Darla Fanton

Archive for the ‘Charity Crochet’ Category

I kept several things in mind when I was designing this block. I wanted a stitch pattern that I could easily put down and pick back up. Something I could crochet pretty much by feel since it was possible I would be working on it in dimly lit locations. Since it was for a baby afghan I didn’t want a lot of very open spaces for tiny toes and fingers to get caught. (Photo included in yesterday’s post.)

This is still a work in progress so I have not included finishing instructions. I’m not sure yet how I will finish it. That will be determined after I’ve completed the blocks and discover how much and what color yarn I have left. I think I will make 25 blocks - but that is also subject to change. I will let you know how it turns out, but I’m not sure when that will be.

Finished Size of Block (before edging): 7″ x 9″

Materials for one block:
Worsted weight (#4) yarn
approximately 20 yds Color A
approximately 18 yds each Colors B & C
Size I (5.5 mm) crochet hook

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
exsc = extended single crochet - insert hook in designated chain or space, yarn over and draw loop through; yarn over and draw through one loop on hook; yarn over and draw through both loops remaining on hook

Note - Carry unused colors along side edge until needed.

Row 1: With Color A, ch 27; exsc in 3rd ch from hook; *ch 1, skip 1 ch, exsc in next ch; repeat from * across, changing to Color B when drawing through last two loops of final stitch. (13 exsc)

Row 2: Turn, ch 2; *exsc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, skip next st; repeat from * across, ending, exsc in top of turning ch, changing to next color when drawing through final two loops of stitch. (13 exsc)

Rows 3 - 28: Repeat Row 2. Fasten off all colors.

In an earlier post I mentioned that during my travels I work on charity crochet projects. They are usually small projects that are easy to pick up, don’t require a lot of concentration, use up stash yarn (providing an excuse to buy more) and hopefully give the recipient as much joy in the receiving as I had in the making.

Since I will soon be on the way to the Orlando Needlework Show, it was time to rummage in the yarn stash and organize the next project. The Portland CGOA Chapter, Always in Stitches, is making children’s afghans as our Community Project, so I will be working on easily portable 7″ x 9″ blocks. I’ve made a number of these blocks already using various pattern stitches and bright colors and my “always ready to go on a moment’s notice” bag was a little light on yarn.

Sorting through one of the boxes of stash yarn I came across some in white, pastels and a variegated pastel. Perfect for a baby afghan. Plus it provides an excuse for me to work with variegated yarn. You see, I have a fondness for variegated yarn. Always have had. Can’t explain it. Not even going to try to analyze it. I just love working with the stuff.

When designing with variegated yarns I always do a lot of swatching. They can be challenging to work with. Sometimes the color changes create a pleasing pattern all by themselves - sometimes they don’t! I try different approaches….maybe working in the round instead of rows or trying different stitches. Sometimes a small change is all it takes to make a big difference. Another thing that can make a big difference is the solid colors used with the variegated. This project provides an opportunity to illustrate the impact a surrounding color can have.

I have an additional challenge with this project. This is a discontinued yarn, so I’m pretty much limited to what I have in my stash. I could work solid color blocks and edge them with the variegated. But I only have 1 full plus 1 partial skein of variegated (and another partial skein in a different dye lot - How did that happen?). I’m pretty sure that won’t be enough to do the edging and joining. Plus the difference in dye lot of that “odd one” would be too noticeable if I had to add it in right next to the main variegated. I’ve decided to use the variegated by working with three colors per block. I’ll alternate 1 row of variegated with a row each of two other colors and see how many blocks I get. Then I’ll decide if I’m going to do some solid color blocks or some additional blocks of 3 color stripes or…..?

I worked a couple of blocks while I was deciding on an easy stitch pattern. You can see how different this variegated yarn looks just by changing the second color from pink to blue. In both blocks I started with the variegated, the 2nd row is a solid color and the 3rd row is white, repeat that sequence ending with a variegated row. I’m sure changing the second color to yellow will give yet a different look.

This post is getting rather long, so I’ll pop in tomorrow and share the pattern for this block in case you want to crochet a similar charity afghan from your stash yarn. I’m sure somebody in your community would welcome a warm blankie. If you aren’t sure who could use your afghan you might want to start by checking to see if there is a Project Linus Chapter near you.

I’m so pleased that Portland finally has a local Crochet Guild of America chapter! Always in Stitches formed in April and I attended my first meeting last Saturday. I know I would have enjoyed attending earlier meetings but this was the first time since April when I was actually in Portland on the second Saturday!

We were a rather small group of seven (it is summer vacation time after all) but that certainly didn’t stop us from having a large amount of fun. We decided our charity project would be making colorful afghans for the children who pass through the Tigard Good Neighbor Center. We all know how comforting it is to snuggle up in a crocheted afghan of your very own.

During Show ‘n Tell we admired the preemie afghan Angela made for charity. In this photo she is getting ready to add the last couple of rounds. I love the combination of the variegated and the white.

Then we petted and patted just a tiny portion of Bonnie Pierce’s yarn stash and passed around her freeform purse as well. Yes, we let her go home with the contents of her purse and all of her yarn, but we were tempted! Actually I was tempted to ask her to let me keep the purse…never mind the contents or the yarn.  I have a fairly large yarn stash of my own - what I don’t have is a freeform purse!

We meet the second Saturday of the month from 2 - 4 PM at JoAnn Fabric and Crafts in Tigard, OR. Visitors are always welcome. Stop by for some crochet fun and conversation.

As I mentioned - I had a long wait at the airport on my return from San Diego. But the four hours went pretty quickly as I started a rust and tan scarf. At this point I didn’t know where the scarf was destined for. I just knew that I was enjoying making it and was sure it would find a good home.

