KnitterlyNotions

It came to my attention today just how many charities there are the offer comfort items for bereaved parents. I want to donate to them all, but that's going to take some time. So I decided that, for the time being, I would write a blog post with some links to organizations and to patterns. I've mentioned Giving Artfully many times before. This morning when I logged on, I saw that there are now 11 projects for items for bereaved parents. These is the search results leading to "for bereaved parents." Five were added in the last week. Most of these charities focus on making hats, gowns, and other items for the babies to be dressed in and for the parents to have as keepsakes. One of the charities focuses on comfort shawls. And a few of them are looking for memory boxes. Bev's Country Cottage has a page of bereavement gown patterns. I've made some of these. The link goes to that page. Care Wear has many patterns for burial gowns as well, both in the news...

I came up with another easy hat pattern for charity. I'm currently in the middle of my second one. Here is the first one: It's about 21" around, gauge of about 2.5 hdcs to an inch. Abbreviations used: sl st=slip stitch, hdc=half double crochet, sc=single crochet, ch=chain, MATERIALS: 2 skeins of worsted weight yarn. The hat is made with two stands held together. As you can see, I'm using a solid and a variegated, but you can use two of the same color or two solids. 9mm or size M/N crochet hook. Yarn needle and scissors. PATTERN: Chain 3, join with slip st to make a circle. Round 1: Ch 1, hdc 9 times in the circle. Join with sl st, ch 1. (10 hdc) Round 2: Hdc in same st as join. 2 hdc in each st around. Join. Ch. 1. (20 hdc) Round 3: Hdc in same st as join. 1 hdc in next st. *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next st*. Repeat from * around. Join. Ch 1. (30 st) Round 4: Hdc in same st as join, 1 hdc in next 2 st. *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 2 st....

Hi all. I'm still here. Like it says above, I'm still kicking. We are recovering, whatever that means. We go to sleep at night, wake up in the morning, eat, take care of ourselves, Tiri, and the cats, and keep on keeping on. The love and well wishes of certain friends have meant so much through it all, and today we received a beautiful gift. A necklace for me, with a blue bead and two hand engraved circles; the smaller has tiny footprints and "Freddy" on it, and the larger has "Always in my heart," and a keychain for Jerek. His has two circles too, the smaller one the same as mine and the larger with Freddy's birth date on it. I cried when I opened the box and read the note. The note was signed "The December Ladies." The December Due Date group ladies pooled resources and ordered the things from a seller on Etsy. I'm still pumping milk to donate. Not as much as I would like, but that's partly my own fault. I should be pumping more...