Sunday, January 29, 2017

A home for my woollen charity projects

I made a really exciting discovery this week. My fortnightly Yak and Yarn charity crochet group meeting was coming up. This always spurs me onwards to activity so that I can go to the meeting with something to contribute: a new pattern for us to try out, some completed products to donate... you get the idea.

 



Anyway, we have a sweet new member who is super keen and getting through my donated yarn stash at high speed. The softest acrylic is almost gone and there is just the itchy type left. I have an issue with working with it. I'm not quite sure how I become so sensitive to scratchy yarn but I do think that some of it is related to living in a warmer climate. When it's humid and you're feeling a little hot the fibers do chafe. I've gone soft since I moved to Texas. Another theory of mine is that I have been exposed to far too much gorgeously soft wool in the yarn store where I teach. Soft AND spoilt!

I do have some donated wool in my stash but the local charities we crochet for prefer items that are machine washable. My wool is hand wash only. But this week I found a charity, the Warm Hands Network, that actually prefers wool because it's warmer. The projects go mostly to Northern Canadian children. There is a Ravelry group too which of course I've joined. The garment I was talking about last week has been put to one side and I've started on a blanket of approximately 36" x 36" dimensions.

I do adore the bobble blanket that I made back here and I found this diagonal bobble striped blanket on Ravelry: The Blackberry Salad Striped Baby Blanket by the rather marvellous Tamara Kelly of the Moogly Blog. I'm guesstimating about having equal quantities of orange and brown colors. I should really just make the calculation and figure out how much I need but I'm missing a yarn label or two and I find it oddly entertaining examining the yarn as I go along wondering if I have sufficient. We all have our quirks! The bobble stitch pattern IS rather yarn hungry and when I look at the picture above it doesn't seem to add up. I may need to supplement to complete it but that's OK. And time is on my side because there are two main shipment dates and I can't possibly make the closest date Jan 30th.

I'd love to know if you know of another charity that accepts wool and/or if you have a charity project on the go... just comment below! Have a wonderful week y'all!

4 comments:

Nicole said...

Hi there! I just found your blog and subscribed, it looks delightful. :) As for your question about a charity that accepts wool, I highly recommend Wool Aid. It's based on Ravelry, and it's made up of knitters who used to knit for Warm Woolies. Check it out: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/wool-aid

As for me, I'm currently working on some cute turtle coasters. I'm planning to donate them to Made4Aid.org , which sells handmade creations and donates the proceeds to Doctors Without Borders.

Good to "meet" you! And thanks for the tip about the Warm Hands Network, I look forward to reading about them!

Tamara said...

Thank you for your kind words Nicole. I'm glad you found my blog and hope you enjoy it!

I will definitely check out Wool Aid on Ravelry. Thank you for letting me know. And I've just been looking at your website too - looks like a great charity crafting resource!

Jodiebodie said...

I'm glad there is a charity that takes wool and for the right reasons. Sure, wool might need hand washing, but for something small like mittens, it isn't too hard. It just means we have to crochet and knit double time so every person can get two pairs of mittens so they have a spare pair when the other is being washed.

I'm also glad to learn from Nicole (hi Nicole!) of another charity that supports Doctors Without Borders and that it does it with hand made items. I will look into that too. :-)

Tamara said...

I was so happy that I could make charity items with my donated hand wash yarn. Perhaps I should have stuck to something smaller like mittens, as you suggested Jodie, because my bobble blanket is taking quite some time but progress is steady. I'll get there!

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