Monday 21 January 2013

Bloggy Blankets

Hopefully we now have another volunteer for our Bloggy Blanket. Thank you, Compost Woman. There is information on the Bloggy Blanket pages but I'll just summarise it here. 

1. Bloggy Blanket Chain. This is the blanket that I was referring to in my post. The idea was that the blanket started out as one square which was then sent to another blogger. The second person added a second square then sent it on to another blogger and so on. Some bloggers wanted to add more than one square which was great. Knitters can add on a knitted square if they wish to. As the blanket travels around Blog Land it gets bigger and bigger. Once it reaches a suitable size the last person donates it to a  worthy cause or deserving person. eg. Retirement home, hospice etc. In order to join in you just have to show interest via a comment. If this is the blanket you are volunteering for please get in touch with JuliaB over at Peacock Blue and exchange details. She would then send the blanket on to you for you to add your squares. From there you would keep hold of it until we find another volunteer. Details of the size of square are on the appropriate page. I log all the Blanket activity on a separate page so that everyone can see the blanket grow.
Pros = fun watching the blanket grow

no stress or hassle because there is no time limit

Cons = cost of posting the growing blanket on to the next person

2. Friends' Bloggy Blanket. If you wish to join in with this blanket all you do is crochet as many squares as you wish and then send them off to Fostermummy at My Beautiful Life who stitches them all together and donates them to charitable causes. Fostermummy also shows off the finished blanket on her blog posts.
Pros = fun noseying other bloggers' creativity
no stress or hassle because there is no time limit
Cons = cost of postage

3. The squares that I have been crocheting together are sent over to India via a contact I have in a second hand shop that I frequent. She has a few old ladies who knit squares for her but they cannot see closely to join them together. Whenever I call in I sometimes receive a bag of assorted squares (most are different sizes!) which I join together in my spare time. When I have completed a blanket I just take it back to the second hand shop and my contact takes them to her church to hand over to a doctor who goes over to India regularly to tend to some of the poorer people in different areas. These little blankets are destined for cots for the poorly babies. If you wish to knit or crochet some squares for this, or indeed sew or crochet them together yourself to make a cot blanket then you need to contact me for my details.
Pros = fun working out colour combinations and which squares will fit together

no stress or hassle because there is no time limit

Cons = none for me but postage cost if you wish to send me some squares

4. If you don't want to do any of the above due to cost of postage then I'm sure that there are places in your area who would be willing to receive your squares. Only recently I was given an article about a local hospice who wanted colourful homemade blankets for the ends of their beds. Local Old Folks' Homes also use lap blankets for their clients.
Pros = fun organising your own squares or blankets
fun organising other people in your area to contribute their crafty knowhow

no stress or hassle because there is no time limit

Cons = none really

Hope this helps and thank you again, Compost Woman, for your generosity. You should be able to get to my email address through my profile page if you have any more queries. Just let me know which blanket or blankets you wish to join in with. (Whoops! Never end a sentence with a preposition!)

Welcome to my new follower - a very talented crafter (including knitting and crochet!)

xx

Added later. PS If you don't know how to crochet and would like to there's plenty of tutorials on the web or why not look at Mum's Granny Along lessons here.

xx

10 comments:

  1. This sounds like a lovely idea :) I'd love to help, but I can't knit or crochet :(

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    Replies
    1. Nic, I painfully re learned to Knit exactly 14 months ago ( was shown 40 odd years as a child by my Mum, but forgot!)

      I never learnt to crochet and started in May 2012. I am learning all the time but can now read a pattern and a chart, have made hats, blankets, decorative face cloths and hand towels, bags and even things involving the scary increases and decreases!!

      I find crochet much easier than knitting, funnily enough. There are loads of wwonderful people ( like Mum) blogging about it and lots of video advice on eg YouTube.

      Have a go!

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  2. New Year's Resolution - learn to knit or crochet? What about organising other people and you sew the squares together?
    xx

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Mum for the lovely reply - I am not sure which option I want to do as they all sound terrific :-)

      Sorry I didn't read your blog more carefully as I could have found out ALL the information I needed about the granny squares by doing so - and saved you the trouble of writing it out again (oops)

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  4. I'm sticking to sewing,me and woolly things just don't gel, but if you ever need blocks for a quilt I'll be first in the queue to help xx

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  5. Question

    Do you have a preference for type of yarn? Acrylic, pure wool, cotton, anything as long as it is superwash?

    I have acrylic, wool/microfibre mixes and pure yarns...want to make sure I get it right!

    I have llots of acrylic from magazines, as well as stuff I have bought or re used from CS finds....would be good to use them for this but don't want to start crocheting if it is not the right stuff!

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    Replies
    1. Acrylic, I think, would be better for a charity blanket because these blankets would get washed regularly. e.g. in an old folks' home. Only small doses of mixed would work at a pinch as the other wools would, hopefully, help keep the shape.
      xx

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  6. Wonderful! I have lots of different colours of acrylic yarns and just got a load more from the CS :-)

    Will get cracking :-)

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Thank you for your comments. it's always exciting reading them.