A bit of sewing for a change

I don't do a lot of sewing, but sometimes Loving Hands is asked for sewn items and the challenge of making them appeals to me.

The Neonatal Sister at University Hospital Coventry and Warwick asked for some small drawstring bags  to hold memory items for bereaved parents.  Without the bags, parents would have to take their precious items home in a paper bag.  Among the fabric stash I found some Peter Rabbit fabric and a small piece with nursery animals on.  These two pieces made eight bags, which will be sent off later this week.  Other Loving Hands members have made some bags too, so hopefully we can keep the hospital supplied on a long term basis.  

I've also enjoyed myself making some hand puppets.  The charity Knit for Nowt supplies family puppets (which can be either sewn or knitted) to social workers and therapists for use with children.  The puppets have two faces, one happy and one sad, to enable children to express emotions that they may not otherwise be able to show.

So far I have made four puppets: Mum, Grandma, Girl and Boy.  Grandad is under construction, and Dad is at the cutting-out stage!

Can you spot the differences between the two photos???

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.

Here be dragons with woolly scales

Scary times in the front room, and those of a nervous disposition should look away now!  A pair of dragons have taken up residence, and are having a fine old time attacking each other.

When my boys were small, they loved putting on puppet shows.  I made them a little puppet theatre out of an old clothes horse, and they built up quite a collection of different puppets.  No matter which puppets were used, though, the shows always seemed to end with a fight to the death.

When Clare from Knit for Nowt mentioned in her newsletter that they wanted scary puppets, I remembered the fun we had, and set out to make some.  I found this dragon puppet pattern  by Michelle Dickson via Ravelry, and used it as the basis for mine.  I changed it by doing the back of the dragon in crocodile stitch to make woolly scales, and making the snout a little more shaped and longer.  The green one was the first off the hook:

I used different oddments of coned yarn to get a variegated green.  Its mouth is made from red glittery yarn, and its big scary teeth are gleaming white.  A forked black tongue and black and white buttons or eyes finish it off.

The second one was made of purple and blue variegated yarn with a glittery thread running through:

This one is clearly a different species because it doesn't have a tongue, and it has green eyes which make it look a bit shortsighted.

Which one do you think is the scarier?  For me, it's the green one, because he sneaks up on the purple one from behind!

Now they need names.  Any suggestions?

The year of the blanket?

Last year I concentrated on making jumpers and hats, with the odd blanket thrown into the mix now and again.  This year, though, it seems that there is a huge demand for blankets from different charities, so I think that 2017 will be the year of the blanket.

I'm making and sending blankets to four groups in particular:

Operation Orphan 

This charity runs its Keep a Child Warm campaign, providing blankets and warm clothing to impoverished families in Eastern Europe.  They deliver the items themselves, and eighteen months ago one of our Loving Hands members, Julia Odie, went with them to Moldova.  Her fascinating account of her trip can be read here. It is so good to know that the items we make go directly to where they are needed.

Knit for Nowt

This charity collects warm knitted items and distributes them via social workers and other agencies to families and individuals that need them in East Yorkshire.  Clare, who runs the charity, is an amazing lady who clearly values all the hand made items she receives, and again, she lets you know where your donations have ended up.  

Chemogiftbags

This charity provides a pamper gift bag, a heart-shaped cushion and a lap blanket to people in Berkshire who are undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.  I have close relatives who live in the Reading area, so I am happy to offer support to Lynne, who runs the charity and who has been through breast cancer herself.

Sixty Million Trebles

Did you know that the UN estimates that there are over 60 million refugees in the world currently?  Actually the figure is probably nearer to 65 million at the moment.  That's a huge number of people displaced from their homes by war, hunger or persecution.  A lady named Ellen Roche (no relation) came up with the idea of producing a massive blanket containing 60 million treble crochet stitches to draw attention to the plight of refugees worldwide, then dismantling it into its constituent 36 inch square blankets, and giving them to charities in the UK and abroad that support refugees.  I must admit that I thought long and hard before deciding to make blankets for this group, because to have so many completed blankets sitting around when there is such need seems a bit perverse.  But I accept that the publicity aspect is important, and the plan is to have the huge blanket made and then dismantled by the end of the summer, so that the blankets can be distributed in time for next winter.  So far almost 20 million trebles have been made for this cause - one stitch one life.

And my latest effort:

 This is the blanket I am currently working on.  It is a Red Heart pattern called Twilight Shells Throw, and I found it via Ravelry.  I am making it in double knit with a 4.5mm hook, and using 12 different colours (yes, I already had all of them in my stash!).  Although it looks like a ripple pattern, in fact it is made by crocheting a row of shells the right way up followed by a row of shells upside down.

This will be a lap blanket for Chemogiftbags; I'm hoping that its cheery colours will give some comfort to the recipient.

One cosy striped blanket

I don't know what the weather has been like where you are, but here in Somerset it has been really cold for the past few days.  As I'm typing this, I am looking over a lawn that is white with frost.  Although it will be beautifully sunny today, the temperature is forecast not to rise over three degrees. I've been quite happy to have this blanket across my lap for the past couple of weeks as it has gradually been getting longer.  It finally grew to be single bed size, and so I finished it off with a simple border of one round of treble crochet and one row of double crochet:

I like its cheery appearance and also how heavy it is, as it has been made with aran equivalent yarn and weighs in at almost 1.2 kilos, so it really has made an impact on my stash.  This is, of course, not a justification to buy more, I have to keep reminding myself.

This is the first time I have made such a large blanket in one piece; normally I make smaller lap blankets or larger blankets from squares which are then sewn together.  I was very pleased with the speed with which it grew; choosing a new colour every other row somehow kept my interest and even the ends to be darned in did't put me off as I disciplined myself to do them every 10 changes or so.

This blanket will be going off to Knit for Nowt, a charity based in Yorkshire and supported by Loving Hands, who have asked for single bed sized blankets for this winter.  

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