In Oregon, 500 hats pledged for Click for Babies | Shaken Baby Syndrome

Close Knit is having a summer sale Saturday, Aug. 4, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 5, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. On their blog, they report: "There will be a store-wide discount on all books, patterns, and needles in the shop. We will also have many beautiful yarns around the shop tagged at an even more significant discount, including our famous super sale table." And if that doesn't get your crafty heart racing, their neighbor, the fabric store Bolt, is also having a sale this weekend. Their blog says all products will be 20 percent off, and all currently marked down items will be an additional 10 percent off. Close Knit is at 2140 N.E. Alberta St. in Portland.

Need a use for all that sale yarn? Our pals at Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emanuelemailed us to let us know how their July 26 kickoff for Click for Babies 2012 went. The hospital launched its campaign to combat shaken baby syndrome through educating people about the period of PURPLE crying many kiddos go through. As part of the education, new parents get a handmade purple infant hat as a visual reminder of PURPLE crying and a reminder of how to handle it safely. 

Here are the details from the kickoff:

• More than 100 people showed up.
• The event had four hours of knitting lessons. (Great way to get new knitters/crocheters into the fold, by the way, and not a bad way to take the leap into circular knitting if you've never tried it. Believe me, once you go seamless, you'll never want to knit things flat again.)
• More than 100 skeins of donated yarn were distributed, along with oodles of patterns for baby hats.
• People pledged 500 hats to the drive. Last year Oregon knitters and crocheters supplied the drive with more than 5,000 hats, and it'd be great if we could top that this year. They're collecting hats through October, so we've got time to get clicking. (So far I've got 4.5 hats made, and really, the most difficult thing about making them  is resisting the urge to try them on the cats. Pip and Liam, my two black kitties, are adorable, and the hats are adorable, too. Put 'em together they'd either be a cuteness supernova or a demonstration of how effectively an angry cat can shred his owner. So I'm restraining myself. Well, there's the whole baby-hats-can't-have-cat-hair-in-them thing, too.)

Happy shopping/knitting! Remember, it's never too hot to knit! Especially something tiny and portable like a baby hat!

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If you have any questions or concerns about what can be done to help babies who have been shaken, or families of babies who have died, please call Christopher Keane and The Keane Law Firm toll-free for free consultation at (888) 592-5437 (KIDS), click on contact us here, or use the web form provided at http://www.keanelaw.com