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2023 Boxing Day CAL ~ share your charity


babypoohsmom

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Is it 2023 already? Welcome! 

The Boxing Day CAL is where we share charity work in the form of crochet, knitting, sewing, volunteer time, or whatever else you do. We celebrate contributions to people and animal charities. Please take a minute to post your favorite charities and how you support them. I’m not sure how long the Boxing Day CAL has been around and I can’t really remember how long I have been “hosting” it, but I do remember a lot of the amazing shares! You might end up being moved by some of the stories and motivated to try something new! 
This CAL was named after Boxing Day because of its history of being a day to help others. Loads of theories on how long it has been celebrated and it’s exact origin, but we keep using the name because it’s just a fun tradition now. Most of us live in the states and Boxing Day is not commonly known, but that just makes it that much more fun and unique. 
Thank you so much for stopping in if you are new to us, and welcome back to the long-timers. I have high hopes for 2023! 
Ready….and go! 

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Looking forward to 2023!!!!

I primarily crochet doll clothes for a local tech high's school's Christmas "holiday" drive called Aztec Wishes.  Many of us have been participating for some time now.  Soon I will have been at this long enough that the kids running the program won't have been in Kindergarten since I've been working with the Business department on it.

Basically the Business Program of the local tech high school has to write a business plan to meet the needs of a local charity and it gets approved by the head of the vocational/technical programs.  They get a list of needs of local families in the area and then they have to find a way to get what the families need working with the school and the community.

What is special about this program is all toy drives help families and children who won't otherwise get toys at Christmas. Many like this one include family needs.

This is unique because it encourages the business students to figure out how to meet those needs.  This past year they worked with the auto shop to raise funds for the project.  While most students reach out to family, friends and neighbors, these kids have the unique experience of knowing their cause is appreciated and supported by people across the country.  In some years we even crossed across our countries borders.  That is something most high school students can never say they've experienced, especially for something that is generally considered a local project.  It is thanks to all of you they have this experience.  It is thanks to you that the children in this area don't just get dolls but they have some of the finest dressed dolls any child has ever owned!!

Our part over the years with the help of Crochetville members we've been providing dolls, clothing, and accessories of all shapes and sizes.  Over the years we've added crocheted food, and lovies as people have had an interest in donating them. There are a range of ages, sizes, and needs so lots of stuff is needed. 

Dolls have included all types of baby dolls, Barbies, 18" dolls (American Girl Substitutes, My Life, Our Generation), Glitter Girls,Rag Dolls, and we have had a variety of others that people have donated.  We are open to all.  My one request is if you choose to donate I try to avoid celebrities as  some parents are fine with X celebrity others won't let the child play with X celebrity and then Christmas is not so much fun when Mom won't let the child have the present. 

I've been asked about multicultural dolls.  In this area the greatest need for multicultural dolls is for Hispanic dolls and often the most challenging to find on sale.  If you feel motivated to send them, they are most welcome.

Other than the actual dolls we really need anything you can make for the dolls.

I'm putting this at the top because it is a great free pattern resource if you choose to participate or not and it includes patterns for a variety of doll sizes. 

Darski's Pattern List

Baby dolls:

Clothing Lots to Love 8" Doll, Lil Cutesies 8.5" Doll, Lots to Love 10" Doll, Lots to Love 14" Doll, JC 16" Baby Doll

Carriers for any size doll Moses baskets, etc. I'm making some for the small dolls but I can't make them for the larger dolls anymore

Moses Basket Free Pattern for Large Dolls

My personal edits to the Basket pattern to fit the 16 Inch Baby Doll can be found here.

I generally use three acrylic jumbo sized skeins either Red Heart Super Saver or Caron Pounders.  You can use the smaller Red Heart but you risk playing chicken at the end finishing the basket.

Diaper Bags sewn or crocheted to hold all the doll accessories

Blankets:

20" Squares

We send all the dolls with blankets so we never have to many.  Any extras go with stuffed animals that come in for the drive so we can use lots of doll blankets.  Any patterns works they don't have to be squares, rectangles work but we want all of them to be large enough to fit the 18" dolls so we settled on the 20" square as a general sizing for people to aim for any pattern works.  My one suggestion is to stick with wash and wear yarn as I doubt these will be hand washed so acrylic works really well.  These are great scrap projects.
 

18" Dolls:

We have 3 My Life Dolls for next year to dress and accessorize.

