Unfortunately, I did not catch a photo of this completed one before I shipped it off to charity. I loved making it – the pattern is well written and easy to follow. I plan to make more and will remember to get a finished photo next time. I did color control on the sleeves a bit, which was a pain because of the extra ends to weave in. The yarn was Caron faerie cake with G and H hooks. Planning a combo of solid colors for the next one. There was a matching baby hat you can see on my recent Loom items post. The pattern is available here and also on Ravelry where you can see other folks finished versions. https://www.knitpicks.com/patty-cake-crocheted-cardi/p/55661
This is another keeper pattern. Crochet Cakes Baby Poncho by Crochet Crowd. I changed the main pattern stitch to back loop only double crochet, otherwise kept to their instructions. I’d seen a cute photo in a Facebook crochet group of one a grandma had made for her grandchild and had to try it. Another where the final photo was not captured as mine have wooden buttons on either side for finishing. The green is Caron One Pound Mint Green with Red Heart Super Saver Reef. The beige is a collection of mostly discontinued Jiffy print and solid yarns (Camel and Camel Spray plus one un-identified fuzzy yarn). J hook gave me larger toddler size ponchos.
These knit up pretty fast. I want to try them with larger needles and a chunkier yarn. The 4 weight Caron One Pound (Mint Green) with a 5 needle is a bit dense – which makes them not feel soft – and these are newborn size, might even be preemie. I used a stockinette instead of garter stitch for the main part.
I’m currently working a few more fast cowls but plan to get brack to more baby items soon. So, do follow the blog if it is something you want to see. I talk a bit about charities that accept hand made items and how best to ship them in my earlier blanket post https://ceodraiocht.wordpress.com/2021/12/22/catching-up/ .
Another item I made some progress this year on was hats for charity – whipped up on my handy round looms.
Baby Hats made on the red Knifty Knitter (the chunky yarn ones) and the Alimelt red looms. I’ve done the folded brim but prefer letting the rolled edge be for baby hats.Alimelt green loom, Lion Brand Pound of Love Oxford Grey, Single Crochet BLO rows for edgeLooms
Above is a selection of looms. You can see how the Alimelt yellow compares to the Knifty Knitter yellow with so many more pegs to allow knitting with a single strand of worsted weight. The long wood loom is from KnittingBoard.com, plus you see a small sock loom.
Alimelt green loom, Jiffy discontinued yarn (bulky so this hat is a bit bigger) Single Crochet BLO around edge
I did experiment with various methods I’d seen on YouTube for reducing the stitches at the top for rows before bind off, but really didn’t care for them at all. I’m much happier with just doing my best to tighten the bind off and stitch the top together.
I’d also picked up an inexpensive sock loom a bit back and have used it to make fingerless gloves.
Pound of Love Cherry, the thumb is added using a few rounds of decreasing crochet. I also prefer a crochet bind off.Knit 2 Purl 2 gives way to e-wrap stockinetteI prefer a crochet cast on (many YouTube videos show how)Caron Simply Soft Yarn Iris. These small looms are a bit more finicky to use although for the e-wrap stitch once uou get your rhythm going it’s clear sailing.By going back and forth to make the opening for the thumb, rather than the continuous round of the arm piece, you get that pattern. I’ve considered doing that part in a different color to call it out. (the color is washed out on this photo, Iris really is that deep bright purple).I label (size and yarn content) and place all items for charity in plastic bags. The yellow and green hat was knot on a Knifty Knitter loom with discontinued Deborah Norville yarn. The baby hat towards the top was done on an Alimelt loom with discontinued Jiffy Baby yarn.
For charity knitting I’m pretty set on acrylic yarn. It is so easy care and I can’t imagine saddling the less fortunate with a wool item they can’t wash and dry when they have the opportunity. Most refugee areas bring in washers and dryers on trucks (I’ve seen it here after fires) and I doubt anyone in such a situation would pull out a hat that needs special care – so they end up with basically a pot holder. There is misinformation that wool is warmer – sorry, we don’t oil wool anymore as they used to do for fishermen – so it collects water and moisture, takes forever to dry and isn’t a bit warmer as the old wives tale perpetuated by sellers of fancy wool would have you believe – all that on top of needing special care. There is now some pricey washable wool, but I hear the chemical process to get it there is not exactly earth friendly (it is believed that approximately 70% of all wool labeled as fully machine-washable is treated by the chlorine-Hercoset process, a polymer applied to the wool. see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6369147/ on the U.S. National Institute of Health website).
