KnitterlyNotions

I mentioned in a previous post that I was working on a donation in memory of Freddy. The name evolved a few times, but ended up being  The Freddy Project Memorial Donation 2015 . On December 10th, Jerek and I went to Eau Claire, WI and I delivered 72 hats to two hospitals and a crisis pregnancy care clinic. 72 hats, divided by 3, equals 24 hats per place. Each place for 24 because Freddy would be 24 months. Sacred Heart Hospital got this set: Luther Middelfort Hospital, part of Mayo Clinic Heath System, got this set: And Apple Pregnancy Care Clinic got this set: 72 babies will wear my hats in Freddy's place. I hope their mothers love them as much as I love Freddy.

I've been slacking a bit with the knitting and crocheting. Just feeling slow, and my hands aren't as happy as they were. I think I need to have my chiro work on them again tomorrow. I can't *not* make things though, so here is what I've managed lately. This one was made mostly during my birth class. I'm thinking of keeping it, if for no other reason than that. :) Charity hat. I was going to take it to WIC, but we shall see. It might go to the Yarnology knitting group instead. These are for Fritz. I called them Diaper Bag Booties and Diaper Bag Hat. They were supposed to be a set but the hat came out rather bigger than the booties. They should both fit him eventually though. They are in the diaper bag, for those times when you encounter unexpected chilliness. Charity hat using a whole small skein I got on clearance at JoAnn's. It's very soft, but a pain to work with as most boucle yarns are. These two use scraps that I found at...

I made some sweet little crochet mitts tonight, and I said well, I might as well blog about them! :) Actually, this is how I made them. They are size newborn+, with a bit f wriggle room. :) Materials: Baby weight yarn. I used Bernat Baby Sport Ombre. You don't need much. Size F crochet hook. Scissors and tapestry needle. Notes: Chain 1 and chain 2 counts as first stitch in each round. Abbreviations used: HDC: half double crochet DC: double crochet CH: chain Sl ST: slip stitch ST: stitch REV SC: reverse single crochet, or crab stitch Directions: Chain 2. Join with sl st to form ring. Round 1: Ch. 1, work 11 hdc in ring. Join. (12 st.) Round 2: Ch. 1, hdc in same st as join. 2 hdc in each st around. Join. (24 st.) Round 3: Ch. 1, do not work in same st as join. Hdc in each st around. Join. (24 st.) Round 4-11: Ch. 1, work 1 hdc in each st around. Join. (24 sts.) Round 12: Ch. 2, dc in each st around. (24 st.) Round 13: Ch. 1, hdc around. ...

I've been working on baby hats to donate the last couple of days. 8 done so far, and some of them are pretty darn cute! I'm particularly proud of the football one and the pink, black, and white star one. :) I love appliques, but I tend to only crochet those, so when I'm on a knitting kick they get pushed to the side. Not sure yet where these will go, either WIC or a hospital. I'm sure wherever they go, the babies who get them will look absolutely and utterly adorable. :) All but one of these is done in worsted weight yarn (bottom left-hand hat in the group shot was made with Sidar Crofter DK weight) and a size G crochet hook. What hats will tomorrow bring? It seems to have remembered that it's the end of December in Wisconsin, and the low last night was -9 degrees. I saw a post on Facebook today that talked about wind chill advisories. What does that have to do with hat making? Oh, that means it is my season. :) MAKE ALL THE HATS! :-D

On Friday, August 15, I took a donation to the Winona, MN chapter of  Bundles of Love . I had heard of this charity several years ago, and last summer found out that there was a group meeting monthly in Winona. However, life, and pregnancy, and that whole thing, sort of got in the way Finally, finally, though, I got to go! I took these things: 25 baby hats in a good mixture of colors for either gender, 4 pairs of socks that match 4 of the hats, 2 pairs of crocheted baby booties, and 1 knitted washcloth. I took Michelle and Bexley, and Carolyn (Michelle's little sister) with me to Winona that day, as a little outing. Tiri wanted to go in with me when I dropped off my things, which I wasn't sure about at first. They adored her, though, of course. All in all, it was a wonderful experience! I will definitely go back there, and I may even attend one of the meetings to do some needlework. I mentioned that I wasn't sure about that, because of Tiri, and they all assure...

There were for Bexley: Pumpkin Hat Bunny Hat Preemie Bereavement Items: These are newborn and larger: I am also knitting a sweater to save for a Rainbow Baby. <3 More about that another time.

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....