We have 1 Girl Our Generation Doll and One Boy.  I've been acquiring boy patterns for years so it seemed like it would be worth trying a boy doll when Target had them on sale.

Along with the free patterns listed in Darski's here are some others I've found over the years for the donation

American Girl Flamenco This is one of my favorites quick, easy and it can be adapted to the baby doll and the rag doll

Bubble Skirt (this site has quite a few free 18" patterns)

Doll Skirt

Dress with Ribbed Waist

Gore Rib Effect Skirt

Mock Turtleneck Sweater

If any of you like using the Knifty Knitter the Blue One (or what ever color is designated for babies in your set) will generally fit the 18" dolls.  You can use the basic hat pattern or try something else you enjoy for hats but it works for the dolls.  I haven't done one in a bit but they make a nice winter accessory for the dolls and look great with a sweater set.

Glitter Girl:

Glitter Girl Dolls can wear Wellie Wisher Patterns. 

Barbie:

I added Barbie back in a few years ago.  We have been sending Barbie, Ken, Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea.  Clothing has gottten to be a bit more tricky because if you haven't bought a Barbie series doll in a while the sizes change and even the current sizes keep changing but I'm open to anyone trying to help.  If you want to buy and dress a doll that is also welcome.

Accessories are also an option.  I'm hoping to try sleeping bags for the family this year. 

If you live near a Dollar Tree they often have Barbie accessories like shoes and furniture from time to time.  They often get cleaned out here as I don't get to the stores often.  I try to check them out when I buy holiday cards.

If you have any questions feel free to post them or message me.  There are enough of us that have been at this a while that someone is likely to have an answer even if I don't jump in right away.  If you enjoy making doll clothes this is a fun project to get involved with and the big and little kids really do appreciate your work.

If you do end up sending clothes I ask that you bag them and label them as to which doll they fit.  If you wish to include a picture with the outfit on a doll that is a bonus as I can't tell you how many times I've put the outfit on wrong.  I'm no fashion expert.

 

Edited by Bailey4
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Good Morning.  I am looking thru my stash to see what colors I have to make more dolls cloths for Bailey4's charity and to see what other dolls I have to dress.  I am also hoping to make some carriers for the dolls, but we shall see.

Babypoohsmom, thanks for keeping this going.  It really pushes me to knit and crochet.

Edited by Tampa Doll
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Tampa, aren’t you the one who made me the Crochetville bag? Because I see you have a bag in your signature line. Did you gift one to yourself?  
Glad to “host”. I don’t have time for much else here on the Ville and I’ve really become attached to everyone! 

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10 hours ago, babypoohsmom said:

Tampa, aren’t you the one who made me the Crochetville bag? Because I see you have a bag in your signature line. Did you gift one to yourself?  
Glad to “host”. I don’t have time for much else here on the Ville and I’ve really become attached to everyone! 

Yes I did make you one and I do have a Crochetville Bag and no I did not give myself one.  bgs took her bag counted all the stitches and even on the pocket and made me one.  The funny thing is I would of given her the graph no questions asked.  But bgs wanted to give me one as a surprise, hence the 100A.  It sits next to me in my corner.

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I never knew that.  What an awesome surprise!!!

Well I finished my first item for the 2023 doll donation.  I'm trying to get some of the smaller accessory type items out of the way before starting on dresses so I don't forget them.

Lots to Love 10" Doll Moses Basket

So far I'm working on killing of scraps and yarn that has outlived its rental space here.  Certain colors are just standard and I constantly replace as I run out but even some of those I have in yarn bobbins or small balls that need to go this year.

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Tampa and Brenda, that is a great story. What a great surprise, certainly a labor of love to count all of the stitches. If I remember correctly, mine was in mailbox limbo for a few days after Tampa got the delivery confirmation. I think our key broke off or something and the post office picked up our mail then re-delivered it in one of the big boxes. It was high drama at the time but now I hardly remember the details. All of life’s frustrations should fade away like that! 
Bailey, I printed the Moses basket pattern for my friend at work. Do you use cotton yarn? The pattern says 12 skeins and I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw that but then I figured cotton was smaller skeins. I have tons of regular acrylic if that’s ok. I think 3 strands of cotton held together would get dirty faster and take forever to dry! She’s getting itchy because she doesn’t have something to do. She’s the one who made the Harry Potter clothes. 
While I was on ravelry, I printed out a cute dishcloth pattern and an easy mouse cat toy pattern. I forgot how addicting the pattern section can be. 
BTW, on Christmas when I was working traffic for the Cardinals game, a lady left a suitcase on the sidewalk across from me. I waited about an hour then called a supervisor. The bomb squad was called and while they were getting all of their ghostbuster toys ready, the lady came back. She was homeless and was “collecting rocks” to paint and sell. So the bomb squad was able to stand down. On Tuesday back at work, I found out that the bomb squad was kind of bummed that they were called off because they wanted to try their new equipment. Never a dull day working traffic. 

