i set goals, they sound a little bit like, '
make sure you do your dishes tonight... or by thursday at the LATEST'.... or '
make sure you still have a $20 bill in your wallet by tomorrow'. i'm very serious about these goals, but rarely do i reach them.
enter robyn, who takes goals very seriously. none of this '
just make sure you eat for the next 3 days' goal setting... she created a list of goals, that she wanted to complete
before she turned 40 - and, set out to make 10,000 hats for 10,000 people. she started small - with 100 hats in 2009. now, it's 300 hats in 2013. she's sending hats all over the place, just to complete her measurable goal. one she is determined to complete. and man - she's going to kick it into the ground.
the connection that i have with robyn? i'm a giant online click'a'holic... i start in one place online, and next thing you know, i'm halfway across the internet, on a person's page who i used to go to highschool with. people often interrupt my 'i found this thing online' stories with, 'wait.... HOW did you find that??'
so. here's what happened: i was reading
sydney's blog, and in catching up, saw
her post on her connection with robyn, from
she makes hats. i then spent the next hour reading robyn's blog - her goals, her posts on her designs, and
what the project meant to her.
you can imagine my surprise when i received an email from robyn, asking if she could send me a hat. me. a hat. i could not hit reply fast enough. handmade hats are my 'swoonworthy' thing. knitting is something i've never been able to fully master, and my jaw drops at the things people can do with needles and yarn.
so, yes. i said yes so quickly, my internet connection could not keep up.
and a little while later, i received my hat. it is warm, and a colour that goes with everything, but is way less boring than my typical grey. it's slouchy, and perfect. and - as you can see from photos - since i am from canada, i can never ever ever own too many hats. since i lost my last knit hat about a year ago (and have been unable to find one that has come even CLOSE to replacing it), i've been without. it would be far too small of a thing to say that this hat serves as a good replacement for that hat - this one would beat that one in a 100m race.
i know. i know. just a hat. get over it.
i won't. i won't get over it. while we're all reading blogs, listening to songza, drinking green tea, and trying to get our acts together,
robyn has been whipping out hats for babies in maternity wards, hats for active-duty naval sailors, and hats for people like me (who, relatively, have no good place in her repertoire of hat making).
robyn is part of an organization called
nebraska hats for hope. she knits hats to include in bags that are put together in backpacks with food and other warm things, for children from the local elementary school - a large portion of whom receive some form of public assistance (in the manner of free lunches, and so on). so now, instead of store bought hats, robyn has set out to ensure all those deserving kidlets receive hand knit hats. and here's the key component:
we can be involved. if you would like to send robyn hats, to be inc
luded in this amazing and inspiring initiative, please send them to:
Nebraska Hats for Hope Initiative
PO Box 6093
Omaha, NE 68106
i just started knitting again. it's taken me a month to make a headband. but this year, my (realistic) challenge will be to send robyn at least 3 hats. please join me.
and totally off topic, for those of you who were wondering, the following is the reason i will never ever be a fashion blogger. as soon as there is a camera in front of my face, it inexplicable contorts in ways that i can't control, and leaves me with hundreds of photos that look like this:
i'll leave it at that.
oh! i should also add, that robyn has included instructions on how to knit this hat, on her website. it's based on
this hat, but she has altered it... so you can see her changes for the
final product here. for those of you WAY more talented with needles than i, check it out! we can match! she also wrote a
sweet blog entry about the hat, the process, and what number my hat is (#310) in her grand goal....
check it out here!
