Tennessee Blanket from Kelly A!!

Hi! I received this HANDSOME blanket earlier in the mail, but with being sick for 2 weeks, I just haven't taken the time to put it up here online. So here it is. Isn't it beautiful? It's perfect for a little boy or teenager who likes Tennessee footbal, which is pretty common here in North Alabama. Thank you so much!!! Know that you'll make a little football fan here in North Alabama smile soon. :) BTW, it is supposed to get down to 29 degrees here tonight, so these blankets are really great timing!!

Victoria

Hats and Squares!!

Hi! I checked the mail late today, and I was surprised to find a huge box from Charissa, from here in Alabama! Inside were 16 adorable hats, 25 squares, and a beautiful blanket! I haven't posted the blanket because I think it's not quite finished. I think it's one of the fun traveling ones that I'll finish up, then donate. These are neat because, although we each did different colors, the blankets are turning out too cute! Thank you so much Charissa!!

Update!

Hi! I haven't written in a while, but I've got a few more blankets to share. Since the last time I posted on here, we've found out we're having a baby, and we've been getting ready for that little bundle to come along late Feburary. Needless to say, crochet for charity has been put on the back burner, but I've been itching to get more blankets done for the foster care kids in our area. Last night I had a dream that I was fostering 6 children, along with raising our 2 1/2 year old, and pregnant with another one. It was just like when I taught school; the kids were all about the same age. Without further ado, here are some of the blankets I've finished for foster care kids. Thanks for reading! If you'd like to join our crusade, check out our yahoo group (link further down the page) and we'd love to have you join us!

The fleece blankets are all made from donated fleece that I put the crochet edging on, and the last one is made from donated squares all joined by me. They look great!

Fleece Blanket Family!

Hi! I just finished this family today, out of fleece. :) I'll be posting tips on how to get the most out of 1 yard of fleece in the next blog, but I wanted to post a picture of these. They were all made with just 1 yard of material. There is a baby blanket (red edging), and 2 preemie blankets. The preemie blankets (orange and blue edged ones) will go to Project Linus in our area, and will likely be used for twins. I like to make them with a different edging, because they are different babies. However, it's cute that both patterns are the same. The larger blanket will go to my local DHR, through Sweet Dream Blankies.

Thanks so much for looking! :)

Victoria

2 more fleece blankets

Hi! I just finished up one of these, and the other I finished a while back. :) They're fun! They're both made with fleece, and I just used an edgerydoo to make the holes to use to crochet through. These are the "neutral" pattern that I've got posted, with just dc's around.

These were donated to the DHR in Athens, Alabama this morning, as a part of Sweet Dream Blankies. The receptionist says that they love to be able to give them out to the kids! I asked her to let me know if they ever get overrun with these, and she says not to worry about that! :)

Bright Neon/Purple/Orange Pillowghan FINISHED!

Hi everyone! I wanted to post a picture of this afghan, just finished for Sweet Dream Blankies. It was made from squares from several women from Crochetville. Thank you sooo much!!! Without you, I couldn't have made this blanket. :)

Sujo from Pflugerville, TX

Pat from Trenton, NJ

Ann from Barre, MA

Linda from Greenville, NC

Victoria from Athens, Alabama

Thank you all of you who made squares for this blanket!!! I just can't thank you enough!

Have a great almost Friday! :)

Victoria

Patriotic Pillowghan FINISHED!

Hi everyone! This afghan is finally finished! Thanks to several ladies from Sweet Dream Blankies and from Crochetville, it's done, and ready to be given to a child in the foster care system here in North Alabama. :)

The squares were sent in by:

Jen in Montgomery New York

Samaria from Garnerville, New York

Naymi from Kemah, Texas

Tracy from Stouffville Ontario Canada

Ashley from American Fork, Utah

Judy from Aberdeen, New Jersey

Victoria from Athens, Alabama (just 1!)

Thank you all sooooo much! I'm glad to have this one ready to go, so that the child who picks it out might use it for a picnic or something on July 4th.

