My current crafty projects

I love to be crafty. My usual crafts of choice are knitting and crochet, if you look around my house you will see lots of homemade scarves and blankets! I have to admit that I am not an expert and can only do the basics but I enjoy turning a ball of yarn into something which will keep someone cosy and warm. It is so satisfying!

I also have to admit that I am not always so great when it comes to finishing projects, I will often start something and after a while get bored and move onto something else which means I have lots of half-finished projects and many, many bags of wool hanging around in my house along with a huge collection of knitting needles, crochet hooks and other accessories.

So, when I spotted a notice in our local magazine calling for knitters to help with projects for some local worthy causes I was interested in learning more! A local group of crafty sorts had decided to work together to create blankets for two causes: Making Miracles and Eglantine Care Home.

Making Miracles

Making Miracles is a registered charity supporting families of high-risk pregnancies, premature babies and baby loss. They offer many services including professional counselling service for trauma and loss to improve emotional well being and reduce mental health issues as well as baby trauma and bereavement care to the whole family through their own journey, this includes parents, siblings & grandparents.

Eglantine Care Home

Eglantine Villa, which is where my maternal Grandfather spent time at Eglantine Villa after he had been diagnosed as having dementia, is the first Bupa care home to be rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC in January 2017. Eglantine Villa, once a private residence, is a carefully converted residential and nursing home offering convalescence, respite, palliative, Parkinson’s and residential dementia care.

So, what is the crafty project? I am making squares which will ultimately be knitted together to create blankets. The instructions for knitting are to use size 4 needles to create squares by casting on 30 stitches and knitting for 56 rows or until it makes a square. Making Miracles uses knitted items both to sell to raise money for their charity and to give to bereaved parents. The care home will provide the blankets to their residents to keep them warm and offer some comfort.

As you can see from my photo I have been crocheting (an acceptable alternative to knitting), colourful squares in order to stitch together to make a blanket. I have been enjoying it so far! I have been using my WI’s Pastel Premium Acrylic 15 Yarn Pack and KnitPro Symfonie Double-Ended Crochet Hook Set from Hobbycraft to make my squares.

I am very happy to have a good cause to craft for and it is an excellent excuse to use up all the yarn I have! Are you working on something right now? Let me know in the comments.