The ten days at home between trips were full of activity. Teaching two classes at the Knitting Bee, assembling supplies and printing class hand-outs for the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat, catching up on mail, un-packing and re-packing the suitcases.

This trip I’m driving, so no crocheting in route. I throw my nearly finished rust/tan scarf in the car along with a couple more skeins of stash yarn. Yes, there will be a marketplace where I can buy yarn at the Retreat. But I’m arriving on Wednesday and the market doesn’t open until Thursday. What if I run out of yarn Wednesday night? Possibly only another crocheter or knitter knows what kind of potential panic I’m talking about here! Okay, so I didn’t finish the scarf Wednesday night. But it could have happened!

I check the schedule of events. Thursday evening: Charity Knit-In and Giving Back - Special Presentations by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Diane Formoso, Caring for Kids. I know my rust and tan scarf is going to stay in Tacoma for Diane’s kids. I finish crocheting the scarf during her presentation. I have yarn left over. I wonder, is it enough for a hat to match? I might as well start one and see. Well, as it turns out, not quite enough. But if I take out a few rows, add in the green that I brought along, and then go back to the rust and tan it will work.

One more evening of the Retreat left, so I start a green/green tweed scarf. Where will this one go? I have no idea yet. But I’m sure it will find a good home too.

I’m sorry I don’t have photos of either scarf or the hat. I didn’t take my camera with me on either of these trips. When I got home I did take a photo of the beginning of the green scarf along with another Pony cabled double-ended hook in it’s package. I’ve worked some of the stitches off the hook at this point and turned part of the scarf to the other side to give you an idea how the two sides look. This scarf measures about 62″ which might give you some idea of the number of stitches resting on the cable.

Thank you for staying with me as I’ve been learning to insert links and add photos to my blogging adventure. I’ll share a little more about my January travels with you in the next couple of installments.

Once I decided on crocheting for charity during my travels I remembered reading there would be a collection box for The Red Scarf Project at TNNA. A quick look at the website and I knew this was the project for my first trip. A visit to my yarn stash produced a partial skein of red/tan tweed and not quite a full skein of matching red. Maybe I’d better grab that partial skein of tan too. Their guidelines said the scarf should be about 60″ long and 5″ to 8″ wide. This will be the perfect time to try out my new Pony cabled double-ended crochet hook. I’ll work the scarf vertically, alternating red and the tweed. After working a couple of inches if it looks like I might run out of yarn before it is 5″ wide, I’ll add in some tan. Hmmm, what if I have time to make more than one scarf? Maybe I better take that skein of rust with me too.

Friday morning sitting at the airport I chain around 250 with the red and load the hook with loops. I turn the hook and work off the loops with the tweed and load the hook with tweed loops. As I turn the hook, ready to work off with red, a lady sitting across from me catches my eye and says, “At first, I thought you were knitting, but now I’m not sure.” It is a comment I hear often. Double Hook crochet, which also goes by names such as Crochet on the Double(TM), Cro-hook(TM), Cro-knit and Crochenit(TM), combines aspects of both knitting and crochet. When worked with more than one color it produces a fabric with a different predominate color on each side. I particularly enjoy the soothing, repetitive, rhythm of picking up all the stitches and then working them off.

In case you are wondering about that new hook … yes, I do like it! I really enjoy using a cabled hook and this one is satin smooth along the hook and the join with the cable. I can fit a lot of stitches on and never have to worry about them jumping off the unused end of the hook. You can check your local yarn shop for the cabled hook, as well as the 14″ straight hooks. Shops can order them through Muench Yarns.

As the flight nears San Diego I measure and discover my scarf is almost 3″ wide. I’ll have plenty of yarn without using the tan. By Sunday evening my scarf is 6″ wide and finished. Monday I drop it off in the collection box. Good thing I brought more yarn since I will have a long wait between the close of the show Monday afternoon and my flight out Monday night.

One of the nice things about working in the needle arts industry is when I attend meetings at trade shows and conferences I can crochet and listen at the same time and nobody thinks I’m odd or rude. Nearly everybody in the audience has some type of needlework in their hands. And of course there is all that uninterrupted crochet time on the airplane. Preparing for a trip always means organizing some crochet to take along.

About now you are probably wondering what does this have to do with crocheting for charity? I’ll be getting to that in a moment. But first let me admit, with some embarrassment, that until last year I had not done much crocheting for charity. Well, in a way I had because most of the afghans that I have crocheted for publication over the years were donated to charities once they were returned to me after their photo shoots. Most of the hats, scarves, and slippers also found good homes with local charities. What I mean is I had not done crocheting that came off my hook and went directly to a charity.

That changed last Fall when I heard about the Caps to the Capital program. It started with just a few. But the stack quickly grew. They were quick to crochet and as I thought of the babies who would be a little warmer, I would start one more hat. It ended up being over 60 “one more hats” before the mailing deadline.

Last month as I was getting ready for the trip to San Diego I realized my current crochet project was too large to comfortably work on in the plane or carry around to meetings. In the past, I would have struggled to find time in my schedule to design a new project that would “fit” all the requirements. It has to be small enough to carry around, but not so small I can’t see to work in sometimes less than an optimal lighting. Since I am designing this on short notice, the yarn has to already be at my house or at a local store. The list for the “perfect” take along project can go on and on.

But then I remembered how relaxing and rewarding crocheting those caps had been and realized I had my answer. During my travels this year I’ll be crocheting for charity. The projects requested are usually small. Perfect for using up odds and ends of stash yarn and they won’t take up much room in the suitcase. I quickly pulled together a few “kits”. Don’t you just love resealable bags? Throw in a couple of skeins of yarn, a hook, and a tape measure and I’m ready.

So what did I crochet on these first two trips of 2007? I’ll let you know in the next installment.