Hugs,

Victoria

Judy's Squares

Hi! I wanted to post a big THANK YOU to Judy from NJ for these lovely squares! The white one will go in a Red/White/Blue afghan to finish that one off. The multicolored square will go in another afghan that has a lot of dusty rose colored squares, and possibly some blue ones as well. Beautiful squares! Thank you!

Purple/White Afghan for Sweet Dreams

Hi! I've just finished this afghan, another one for Sweet Dream Blankies, which I've started, to give blankets to kids in foster care, here in Athens, Alabama. I love this pattern, and you can find it here if you'd like to make one too. I'm not picky about what pattern to use for Sweet Dream Blanies, I just really like this one so far. :) The link there takes you to a great tutorial about how to do the blanket, with many wonderful pictures!

Thanks for reading! Have a great Sunday!

Victoria

Striped Grey Afghan

Hi! I finished this blanket up yesterday, and wanted to post a picture of it here. I made it for Sweet Dream Blankies charity, that I started, to make blankets for kids as they go into the foster care system. You can read about it more, by going here. It's made based on a seed stitch type idea, only I used double crochets instead of singles, and 2 in each space, instead of a chain. It was based on an afghan that used a seed stitch, but I didn't want an afghan that was THAT thermally warm, but something that was nice anyway. The length was good, at about 48", but the width was a little smallish, at about 30". If I hadn't run out of yarns, I would have made it a little wider. It's made with 2 strands of yarn held together. I used about 3 1/2 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver in grey (that's about 25 oz. or so) and not more than 4 oz. of any of the solids, maybe a little less. But then again, I would suggest putting one more row of color in, to make it a good width. With one more band of color, it would take a full 4 skeins of grey, and just one more color.

Here's the pattern:

With an N hook, chain 85 loosly

Row 1: sk first chain, sc in next chain, ch 1, sc in next chain, across turn

Row 2: ch 3, sk first sc, in first chain of row 1 make 2 dc. sk next sc, 2 dc in next chain space, across. In last sc, do 1 dc. turn (at end of each row, turn)

Row 3: ch 3, 2 dc in space between last 1 dc, and 2 dc cluster. 2 dc in each space made between each 2 dc cluster from row 2. At end of row, 1 dc in last dc.

Row 4: Repeat row 3 for as many rows as desired width.

Last row: ch 1, sc in first dc, ch 1, sk 1 dc, across, to mirror the first row

Boarder:

I simply did a round of dc evenly spaced all the way around, with [dc, ch 2, dc] in the corners, with the main color, grey.

Here's my stripe pattern, but feel free to use whatever pattern you would like:

1-5: Grey (5 rows)

6-7: Yellow (2 rows)

8-11: Grey (4 rows)

12-13: Orange (2 rows)

14-17: Grey (4 rows)

18-19: Green (2 rows)

20-23: Grey (4 rows)

24-25: Blue (2 rows)

26-30: Grey (5 rows)

Perhaps you could have a row of red, or purple, and make it a rainbow. :)

I would love to see pictures, if anyone makes this up! This pattern has not been tested, so if you find an error (VERY likely) please let me know! Thanks!

Drawstring Bag for Kids

Hi! I just finished up this drawstring bag, and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. :) It's made with two strands of acrylic worsted weight yarn held toghether throughout (except for the handle) and a size L hook. It took almost the whole skein of veriegated yarn, so if you had a skein of veriegated (5 oz. Red Heart pictured) and a solid skein (just under 5 oz. partial skein) then you should have no problem making this. You can always make them larger as well. This one holds 6 large, 7 oz. skeins of Red Heart yarn inside, to give you an idea of size. I designed these to be used for bags to hold goodies for the kids in foster care. I'm going to use ziplock baggies probably, for holding anything small like crayons in the bag, as the holes are definately big enough for things to slip through. I'm also looking for anyone who might like sewing enough to do some linings for these. Without further ado, here's the very basic pattern (please, you can sell items made from this if you wish, but don't sell the pattern) If you like this pattern a lot, feel free to make one and send to our group here. This has not been tested by anyone but me, so let me know if you find any errors. Thank you!

