Handmade Preemie Hats for NICU

Our NICU care package: meet my model, The Orange!

For Tristan's birthday day we took the preemie hats I'd been making down to NICU. He also visited his nurses for the first time since discharge! He was pretty shy and still has Mod Podge stuck in his hair so he wasn't quite himself but I was glad they got to see him again.

NICU nurses are cherished. They are the ones who watched over our children because we have to live apart.

They were really psyched to get the hats! I made a variety of tiny sizes from this pattern my friend Kayla Aimee shared with me. SOCKS! It's brilliant! I got all of them from the crazy dollar store I always talk about. They're really cute and good quality. I have some I wear a lot.

There is only one thing I did differently than the tutorial on her page. I was afraid hand stitching the "ears" wouldn't be strong enough so I ran the corners back and forth through my machine a few times. They look exactly the same. I included some ribbon in the bag in case the nurses or parents want to doll them up but otherwise I wanted them to be machine-wash-durable.

My micropreemie mom friends told me I should use citrus fruit to gauge the size starting with a lemon and going up to an orange. I tried Tristan's first had on an orange - perfect fit! So I went with that and just made a variety. If they work out and the parents like them I will make more! It was fun.

Hats in the making: pinning, sewing, and then securing the ears.

NICU Nurse Superheros! 

They weren't familiar with The Aquabats, but somehow everyone knew to wear blue except me (Yoshi!) so I tinted the images.

It was a good day. We came home, played, opened presents here and there, then ordered his favorite take out foods (yes, plural) for dinner and ate leftover cake.