Once upon a time, a long time ago, I used to knit. I made all sorts of things and baby hats were some of my favorites. Unfortunately, I developed arthritis in my hands and it is almost impossible to knit these days.

I saw a video on Instagram of someone using a circular knitting machine to knit hats. I realized that that what I needed! I received one for Christmas (Thanks, sweetie!!) and I have been making hats and scarves faster than ever before!

This skein of yarn has been my undoing. I have tried 3 times to get it to work and 3 times I have ripped it out. I consulted the Facebook groups that I belong to and there were multiple suggestions to use either a dryer sheet or wax earplugs to help the yarn crank better. Since I already own dryer sheets that what I tried. (This was a very cheap skein of acrylic yarn from Walmart — their house Mainstays brand.) By using the dryer sheet and keeping tension on the knit tube as it expanded, I was able to get a hat made. It’s not great but it will keep someone’s head warm.

Our church put together shoeboxes to go around the world and hats are one of the things that they really like. I’m hoping to get a good number of these done by November to donate to the cause.