Hats and heat

You learned to use a knitting loom and decided that the ones that you started with, the large gauged knifty knitters, were just to large a gauge for the hats you want for your kids. Now you have a regular, small, fine, or extra fine and you made wonderful hats that have no gaps. Great the kids won't have holes in their hats.

Now your kid took that hat, put it on and went out to play. You are checking on the kids and there is yours head bare. Where did that hat go? There it is on the ground by the swings or the tree, or maybe half hanging out where it was stuffed in a pocket. So you have to say put your hat on, it's really cold out here. The hat goes back on and you are distracted by whatever you are doing.

Wow, the hat is off again, and back in that pocket or under the tree. This occurs over and over. The child goes to school and the teacher says I can not seem to get this child to keep a hat on. It is left in the classroom or somewhere on the playground and winds up in lost and found. You, the teacher or the child has to constantly go looking.

Well, my child just doesn't like hats. That is the most common thing to think and there will be some children who just don't like hats, but did you ever think that there might be another reason why that child does not keep that hat on. There could be you know.

Take a hat you made for yourself and go outside wearing it. Now just stand there, don't move around. Nice and snug you are in that nice warm hat, huh? Still the air is chilled and you would rather be back inside cozy in front of a warm heater or fireplace. Can't leave yet, we aren't done with you.

You are still outside and still wearing that nice warm hat made on the fine gauge loom so that there are no holes in it. It is nice and snug, just the way you like them, not at all like that nasty large gauged loom you once learned to knit on. You know the one, that one that left all those holes in the piece and made you figure it just couldn't be warm enough for your child.

Ok, now let's change things a bit. Keep that hat on but go to the children's play area, move a little bit. No more standing. Walk around the play ground. No hurry, just a simple little walk. Are you walking? Don't stop, keep walking. Nope not yet, keep going around and around and around. It's ten, fifteen, twenty minutes now. Do you feel it, the heat. The longer you walk the more energy your body has to produce the warmer you get. It's still nice to have that warm hat keeping your head from getting cold.

Ok we had our little walk. It was nice. Now we are going to change again. Instead of a nice little walk we are going to be kids. Run. Yes you heard me, run, run some more. No not just in a straight line, zig this way and that way, run up the slide steps and back down. Isn't this fun. Run circles around the tree, or pole, heck even the slide or swing set, anything that might be there. Now zig and zag like you are dodging someone trying to catch you. Keep it up, to the right, to the left, over there, over here, and back again. Stop take a breath, that's long enough, keep moving.

How do you feel? Stop breathe. Are you warm yet? Or are you hot? How about that hat, head still warm or is it a bit stuffy? Are you sweating from all that running and dodging? Is your head hot and you feel like ripping that warm hat off? If not then you are one of the odd ones. My hat would have come off about ten minutes into the walk. How do I know? At work I will sometimes take a walk break. I walk to the different second hand stores to look around then back to work. Those stores are not all located in the same place, so there is a bit of walking to do. Yep, the hat comes off. It was nice then too nice. I heat up and feel like I need air to my head or I will faint. I did that once in my life. An emergency had me moving fast, and I forgot the hat on my head. Soon I was feeling not so great, next I was waking up from having fainted. My circuits just shut me off.

When children go out to play some will never keep a hat on. We all have different over heat points. A nice warm hat with no holes to one child or adult might be the perfect thing, but to others it is a thing which can quickly becomes something that can harm you. the natural thing is to remove the problem. So off comes the hat.

I have four children, had many daycare children, and now have several grandchildren. I have watched for years and years the hats come off, but you know what, the hats with more holes tend to stay on longer with those children who have a heat up point that comes faster then the ones of other children. Why you might ask. Well, the holes leave a small area where some of the heat can dissipate and not build up to that point of "hats off".

So to those of you with small ones whom you cannot get to keep a hat on, try thinking on a large gauged hat not so tightly weaved. I could work for you as well as it has for me.