All about hats

As the deadline for this summer's campaign approaches, the AFSC basement has been seeing a lot of activity lately; last Friday, several of us gathered with Ann for a very productive afternoon devoted mostly to sorting your fabulous, colorful, gorgeous knitted and crocheted hats.

 Can you believe those adorable infant hats? These made us think of cupcakes (the basement crew always have dessert on their minds, apparently). Long-time contributor Pamela from Rochester always impresses us with the adorable buttons or appliqués that she adds to her work.

We do our best to work fast and efficienty, but every few minutes, we simply have to stop and gaze at the drop-gorgeous handknits that you have made with so much care and talent. It is impossible not to be inspired after a couple of hours of studying what others have made out of sticks and wool.

In case you are feeling intimidated or overwhelmed by the above, don't! We love a good, warm hat in every stripe and stitch pattern. Knitter Diane sent this bounty of lovely, creative, bright and subdued classic ribbed hats. In case you are wondering if we ever get tired of this model -- No, Never! We love that it is stretchy by design and that if it is long enough, it can be folded into a brim and thus provide twice as much warmth on a cold day.

While most of us played with hats on Friday, others got to open the packages that have been piling up, always an exciting task if you ask me. These beauties were only a few in a package that included many pairs.

 And given photos like this one, many more gorgeous baby socks will get to be handled, fondled and admired by this week's volunteers.

The photo below was sent by Mary Timberlake. From a knitter's home all the way to Kabul -- what an amazing, impressive journey.