I’m going to do a bit of a push and see if I can get caught up posting a few of my 2021 projects before the new year. I’ve been crocheting, knitting and looming items to send to the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. They are the poorest place in the United States and, in winter, in desperate need of warm items. Every now and again I also work in something for a friend, relative or my own home.
Brights – M hook and Lion Brand Pound of Love Oxford Grey with Red Heart Super Saver Favorite Stripes, starting chain 90 to have 88 stitches
If you would like to do some charity crafting yourself, be sure to check out the Sew for Kids website https://sewforkids.wordpress.com . It lists needs and addresses to send items to under the How You Can Help tab – just click a listed reservation charity to browse its needs. Also check out Give Back Box http://givebackbox.com . They have worked with large companies to develop a program where you can ship items to charities at a significantly reduced UPS rate. At the bottom of the post there is more info on using Give Back Box.
Beige tones is a combo of Jiffy, Homespun ROCOCO, Pound of Love Antique and another discontinued yarn – starting chain 88, M hook.
I’ll start my catch up with my favorite chunky crochet blanket. It’s a Back Loop only double crochet and I’ve worked it both in 2 strands of 4 weight (worsted weight yarn) with an M crochet hook and one strand of 4 weight with one strand of sport weight and a J crochet hook. I started making it when Rescued Paw Designs was a website – she’s changed her name but the pattern and post are the same if you’d like to reference her starting chain and yarn yardage
Peachy – Lion Brand Pound of Love White with a with discontinued Red Heart Baby Sport Pompadour, J hook, starting chain 127.
The BLO DBL crochet makes an excellent squishy and very warm fabric that I just love. I change the hook size to match my yarn combo. There are all different starting chain amounts as I thought her recommended chain for a twin size was narrower than I’d like after doing the first one. Some are bed blankets and others large lap blankets. For a twin – I targeted 103 to 106 rows. I often didn’t nab good photos of the finished blankets – everything here – except my current in process Brights – has been finished. Some are for family, some donated.
Lighter Peachy – Lion Brand Pound of Love Antique White with discontinued Red Heart Baby Sport Pompadour variegated. I’d made it a bit narrower (not as much discontinued yarn) then added 6 rows of a single crochet BLO border in Pound of Love Creamsicle to make it larger. J hook
Obviously I love this blanket!
Baby Colors – J hook and discontinued Lion Brand Jiffy Print Daytona with discontinued Jiffy White, J hook. Added the single crochet BLO border to increase the blanket size (9 rows). Made to use as toddler / child size blanket.
Minty – Lion Brand Pound of Love Oxford Grey with discontinued Red Heart Baby Sport Pompadour Solids pastel green, J hook, Chain 124 to start.Fall colors is multiples of Jiffy (el paso, caffe, grass green, taupe, red) with Lion Brand Pound of Love Antique – starting chain 84, M hook.Grey and blue is discontinued Caron Dazzleaire Dark celestial blue and Pound of Love oxford gray. It’s a bit more blue and grey than the photos show – starting chain 88, M hook.Blue tones is Homespun Regency and Lion Brand Pound of Love Antique – starting chain 80, M hook.
GiveBackBox has UPS labels so you can send in kind donations to send to registered 501C3 orgs for free (if you don’t choose the charity and just wish to donate a box and let the site choose the closest charity to you accepting donations) or for just US$15.00, you can ship up to a 70 pound box to a charity you choose. There is currently a snag with the choosing charity bit where the program always prints the same tracking number. When you get your first email confirmation you need to send it back to info@givebackbox.com and ask for a new label with a unique tracking number to be sent to you and ignore the first label. It’s worth this extra step. Many of us have been successfully using this program throughout the year with the shipping savings enabling people to give so much more.
ceo a's dhraíocht 