Nursing Home Donations

I want to thank all three of these wonderful women for their donations.

Alma, who writes Alma's Blog sent these wonderful squares and a pretty yellow chemo cap.

Lynda sent three very nice wheelchair totes and some very pretty squares!

And Robi sent these 12" squares, they look much prettier in person, I couldn't get the color right in the pic.

If you would like to help the list of what we need is on this post.

Readers Projects: Big Old Blocks Afghan

Beth posted this afghan on Ravelry that she made from my Never Ending Blanket Square. I loved it and wrote her begging for permission to use the picture here. On Ravelry she says she just used yarn she had on hand, but the color combination works so well doesn't it? Thanks for letting my other readers see your great work, Beth.

Ummm.... HELP!! (Re: Local Needs)

Oh my, what have I done, what have I done?? LOL I stopped at several more places (it's actually part of my job and while I'm there anyway...) asking about their needs and now I think I'm stretching it a little too thin. You should have seen the administrators and social workers eyes light up when I told them what I wanted to do. So now I and my two neophyte crafters have two nursing homes, a residential care facility and two hospices to craft for. I left my number for the responsible person at another nursing home and another hospice and am waiting to hear from them about their needs.

Anyway the list of needs haven't changed much but it has expanded, if you could please take the time to make a few squares or a tote I would sure appreciate it.

We need:
6" or 12" squares for lapghans (may also be used for Project Linus blankets), if you have some of other sizes I will also take them.

Lapghans, lap robes or blankets A good size for lapghans is about 3' X 4' or somewhere in that vicinity.

**Wheelchair or walker totes** (This is what really made their eyes light up) Here's some links to patterns.

Activity aprons (see this post)

Summer weight Chemo Caps

The residential care facility asked for hats, scarves and mittens for next winter.

One nursing home also asked for items that could be sold in their Country Store, the proceeds go to their activity fund.

Donation of 30 6" Squares

The first donation of squares just arrived for our blankets and lap robes for our local hospice. Linda B. from Virginia sent these 30 lovely squares. Thanks so much Linda!! If you would be interested in helping out see this post for the list of things we need for our local programs.

I just finished my first wheelchair tote and as usual I'm not satisfied with it. I'll post more about them when I get the kinks worked out!

Local Needs, Would You Like to Help??

I made the rounds today and although I didn't get to see everyone on my list I did have several requests, I have two women working with me but we are only three so if you can help I'd appreciate it, here's what we are making and collecting:

Local Hospice: I was told the ladies love the crocheted lap robes and blankets so 6" and 12" squares or the completed items would be great! Also light weight summer chemo caps.

Local Nursing Home: They are overstocked with laprobes and blankets but could really use wheelchair and walker bags. Also activity aprons for their dementia patients. These are aprons that have various "activities" such as buttons, zippers, velcro tabs, laces  etc. for the patient to fiddle with. Use different textures and your imagination to make these as varied as possible. They also said they can use anything handmade that can be sold in their "Country Store", all proceeds go back into the activities fund for the patients.

Project Linus: 6" and 12" squares in pastels and brights. One of the ladies who works with me is a novice crafter but she can whip stitch squares together.

I still have several places to check with so I'm probably going to be adding to this list. If you can help please email me at debsstuff55 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Working on a New Baby Hat Pattern

These baby hats are the start of my next pattern. I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at the research and development stage of making a pattern. It, of course, starts with an idea. I wanted a baby hat with lots of texture. The hat on the left was the first one, I must have ripped out the first couple of rows of pattern a dozen times. Even so, when I finished it, I wasn't real happy with it. It just didn't "pop" the way I wanted it to. If you look at the one on the right you can see the "bubbles" are much more pronounced. But I am still not done. The way I started some of the rows is going to be hard to understand so I have an idea that I want to try in the next hat. I also want to try to change the spacing of the "bubbles" to see if it would look better. So that's at least one more hat and possibly two before I get it the way I want it.

So, that's the usual process, sometimes it comes out the way I want it on the first try but that is rare. Both of the hats I made are good hats, they'll be donated to some organization soon, but they weren't what I was trying for. So I'll be posting the pattern someday when I'm happy with it. I also have a couple of adult hat patterns I'm working on, but I'm not having a lot of luck with them.

Finished Blankets for Project Linus

I decided to try to finish up some of my (many) unfinished projects. The peach and white one wasn't too hard to finish, I was close to being done, but the pink and white one had to be frogged and started over so I pretty much did it from scratch! In case you didn't know Project Linus is a nationwide organization that provides security blankets to ill and traumatised children. It's a great way to become involved in charity crafting so check them out and find a chapter near you. Both blankets were made with the Never Ending Blanket Square pattern.

Readers Projects: 4th of July Sweater!

Isn't this great?? My facebook friend Denyse made this for her grandson. I love the way she used the colors in this Baby Bumpy Sweater. Especially the white band where the "bumps" are. I love seeing all the projects everyone makes from my patterns so maybe I should have another contest? I'll tell you what - I'll do it for the month of April. I'm working on another baby hat pattern, still have a few kinks to work out. I'm also working on a few more baby blankets for Project Linus and have talked a friend into joining me.

We Have a Winner!!!

Using a random number generator I have chosen the winner and it is Cindy who made the beautiful baby blanket I had posted earlier this week. Congratulations Cindy!

I still would like pictures of projects you have made with my patterns, so please send them in at debsstuff55 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Reader's Projects: Beautiful Baby Blanket

My reader Cindy made this gorgeous baby blanket using my Never Ending Blanket Square. She has another picture on her blog Gardner's Ramblings. She donated it to her local pregnancy resource center.