National Helmet Liner Day
A Typical Helmet Liner
Put Tuesday December 29th on your calendar – we (along with lots of other LYSs) are designating that as National Helmet Liner Day. As you may know, some 30,000 service men and women will be deploying to Afghanistan and they need hand-made helmet liners because the ones they are issued with are not close fitting and warm enough.
Our goal is to get 100 liners knit or crocheted by the end of January, and I know we can do it. We will be here with patterns, yarn at a discount, and hopefully some donated yarn that will work, and lots of encouragement.
I know many of you have made these in the past, so if you have any good tips or advice let us know. We have a wonderful new pattern that seems to be just right, and is available in knitted and crochet versions. They must be made out of 100% wool, worsted weight (Cascade 220, Patons, etc) and need to be in black, brown, tan, olive, dark gray or brown/tan variegated. For the knit version, you will need to have size 8 16″ Circulars and DP’S and size 6 16″ Circulars for the ribbing.
If you can’t come in please make a few and send them to us, and we will send you a little thank you surprise! Here’s a copy of the helmet liner knitting pattern and the helmet liner crochet pattern. You can send your completed helmet liners to the address on the pattern, and we’ll make sure that they get delivered.
The spirit of knitting has never been stronger than it is right now, and there is nothing more worthwhile than letting our service men and women know they are cared for, so let’s get it done.
Check back soon - we'll be adding knitting and crochet items to our Chicken Wire Auction for you to peck at. In the meantime,
What about the many soldiers that are alergic to wool???
1Gise … dark colors are best even tweeds. Every helmet liner will be gratefully received and put to good use.
Not sure about silks … I’m sure it would get used but would also probably need some extra care?
2Does the color have to be solid? Or could it be a yarn with various subtle tones of a brown color, for example?
3Can it be a tweed color?
Can it contain other natural fibers, like silk, e.g. 20% silk?
Ok, here’s the deal, I wanted to make one for my brother and bought a beautiful dark brown Cascade 220 Superwash. That night I talked to 2 off duty soldiers and asked them if they knew which colors were acceptable. They told me that only true black and a certain shade of green,( they showed me as they were in uniform, I don’t know what to call the color- sorta pale olive-tan-gray? was allowed, that the other colors were no longer allowed, that was out of date. I dorve the 40 miles back to the store and traded my wool for a black-black one, I’ve almost completed the liner but before I make another I need to know if my information is wrong or is the pattern’s color choices listed incorrect. How does one find out for sure? Thanks for your help, Jean
4Is it a must that the yarn be worsted weight?
5I have seen 100% wool yarn for sale but not “worsted”.
As long as it knits to gauge, is non worsted yarn OK?
Absolutely, We’ll take th helmet liners year round (we’ve actually been doing this for the past 3 years). If you can get them to us before the end of January that would be a bonus and help us toward our current drive.
6I live in Michigan and would love to participate — with some friends. Is it too late? What is the deadline? Can we mail our finished helmet liners to the address you provided?
7I made one of these liners with two circular needles instead of one circular or DPs. Works really well! I m ake all my circular items – socks, gloves, hats, etc. on two circulars. Takes the grief out of using DPs and avoids the struggleout of small circulars [like less than 24"]. I have more liners planned. They go pretty quick. I just had to get more yarn in the proper colors, which I normally don’t have on hand. Thanks everyone for helping make these liners.
8BTW……..does anyone have the washing instructions to tuck into the liners? I’ve heard that there is a page of them floating around somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find it.
Lynn, you can either send them to us (as on the pattern) or you can send them yourself if you have a personal connection to a brigade/unit that you’d like to support. Maybe make them part of a care package?
So glad that you can help.
9Thanks, Neil,
10I didn’t get your message until after I sent a new message. I’m new at the rss feed. I did what you said and the crochet pattern showed up. I’m in Raymond, NH and have friends that would like to help. My nephew is going over in Feb. Is it okay to send them to his unit when I collect the hoods that are finished or do I have to send them to the person on the pattern?
I still can’t find the crochet version of the helmet hoods. Could someone please help. Neil said it was in the link, but I can’t find the link, only one for the knitted hood. Thanks. Lynn
11Lynn – you may need to reload this page – try CTRL + F5 (if you’re on a PC).
12Thanks, Neil, but I must be doing something wrong. I can’t seem to find the link for the crochet pattern. I keep coming up with the knit pattern. I have that one, but a friend of mine only crochets and would like to help.
13Lynn, we’ve added a link to the crochet pattern, above. Thanks.
14Does anyone have a crochet pattern for the helmet hoods? Thanks, Lynn
15I started a liner from this pattern with alpaca yarn. IT’s coming along nicely. A friend of mine wants to generate a group of knitters locally to do these too. Way to go guys!!! Great way to support our troops plus, they get something warm and useful.
16Thank you for putting the helmet liner project at the top of your to do list. Our men and women in uniform deserve the very best! Helping increase their comfort level in difficult terrain and weather conditions is a gift of love from a grateful nation. Knit on!
Shelia Joyce Carrasco
17President
Greater Chicago Chapter IL#3
Blue Star Mothers of America
Check out Ellen Silva’s helmet liner pattern on Ravelry. Ellen is an experienced knitter and has done some minor revisions that make the helmet fit much better around the face. Ellens’ liner pattern has you knit the neck portion to 8 inches but 6 inches is fine.
18Hi Sister! Happy Christmas. I’m sure there is … let me look into it. I bet our all soldiers sailors and airmen can put these to good use. Talked to Reg last nite. Hope Alex gets over her cold/flu quickly. Say hello to sailor boy.
19Hey Neil – do you by any chance know if this is something we can do for British troops too? It’s a great idea. Something really positive we can do. Angie xxx
20