Boxing Day CAL 2015 (charity items!)

[babypoohsmom]

Welcome Stephanie. I'm glad you found a place to get started. Soon you will find opportunities to help coming out of the woodwork and you won't be able to crochet fast enough.

And Donna, you crack me up. Last year you were Donna The Undecided. Today you are Wishy Washy! Whatever you are, you will ALWAYS be in good standing on this CAL.

I am off to a slow start due to budget loading and super bowl at work, kittens under my feet at home and my darn neck hurting all of the time. But I'll get in the game soon!

[ddc]

Well, I'm not always undecided! I absolutely certain I want to finish up with Caron One Pound project.

 

I hope your neck feels better soon. Hurting necks are the pits.

[krazycrocheter]

Wishy-washy Donna back. I've decided I'm not going to give the lapghans to co-workers, so I'm a member in good standing again.    They will still go to charities. I'm still plugging away on the second one. It's hard to get into it, because I'm not liking it very much. It's white-black-white-wider red for the repeat. It would look better if the black was next to the red, but I couldn't figure out any sequence where I would have had enough black to do that. So it is what it is. At least it will be bright and cheerful.

I know it will turn out beautiful!

 

Welcome Stephanie. I'm glad you found a place to get started. Soon you will find opportunities to help coming out of the woodwork and you won't be able to crochet fast enough.

And Donna, you crack me up. Last year you were Donna The Undecided. Today you are Wishy Washy! Whatever you are, you will ALWAYS be in good standing on this CAL.

I am off to a slow start due to budget loading and super bowl at work, kittens under my feet at home and my darn neck hurting all of the time. But I'll get in the game soon!

Praying your neck feels better soon!

[Bailey4]

Getting more of my baby doll donations posted.  Today we have Baby Doll Romper and Skirt

[darski]

Getting more of my baby doll donations posted.  Today we have Baby Doll Romper and Skirt

 

Very cute outfit. 

 

I need to expand to more of my doll sizes; it is so easy to get into the 18" doll mode when there are so many options.  Thanks for the reminder.

[sopo]

I had written St Jude's before I found out about Norman and just got their reply back today. 

 

Dear Mrs. Osborne,

 

Thank you so much for supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We truly appreciate your willingness to help the children of St. Jude. While we truly appreciate your generous offer, we are at full capacity for knitted and crocheted items. You may consider contacting St. Jude later in 2015 to see if we are accepting the knitted or crocheted items.

[Bailey4]

At least they replied with a respectful note.  It's sad when you never hear.

[sopo]

This is true. And it's good that the kids there have plenty of crochet.  

 

Question for you that make NICU hats. All the nurse said was VERY STRETCHY.  I know some border on hats are slip stitch or reverse single crochet. looks like that wouldn't be as stretchy as leaving that off. How do you end your hats? 

[krazycrocheter]

My friend who works with Red Cross gave me the number of a cordinator. Think I'm gonna make some hats and possibly a few scarves, then call her and see if they can use them!!

[ddc]

You could also check with churches to see if they have programs where crocheted items would be useful. Rescue missions might like to have hats and scarves to distribute. You could check with nursing homes or hospice programs or cancer centers. There's a program here run by one of the Presbyterian churches that helps homeless families get reestablished - I take some there. I have heard of people making children's hats and scarves for schools so they can be given to children who need them - I don't know if this is common and you might have to be tactful in your inquiries. If you knew a teacher in the school you could approach it that way.  A week or so ago I even dropped off three baby blankets I made last year at Goodwill, something I haven't done before, just because I had other stuff to take to them, I was too busy to make other stops, and really needed them out of the apartment and the trunk of my car. They sell them, of course, but the proceeds go to a good cause so I didn't feel too bad about it.

 

Sometimes it actually isn't so easy to find a place. Fortunately, I had a contact in the hospital I donate to, so that made it easy for me. The problem is that for some really well known and publicized charities, so many donate they can be overwhelmed. If you could find a less obvious place, anything you make would probably be very welcome.

[Bailey4]

Our Crochet Guild collects hats, scarves, and other warm items for charity, too.  Another place to check if you have a local chapter in your area.

[babypoohsmom]

I never thought of schools. I'll bet some kids out there could use a new hat and scarf this time of year. I was only 7 when we moved from Milwaukee to Phoenix. My first "winter" at school, I wore shorts and t-shirts as did my brothers. The school nurse called my mom to ask if we needed warm clothes. My mom got a good laugh. We had SO MANY winter clothes.

