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Episcopalians among knitters, crocheters making ‘Melt the ICE’ red hats

February 06, 2026

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopalians are among the thousands of knitters and crocheters who are making specially shaped red hats in opposition to the aggressive actions of federal immigration officials in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and to raise money to aid immigrants. The hats feature a wide stretchy brim, with straight sides above it tapering to a point at the top, adorned with a dangling tassel. Patterns for “Melt the ICE” hats, both knitted and crocheted, were developed in mid-January by Needle and Skein, a yarn shop in Saint Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb, with proceeds from their sale going to help local immigrants. They are available for purchase on Ravelry. The shop told WCCO-TV their pattern was based on a similarly shaped red hat that became a sign of Nazi resistance across Norway during World War II, until it was banned in 1942. Episcopal News Service talked to people who have knitted the red hats and to a crocheter who developed her own pattern she thinks will be easier for stitchers with less experience. In Duluth, Minnesota, 150 miles north of Minneapolis on the shores of Lake Superior, the Rev. Patricia Benson, a deacon at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, has made several of the hats and, as a regular knitter, is organizing a group for parishioners who want to learn to make their own. Wearing the red hat, she said, is a “visible identifying feature” that helps people know that she stands against what is happening in Minneapolis. Catherine Craker, a parishioner at St. James’ Cathedral in South Bend, Indiana, started her first hat as soon as the pattern was available, and is working on a second one. She said she already had been making and wearing a slightly different-shaped red hat – one that is longer and resembles a Santa hat – adorned with white roses, a German symbol of Nazi resistance. She has been making those for anyone who wants them, leaving extras at the back of the church. She expects she’ll do the same with this new hat, and on the ones she wears, she plans to add a white rose. A retired priest in the Diocese of the Great Lakes, the Rev. Ann Grady, described herself as an advanced knitter and has made three red hats so far, finding only the braid along the top a bit of an initial challenge. She noted that she has seen photos of people adding their own variations – cable knitting, using different weights of yarn or needle sizes, or even stripes – while still keeping the basic shape and what she called the “spirit” of the hat. The demand for red yarn has grown so high, she said, that the owner of her local shop can no longer order yarn in any variation of red. Patty Duffy has started a second hat, after her first one “didn’t go so well,” but she said it was still useful in her process of learning. A member of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, she said that knitting in general is a meditative practice, calling it “what we need in turbulent times.” She acknowledged that these red hats are unlikely to change anyone’s heart or mind on the issue of how immigration officials should be acting, but they might offer a bit of hope to people who see them. “It’s a way to show our presence in the world,” she said. Crocheter Nina Nicholson looked at the official version of the hat pattern after it was available but saw comments that the main stitch used puts stress on makers’ hands. As an accomplished crocheter with 50 years of experience, she tried making her own pattern with crochet stitches that mimic knitting but found they made a hat that wasn’t stretchy enough or looked uneven “because crochet stitches don’t stack the way knitting stitches do.” She then decided she wouldn’t try to make her version look like knitting, a decision that “set her free” to create a pattern she said could be made by advanced beginner crocheters. Nicholson, a member of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Maplewood, New Jersey, and the director of communications and technology for the Diocese of Newark, offered the pattern for sale on Ravelry. Since posting it on Jan. 31, it has been purchased 114 times, netting $460 for St. George’s work supporting families of people in the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark and to The Lighthouse, a ministry to asylum seekers run by a local deacon. Since the Minnesota yarn shop made the patterns available on Jan. 15, it has donated more than $650,000 from proceeds to local agencies that assist immigrants, according to a Facebook post. As of Feb. 5, almost 6,900 people had posted photos to the shop’s sale page of red hats they made using its pattern. These efforts follow others across The Episcopal Church in support of immigrants and against ICE actions, including statements from Minnesota Bishop Craig Loya and Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, Episcopal clergy who traveled on Jan. 23 to Minneapolis to protest ICE raids and a Jan. 31 statement from 154 Episcopal bishops calling for immigration policies that respect the dignity of all. The use of knitted or other crafted items has a long history as a means of resistance – from homespun cloth during the American Revolution to red Phrygian caps – similar in shape to the “Melt the Ice” Hats – worn during the French Revolution. Knitters in Belgium during World War II used a variety of knitting stitches as code to describe the actions of nearby German forces, and a woman used knitting as a cover as she served as a British secret agent in occupied Normandy. The Rev. Maggie Nancarrow, rector of St. Paul’s in Duluth, told ENS that it has long been recognized that “knitting is meditative and prayerful.” She called the red hats now being made by people around the county “a small token of courage […]