Materials:

5 oz. each of 2 contrasting colors (veriegated pictured, but 2 solids, or even two of the same color would work just fine)

L hook (K, M, L, N, all would work just fine, whatever is comfortable for you

Directions:

Row 1:ch 4, in 4th chain from hook, work 11 dc join with sl st in top of ch 3

Row 2: ch 3, 2 dc in same space as joining, and in each dc around (24 dc, the ch 3 space doesn't count) join to top of first dc (skip the ch 3)

Row 3: ch 3, 2 dc in same space as joining, 1 dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next dc, around. (36 dc total) again, join in top of first dc in this row and every row from here out.

Row 4: ch 3, 2 dc in same space as joining, 1 dc in each of next 2 dc, 2 dc in next dc, around

Row 5: repeat row 4

Row 6: ch 3, 1 dc in same space as joining, and in each dc around. Work these in the back loop only of the row, and it will make a little ridge that will be on the outside. This helps the bag stand up a little better, and gives it a little decoration I guess. :)

Row 7-desired height (I did 13 rows of dc in the picture): ch 3, 1 dc in same space as joining, and in each dc around, going through both loops. You could definately do a row where you go just in the back loops again if you like, just change it up and be creative.

Last row: 2 dc in each dc, to make a frill edge. Leave out if for a boy.

Handle:

With one color, and H hook, make long tail (10 inches or so, do NOT weave this in yet, it will be used to sew the handle to the bag at the end) ch 40-45 (I did 40 and I think it's ok, but could have been a little longer)

sk first ch, and sc in each ch to end

continue, sc rows until piece is about 1 1/2 inches, or about 6 rows. I would suggest, making it an even number of rows, and then making a long tail when you finish off. This way, there is a long tail on each end of the handle, that you can use to sew it to the purse.

Sew one end of the purse (whipstitch is what I did) along the ridge row, and the other end along the row just before the frilly row.

Drawstring:

Make a drawstring by chaining enough so that it is about 4" longer than going around the top edge of the purse. Finish off, weave in ends, and tie the two ends of the drawstring together. This isn't how I did this drawstring, but I didn't like how I did it. There are a number of ways to do a drawstring, so just do what you're comfortable with if you don't like long chain rows. I also will do a long string, then twist it, until it twists on itself, tie a knot, and weave it through.

Enjoy!

Lizard Blanket!

Hi! I made this blanket a while back, and have just had it to the side waiting to be given to a child in foster care. I'm trying to get several made up to give at once, and I've got 2 now done! :) Yipee! This one was made with some fleece that a wonderful woman from crochetville gave me, and is plenty big enough for a child, even as they become a teen (I didn't measure it, but it's got to be 40"X55" or larger). Thank you so much!!! The fleece is really nice quality, and it's hard to find something as cute as this here in our small town Wal-Mart. I also made up a little baby blanket out of the same fleece, and will be making it's twin soon, to post when I'm done. Those will be for the NICU in Huntsville, for the Project Linus there.

Rectangle Granny Afghan

Hi! I finished this afghan up recently, had it 1/2 finished for a while, but it's done now! It's made with Red Heart Super Saver yarn, about 12 oz of each of the solid colors, and about 3 oz of the verigated color, and a J hook. You can find the pattern here, by Erin Lindsay. This blanket will be going to the local (Athens, Alabama) DHR in my city here, and will be loved by a little girl. It is a good lapghan sized blanket, perhaps about 40"X 50" or so; not sure. I just made it until it would fit over me comfortably, and cover me up a bit. :) If you would like to make blankets for your local DHR office, just do a search for DHR in your state, then find your local office. E-mail them, letting them know what you'd like to do. The one here in Athens was very quick to call me back, and sounded so surprised that anyone would want to do something like this. If you would like some ideas, and perhaps more help in contacting your local DHR, please check out my VERY NEW (tonight) charity yahoo groups website here, called Sweet Dream Blankies. Thank you so much for reading this, and have a great night!