2017 Itty Bitty GIANT Hat Drive + 1. Jax Beanie

Good morning all and welcome to the 5th annual Itty Bitty GIANT Hat Drive!

Wow guys, 5 years. How insanely incredible is this??? I can hardly believe it's been that long, and yet, some days it feels like yesterday.

This year I'm back again with a further 30 patterns! I can't wait to share them all with you. I've been working super hard behind the scenes! Almost all patterns this year are sized between 30 and 40 weeks gestation, which was requested by Chance's Clothes Project (CCP), who are, as you know, the beneficiary of the hat drive. The other notable thing this year is that, all 30 patterns use 8ply/DK weight yarn, after some feedback from participants in previous years who have limited supplies. Of course, you can always adjust your hook and yarn size for more sizes, after all, angels come in many many sizes.

It was a real push this year to get everything finalised. As many of you know, we added another angel to our family in December last year and again in June this year. Emotionally, it's been tough, For a long time I couldn't even pick up a crochet hook and I found myself in a very dark place. For a while, I wasn't even sure I'd have 30 patterns for you all this month. Most of you are here because you know this road all too well, so I don't need to tell you how hard it has been. But, crochet it seems, is my saving grace once again. The amount of love from you all, the encouragement, and the kind words that pour in from not just Australia, but all across the globe, gave me the push I needed to get back into gear.

So, here we are! 30 patterns. 30 days. 1 Goal. To make sure people know they are not alone, and that their precious baby is able to receive dignity and recognition of their lives, however brief they may have been.

For further Itty Bitty GIANT Hat Drive details please head on over to my Facebook Page (feel free to inbox me there, I love getting your messages) or check out the official IBGHD website

Dont forget to share photos of the hats you make! You can use the hashtags #ibghd2017, #ittybittygianthatdrive and #ibghd on both Facebook and Instagram (and Twitter if you tweet), feel free to share the photos on my Facebook page, upload them to Ravelry or come join our CCP Crafters Group on Facebook.

Last year CCP received a grand total of 1,532 hats, from all states in Australia, and some as far as Scotland! Can we hit 2000 this year? Let's try! You can help by joining in, or by sharing the project! Share away! I'm also happy to do any interviews,  should the chance arrive. Let's shout the IBGHD from the rooftops!

Hats can be posted to

Chance's Clothes Project
c/- Cowra Neighbourhood Centre
15 Vaux St
Cowra NSW 2794

Please include a small note with your postcode and town name, and the number of hats in the parcel. That way we can add your town to our world map.

That's it lovelies. Without any more ado whatsoever, here is the first hat for the 2017 Itty Bitty GIANT Hat Drive

The Jax Beanie

You Will Need:
DK Weight/8ply yarn
4.5mm hook

Sized To Fit:
32-34 Weeks Gestation

Special Stitches:
Side Cluster: *yarn over, insert hook from front to back around the previous stitch, yarn over, pull through loop , yarn over, pull through 2 loops*, repeat twice, yarn over, pull through all 4 loops.

Reverse Sc: (crab stitch) Insert hook into the previous stitch from the row below, yarn over, pull through loop, yarn over, pull through 2 loops.

1: Into a magic ring ch2, make 12dc's, join to the first dc. -12dc

2: Ch3, dc in the same stitch, 2dc in each remaining stitch around, join to the ch3. -24dc

3: Ch3, dc in the same stitch, dc in the next stitch, *2dc in the next stitch, dc in the next stitch*, repeat around, join to the ch3. -36dc

4-6: Ch3, dc in each stitch around, join to the ch3. -36dc

7: Ch4 (Counts as first dc and ch1), skip 1, dc in the next stitch, side cluster around the previous dc, skip 1  *dc in the next stitch, ch1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch, side cluster around the previous dc, skip 1* repeat around, join to the 3rd chain of the starting ch4.

8: Ch2, hdc in each stitch and chain around. Join to the ch2.

9: ch1, reverse sc in each stitch around. Slst to ch1 to join.

End off, weave in tails.

ALTERNATIVE COLOUR OPTIONS.

Use a contracting colour for round 7.
Use a contrasting colour for both rounds 5 and 7.

Sweet Robin

If loss stories are too hard for you, please scroll to the bottom of the page for the pattern <3


I didn't think I'd be sitting here, again. Writing these words, again. Feeling so much heartbreak, again.

