DH's secret society fills shoe boxes with necessities like razors, deodorant, tooth brush and tooth paste, etc to give to a local shelter at Christmas time. A few years ago I noticed I had an awful lot of odd balls and leftover bits and pieces so I asked if they would like me to knit some hats for the shoe boxes as a way of using up my scraps. They said yes. I said how many. They said 52.

So for two years I was loom knitting hats for charity. As I have used up most of my odds and ends I thought I'd give this year a miss

but then DH's club gave me a beautiful arrangement of Christmas plants and a lovely thank you card. I felt so guilty I went out and bought a couple of balls of yarn to begin knitting hats for this Christmas. Then, yesterday, a friend of mine who has had to quit knitting due to problems with her hands and shoulders brought over four boxes and a number of plastic bags full of yarn.

That should keep the shelter in hats for at least three more years. Big thank you to Karen.