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Sorry did not mean to laugh babypoohsmom, but the story about the bomb squad was funny.  Men are just little boys with bigger toys.:rofl

Wow you get to work the Cardinal's games?  That is so cool.

Well off to try to go to sleep.  Have a good night.

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10 hours ago, bgs said:

Here are Chris'  notes on her blog about the carrier.  She noted that she used 3 skeins same color of Red Heart Super Saver.  She also made notes of adjustments she made in order to get the right size.

Thanks for posting the notes.  I was so thrilled I remembered to post the pattern I forget I end up adapting stuff.  It is actually why year after year I continue to post the "notes" because I do forget and I hope anyone else who wants to try something might benefit from what I tried and decide if it works for them, too.

I have never made them with cotton.  The acrylic works fine and holds the shape without any issue. It does take 3 skeins worked together to make one.  I suggest the larger jumbo skeins if you can get them as you can end up playing chicken with the standard Red Heart skeins if anything is off.  It does leave you with left overs but they work into other things.  I'm still working off pink balls left over from the last one I made but it is better than getting to the end and realizing you just don't have quite enough. 

Tell your friend thank you from the bottom of my heart and I would love to have her address to add to the thank you notes list for the kids to mail out to next year.

Last year I started off with a beach theme for the donation dolls and every doll got a bathing suit.  This year I saw an Adoring dolls pattern for camping and that got me started down another themed road.

I found a free Barbie pattern so I started there as I figured it would be a quick finish.

Barbie Sleeping Bag

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Chris great idea putting all the info at the beginning of this thread for us to refer back to.  I have appreciated how you make the notes for your projects on your blog.  It is a big help having pattern links, changes you made and your comments about the project.

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Thanks to both of you for the notes and info. I gave the pattern to my friend along with some yarn today but I didn’t give her enough yarn. I’ll have to try again to find some appropriate sized skeins for her this weekend. 
As for my Cardinals gig…it’s not glamorous, it’s traffic duty. My post on Christmas was about 2 miles from the stadium. (Back in October I was right next to the stadium and they did a F-35 fly by which was AMAZING). Close to the stadium you deal with drunk pedestrians, in the remote posts, you deal with stupid drivers, but it’s good money. Here is my “office” for the last game…

 

BD4DF72C-066B-470F-96DF-FF52E3B3171A.jpeg

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Of all places I found the middle sized Barbie dolls Stacie and Skipper on sale at Macy's of all places.  I'm going with a camping theme for the dolls this year and I found the camping dolls on sale. 

I'm waiting to see if I can find the Ken and Barbie versions on sale as the accessories are decent for both dolls.  Not as interested in the Chelsea version as I've already made her a sleeping bag and found her a backpack from Dollar Tree.  The Camping Chelsea doesn't have many additional accessories beyond her sleeping bag so I think I'll continue on with the one I have on hand for her this year's donation.

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So glad to join this CAL for 2023! Most of my crocheting is for charity and the main one is Warmth for Warriors. Each year hats and mini Christmas stockings are made for our troops and other Veterans' needs. I have linked to their website directly and they do have a Facebook page where they post activities and donations. There is a Warmth for Warriors Ravelry group that I head up that is pretty active too.

I also do crocheting for my local Veteran's Outreach program. They always need hats, blankets, lapghans, scarves and other items for our VA hospital in Spokane and other area programs for our Vets. Anyway that's a few of the things I will be crafting for during this CAL for 2023.

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Now for the star of the diaper bags....the doll diapers.  The cloth ones are so much more practical for the dolls because they are reusable.  I still remember trying to hunt down the plastic disposable ones for my nieces cabbage patch dolls.  While technically they could have been used the Velcro constantly ripped making them generally a one and done prospect.

16 inch Baby Doll Diaper

One down 3 to go

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