Another Hat & Another Newberry

I guess I'm in a rut, but it's a good one. Nothing wrong with a lot of sweet, knitted hats.

This is a pattern I saw on Ginny Sheller's yarn along two weeks ago. It is fun to knit and not difficult at all. In fact, making the butterflies every 10 rows is a good incentive to knit just one more row. 

The pattern is called : The Butterfly Hat on Ravelry. 

I used MadelineTosh's Molly Ringwold color way. So beautiful - truly a pretty pink; not saccharin at all. 

As for books, we're still sticking to our Newberry Award winners and have been surprised to love "The Family Under The Bridge." 

We live in a very small town but we've been spending a lot of time in Portland. Questions gave been arising about the people on the streets with signs asking for help. We are not the type of family to say "get a job!" More like the kind that is trying to help but how? 

A friend brought our attention to a wonderful project at the holidays. They made a great flyer showing a kit of essentials that could be made for $5 using items from a Dollar Store.

Here's the flyer:

On Christmas morning, a group of very generous people set up under a bridge and distributed the kits (35 of them, I believe) and hot breakfast burritos. It was wonderful to participate in this in our humble way of assembling & donating a few kits and we hope to do it again. 

So the book we are reading is "The Family Under The Bridge" by Natalie Savage Carlson published in 1958 and winner of the Newberry Award.

It's the story of an old, Parisian, homeless man, Armand, and a family of newly homeless children. It sounds awful writing that. But somehow, when reading, the focus is on all things positive such as the affection the old curudgeon is developing for the children and the lengths to which he goes to help them. 

My children, ages 5-10, love it and beg me to read more. It's set in Paris, a long time ago, so maybe that helps it be a bit more surreal and not scary or maybe it's the excellent writing. 

Either way, it's giving them a chance to ask questions and discuss a subject that I previously never quite got very far with. 

I would recommend both the hat and the book. 

This post is part if Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along. Click the link to see more great knitted projects and book recommendations.