Thanks for the idea.

[sopo]

Called our schools and was told they have a hat/coat project for the kids and had plenty. I had no idea such existed but am glad..  

[pineknott]

the hat situation is still up in the air,long story short for newcomers

I have helped my daughter make hats for her churches homeless program,well last year her heart wasn't in it,and so I'm like well I'm not doing 100 hats by myself again, did that one yr.

I think this year I will do scarves for Grannie Annie's compassionate friends

[Bailey4]

Didn't get a chance to post this yesterday.  Posted the first of the 18" doll afghans for my doll donation.  The pattern came from the 2015 Crochet Calender

 

Easy Peasy Doll Afghan

[krazycrocheter]

Started a hat on Thursday! Haven't had a change to finish it yet.

[MissyAnn]

I made one cat mat this year and just started another.  Will post pics when the 2nd one is done.

[krazycrocheter]

Got my first hat done. It's small (teen). Gonna call the disaster cordinator my friend told me about on Monday. I'll let you know what she says.

 

[babypoohsmom]

Good job Krazy! What color is it? On my screen it looks purple in the middle but grayish on the edges, which I am sure is from lighting or a flash. I need to remember to drop a hook size once in awhile to make some slightly smaller hats for teens.

Bailey, adorable as always!

And Missy, how do you do your cat mats? I do mine with 3 strands of yarn and a big hook, all sc. Super easy to do while watching tv because you don't really have to pay attention to anything.

 

Tonight I finished a dish cloth I started at the doctor last week. I might give some to the shelter this Christmas. They participate in a Christmas boutique in the posh part of Scottsdale. Last year I gave them a bunch of cats beds. I guess I should find out if they sold or not.

[babypoohsmom]

A friend at work who knits gives me her leftover bits for my cat mats. In the last bag she gave me, there was a very large ball of this pretty navy blue with colored flecks in it. I double checked with her, and she said she did not want it. I made this hat and have enough for another one. She buys very nice yarn, but I don't know the brand.

Good grief, this is an awful picture. I'll try to take a new one tomorrow with some sunlight. On my screen it looks nearly black.

[sopo]

I have finished 8 preemie hats so far. And what took way longer than that was going through my scraps and making yarn balls   but tomorrow I have to go sit at the Ford dealership for a recall. They aren't wanting to give me a rental and if they can finish it in a day, I figure I can sit there and crochet a ton of hats. My pile of loose ends was such a mess, couldn't take it that way. lol  So, we'll see what I get done and I'll post a pic later on.

[ddc]

Stephanie, the charity world owes a lot to car dealerships! I spent several days at one in December, and I wasn't the only one playing with yarn. I hope you can get a lot done. 

 

My crocheting is going to slow down. At least compared to last year. It's been creeping since Christmas. I am just really burned out on it, I think. But I've made a bargain with myself. If I crochet while I drink my leisurely cup of morning tea, I can cross stitch the rest of the time. I ordered some great new patterns from the UK on ebay yesterday, and when they come, I'm going to start one of those. At least that will keep plugging away slowly at the stash. I should be able to finish up the current lapghan this week.

[krazycrocheter]

The hat is all grey. Sorry for my bad picture. My sister's the Photographer, not me.

[cshort]

Those are nice hats. It sounds like you are all staying very busy.

[babypoohsmom]

Stephanie, no need to apologize, did you see MY PHOTO? It was the worst, but after the Packer game which had me biting my nails, I had to run a ton of errands and when I got home it was time for dinner, etc, so i didn't get to take a new picture. I hate waiting at car dealerships. Good luck to you.

One of the (cough cough) errands I had to run was to Joann's. They had fleece 75% off and there was a coupon for 15% off of your purchase. When I got to the check out, I realized that the extra 15% off wasn't until the 16th, but the cashier knows me well (since I am there at least once a week) and said I could get 20% off if I signed up for texts. I got 9 yards of fleece and 7 remnants for under $30. But alas, it is hiding in my car to avoid divorce.

The remnants were so cheap. The fleece that is regular $9.99 was 75% off, so $2.50 a yard. Remnants were 75% off the sale price, so a one yard remnant was about 70 cents. So really, I HAD to buy them, right?

This is what I use to make the cat beds.