Worry Monsters

In the world we live in, children sometimes have concerns and worries that make them anxious and stressed.  They can become fearful and obsessed with things that might happen but in reality are most unlikely to happen.  The Worry Monster is a soft toy with a zipped mouth that can 'eat' their worries if they either write them or draw them on paper and feed them to the monster, then firmly close the zip.

Knit for Nowt, the Yorkshire based charity that Loving Hands supports, has been asked for these worry monsters by people who work with children, so this week I had my first attempt at making them.

Meet Humpty.  He's made of fleece offcuts in green and purple, with a red pocket for a mouth, which can be firmly closed with a black zip.  His nose and eyes are buttons sourced from the Scrapstore (I especially like the nose button!), and his eyebrows make him look rather worried himself.  I called him Humpty because he reminded me of a stuffed toy of that name who featured in a long-running BBC children's programme called Play School. I remember watching it as a child, and also watching it with my own children twenty-odd years later.

 There was more fleece left, so he acquired a big brother, Dumpty.  I gave Dumpty a bow-tie made from one of my husband's discarded ties.  By placing his features a bit lower, he looks an altogether less stressed monster!

They will be going off to Knit for Nowt along with the dragon hand puppets.

Hot off the hook

This morning at my knitting group I finished off blanket number 6 for this year.  Every other Tuesday a small group of us meet up to knit, natter, drink coffee and eat cake provided by Carole, whose Guest House we meet in.

The others all knit, but sometimes I crochet, and this morning I was able to finish off my very colourful lap blanket.

It was made using a pattern called Twilight Shells, which I found via Ravelry.
Altogether there are twelve different colours of double knitting yarn, using 3 different shades of purple, orange, green and blue.  The main part came up a little smaller in width than I had expected, so I plumped for a wide border.  There are 12 rows of half trebles, which give the blanket a nice solid edge.  I tried doing a final row of shells around the outside of the border, but I wasn't sure about them.  The consensus of the knitting group was that a plain edge was the better option, so the shells were pulled out.

This one will be going to Chemogiftbags, to be donated to someone undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.