Knitting for Peace

Every quarter, Loving Hands sets challenges for members who wish to participate.  It's not compulsory, but it does sometimes act as a means of publicising the needs of different charities.  The charity Knit for Peace are able to send items to Syrian refugees who are sheltering in Kurdistan, and given that winter weather will soon be on us, these people with inadequate shelter will need all the warm clothes and bedding they can get.

Two items that I have finished off may help.  First, I've made a stash busting baby blanket from squares:

It's about 30 inches by 36, just the size to wrap a little one in.  

The second make was an adult hat with a spiral pattern.  I have seen this Hurricane hat pattern on Ravelry for a long time, but assumed it would be complex to keep the the spiral going.  In fact, it is stunningly simple to do - by having 81 stitches, and knitting a pattern repeat of 10 stitches  (9 knit stitches and 1 purl), the odd stitch moves the raised purl stitch each round into a spiral:

I think that it is really effective as a design.  The one pictured was made with 1 strand of dk and one strand of 4 ply on size 5.00 circulars, and it fits me well.  I changed to dpns for the decreases because I find them easier than magic loop. I will be making more of these hats!

Dusting off the sewing machine

What miserable weather we are having at present!  It has rained all day, and the temperature is 59 degrees - more like October than August.  Strangely on days like this I sometimes decide to do some sewing.  My mum was an excellent seamstress, and I grew up watching her at her sewing machine, making clothes for us and doing alterations to clothes for friends and neighbours.  I'm not in her league, but I can cope with simple patterns.

In my window box seat, where I keep my sewing stash, I found a couple of old shirts of my son's.  They were too good to throw out but no good for a charity shop because they were ripped on the sleeves.  I found a pattern for a pair of child's shorts, and repurposed a striped shirt into some cotton shorts to fit a four year old.  I enjoyed the pattern so much that I made a second pair out of a piece of blue fabric left over from a skirt I made a while back.

By now I was on a roll, so I pulled out my favourite girl's pattern and made a little tie-top dress.  The fabric comes from a duvet set I found in an RSPCA charity shop.  It is really versatile, with patterned and plain sections in pink and purple, hence the two-tone effect.

I've left the sewing machine out - I wonder whether I will feel like dong some more sewing tomorrow?

Butterfly boxes

Recently I joined a local crafting group, and we've been making butterflies for a local charity, Towards Tomorrow Together. This is a charity that supports families in Somerset who have lost a baby, and one of the ways in which they do so is by providing them with a butterfly box.  They appealed for one thousand knitted or crochet butterflies to go in their boxes.

These are the ones I have made.  They are mostly 4 ply, and have been a great way of using small amounts of colours left over from other projects.  We are hoping to have a shoe-box full when we meet up tomorrow night to deliver to the charity.