just had to share

Look at this great note and photo I just got! What a bunch of sweethearts!

Thanks for the hats! It gets pretty darn cold over here and these hats are awesome! You can really feel the warmth and love that went into making them My group loves them and wears them often. Thanks! 

Snow Day!

Last night we had a big, blustery storm with rain, slush, snow -- you name it. Buses stopped, schools closed, people got stuck far from home etc.

Yesterday, knowing there was really bad weather coming, I gave out over 300 hats to soldiers all over the Gush Etzion and Hebron Hills areas. They were so, so grateful and I hope you'll all keep knitting for them. Check out the video and photos below!

Many of these soldiers spent the night rescuing stranded drivers, and patrolling unfriendly neighborhoods in sub-zero temperatures. Thank you to all the chayalim who work so hard on our behalf! Thanks also to "Just One Chesed" and "Cafe Hachi Achi" for their help in getting the hats out to soldiers in remote outposts.

Here's my hat mail for the week, I hope you'll all keep up the amazing work:

From this past week

Got a couple more thank you photos to share with you.

This week the weather's supposed to be freezing, and below. I've got about 300 hats in reserve and am planning to give them all out. So keep knitting!

more photos

I loved meeting Eleanor Minuk of Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda synagogue in Toronto (that's her on the left, in the photo below). The dedicated knitting group in this synagogue has sent hundreds of hats to soldiers over the years, and Eleanor orchestrates the whole production, she's fantastic. Being very modest, she wants you to know that, in her words, "I can't take credit for it all. We have someone who purchases the yarn, lots of knitters, someone who puts on the tags and bags the hats." My thanks and appreciation to all of you!

There was an article in the Canadian Jewish News recently about this group, as well as dedicated Toronto knitter Ruth Belick, and you can see it here:

CJN

Shout out also to the Constantia Home in Toronto that has knit hundreds of hats, and Pam Chasen who's headed that project. 

And here are some photos I got just today of some happy soldiers in their hats. It's good and wintery here, so keep 'em coming, folks!!

Thank you from some paratroopers

Yom HaAtzma'ut to Yom Yerushalayim

Here in Israel we're in between Israel Independence Day and Jerusalem Day, which seems like a really great time to say thank you to the IDF and update you about the hats.

It's been a great, amazing winter with hats coming from all around the world -- everywhere from New Zealand to Hong Kong. I'm just going to share a few photos so you can see for yourself how happy those hats make the soldiers. Enjoy, and knit on....

These are from the Lone Soldier Center called "Chayal el Chayal". It's a place where off-duty soldiers who don't have family in Israel can come to relax, get a warm meal, do their laundry etc. I gave them your handknit hats to distribute and one of the woman who works there says, "I have been handing out the hats and the soldiers are LOVING them!!! "

These ones were given out to soldiers  serving in the Gush Etzion region in February (brrr!) 

And here's a lovely article about a knitting group in a synagogue in the Philadelphia area:
http://jewishexponent.com/2017/05/03/cbent-sisterhood-knits-hats-idf-soldiers/

Thank you as always to all you fantastic knitters, you are making some lucky soldiers very, very happy!

Winter is Coming!

'Tis the season for hats. Here are some of your creations in action:

Keep up the good work, folks! Your hats are making many soldiers very happy.