I wrote back in 2013, about how when we loose a baby, we join a club that noone ever wants to be a part of, but we don't ever get to leave. The Baby Loss Club. It's exclusive, but oh so painful. We're here and yet, we don't want to be. We'd give every ounce of our beings to trade that card in, hand it back, cash in our membership and walk away. We desperately wish we never joined this club.

Sadly, we can't. It's a lifetime gig. Now, I find myself a part of the frequent flyer section, of this horrible club. We lost another precious angel this weekend. We'd been trying to grow our family since we lost Alice this past December, and finally thought our luck was changing. Boy was I wrong. Friday was probably the unluckiest days in my life.

It's a long story. Its traumatic and horrible and cruel. I'm not ready to write it all out yet. Between broken machines and hospital stuff ups, I had one of the most horrible days on Friday that I have ever had. If it wasn't for the support of my best friend and my partner, I don't quite know how I would have made it through.

Having to call my partner and tell him that our baby, who should have been 12 weeks along, had stopped growing at just 9 and had no heartbeat, was right up there on the list of hardest things I've ever had to do.

Coming home to tell my girls, so hard. The words didn't want to come out. They didn't want to form. They have questions that I have no answers to, and probably never will. As a family, our hearts are broken. We've cried so many tears. We are devastated.

Surely you'd think that was enough for one day. Surely the universe can't throw anything else at someone who is already so down? You'd think so, but no. My partner drove my friend back to the hospital that evening to pick her car up (she'd driven me home in ours, I was in no condition to drive) and on the way there our car got ran into. Thankfully everyone was ok, but my poor car will need extensive repairs and will be out of action for a while.

When it rains, it pours, isn't that how the saying goes? Well it sure poured, because to top the day off, both me and Master J ended up with headcolds as well. Just what we needed!

It's been a crappy weekend to follow a shitty Friday. I'm left feeling horrible and broken and angry. I have so much angry to work through right now that I can't even start on working through all the other feelings I have.

Beautiful little Robin. Gone too soon. Joining Frankie and Alice.
I am 1 in 4
I am broken.

Sweet Robin

You Will Need
3.5mm hook
2.00mm hook
Yarn in a main and contrasting colours for body and black for the beak.
Fabric paint/plastic eyes/beads
Small amount of stuffing

BODY
With 3.5mm hook and main colour

1: 6sc into a magic ring, place marker - 6sc
2: *sc in the next stitch, 2sc in the next stitch*, repeat around - 9sc
3: *sc in the next 2 stitches, 2sc in the next stitch*, repeat around - 12sc
4: *sc in the next 3 stitches, 2sc in the next stitch*, repeat around - 15sc
5: sc in teach stitch around - 15sc
6: *sc in the next 4 stitches, 2sc in the next stitch*, repeat around - 18sc
7-8: sc in each stitch around - 18sc
9: sc2tg 9 times - 9sc
Stuff well
10: sc in the next stitch, sc2tg 4 times - 5sc

End off leaving a long tail, use the tail to close the remaining hole by gathering it shut.

CHEST
With contrasting colour and 3.5mm hook

1: ch5, sc in the 2nd chain from hook and each across - 4sc
2-3: ch1, turn, sc across - 4sc
4: ch1, turn, 2sc in the first stitch, 2hdc in each of the next 2 stitches, 2sc in the last stitch -8 stitches

End off. Row 4 goes to the bottom of the bird. Stitch it onto the front of the body.

TAIL
With main colour and 3.5mm hook

1: ch3, sc in the 2nd chain from hook and the next stitch -2sc
2-3: ch1, turn, sc in each stitch - 2sc
4: ch1, sc 3 times down the side of the tail, 2sc in each of the ch2 spaces from row 1 we used to start the tail, sc evenly 3 times up the next side, 2sc in each of the 2 top stitches, join to the ch1. End off leaving a long tail to attach to the body of the bird.

Wings x2
With main colour and 3.5mm hook

Into a magic ring, sc 4 times, trc 2 times, sc 4 times, pull tight and join to the first sc. End off leaving a long tail for sewing to the side of the body.

Repeat to make second wing.

BEAK
With black and a 2.00mm hook

Attach black yarn with a slst to the place on the face that you want the beak to be, chain 3 and then end off with a long tail. Using the tail stitch back through the same place you joined the yarn, so that the ch3 folds in on itself to create the beak. Secure both ends and weave in.

Use fabric paint or stitch on eyes, or use beads.