I confess!

I have succumbed to temptation and bought yarn! (For the first time this year!) I have the book 200 crochet blocks  by Jan Eaton and have bought 4 plain colours and one self patterning yarn to make a sampler blanket. I intended it to be my holiday project (off to Majorca on Tuesday) but have started already and made my first 3 blocks.

45g

All is not lost though as I joined a new craft group and gave 100g of yarn to someone I taught to crochet granny squares!

I have made another heart square, this time for one of our Loving Hands members who is ill  in hospital. We are contributing a square or 2 each towards a blanket to brighten up her days.

22g

This week Loving Hands (Shetland) has posted 2 boxes of hats and blanket squares to Turkey for the Syrian Refugees - a full 27kg of knitting and crochet, a box of mixed items to Lou and a box to Operation Orphan full of scarves and blankets. We also have a brand new page on Facebook so folks can keep up with what is going on. http://www.facebook.com/LovingHandsShetland

54g

 This wee bunny blankie is destined for the Western Isles for a special bump due soon.

Well, I'm off to Majorca -see you on the other side and Happy Crafting!

Stash Busting Progress:

Yarn at start of year: 31,034g

Yarn gained: 1550g
Yarn busted: Jan: 1049g, Feb: 1157g, March:  454g     Total: 2660g
Yarn given away: 300g

Yarn in stash: 29,624g

Many a mickle ....

... maks a muckle. Or so they say! (Lots of small things make a big thing) Having a slow month stashbusting wise with small amounts of yarn being used here and there. I've sewn together the school blanket for Syria and edged it tonight thinking that would use up some yarn - it did, but only 41g!

All the squares have been knitted by pupils (age 5-12), former pupils, staff or former staff (with one by my mum!). Some are a bit misshapen but all made with a purpose - to keep a refugee child warm by our efforts.

I have also made a blanket square for Niaomh, 7 year old sister of Aoife who I mentioned in my last post. We at Loving Hands are making a comfort blanket for Niaomh who will also have her life disrupted while Aoife is in hospital and deserves some TLC too.

This is the same pattern I used for Aoife's square which was done in purple and lilac, this one is pink and sparkly white. The pattern is here. Well, that took care of another 20g! Many a mickle ...

Stash Busting Progress:

Yarn at start of year: 31,034g

Yarn gained: 450g
Yarn busted: Jan: 1049g, Feb: 1157g, March:  333g     Total: 2539g
Yarn given away: 200g

Yarn in stash: 28,745g

Hexagons - and squares!

This is a hexagon jacket made with two Granny hexagons joined to make the back seam and then the sleeve seams (think a 6-sided granny square), The pattern is here: hexagon jacket  - be aware this is an American pattern so the stitches are named differently.

US                                                       UK
sc                                                         dc
hdc                                                       htr
dc                                                         tr

It weighs 122g and I have also made 47g of Easter chicks and a blanket square for Aoife which weighed 26g.

Aoife is the grand-daughter of one of our Loving Hands members and is going to be spending some time in hospital this summer as she has her first operation to help the symptoms of her condition - Morquio. Loving Hands members decided to make her a blanket to wrap herself in while in hospital and one member is going to sew the squares together. Another member has knitted her Peppa Pig, her favourite character and you can see the photo and read about Aoife on the Facebook page: Aoife's Smile Fund . Her family are trying to raise enough money to take Aoifa to Peppa Pig land before her surgery.

In other news, squares and hats are still coming in for the Syrian Refugees and we have done some serious fundraising to raise postage funds. My mum is the champion chick maker closely followed by Janette. The head teacher at the school I work in has kindly allowed chick selling to happen at school - everyone is 'encouraged' to buy one - or more - when they visit. We had a cupcake cafe for Comic Relief in the school canteen on Friday and we had the chicks and some other items for sale in the foyer, making nearly £90! Pupils, staff and parents have also been busy making squares  and you can see some of the efforts here: knitting for others .

Stash Busting Progress:

Yarn at start of year: 31,034g

Yarn gained: 450g
Yarn busted: Jan: 1049g, Feb: 1157g, March:  272g     Total: 2478g
Yarn given away: 200g

Yarn in stash: 28,806g

Not to be left out!

These are some quick photos I took this morning of the real chickens in my life! We have a mix of breeds and they lay a range of colours from white through blue to green then brown! (I made the basket from willow grown in Shetland)

Moonlight, one of our original hens (nearly 11 years old), a Shetland hen who used to lay green eggs.

Free range mixed flock with a Crested Cream Legbar in the foreground

Our Exchequor Leghorn who lays white eggs

'Who turned on the light?' Two Auracana hens sharing the nestbox. - green egg layers.

Our cockeral, a bearded and tufted Auracana.

A Shetland hen - green egg layer. The brown hens are Rhode Island Reds and lay brown eggs.

It started with a chick ...

This month's stashbusting has started with Easter chicks of the type that you can put a small chocolate egg inside. Mum and I have made them as fundraisers for various causes for the last few years and this year the money raised is going into our postage fund which we use to send knitted, crocheted and sewn items to the places they are needed, starting with sending the squares and hats to Turkey for the Syrian refugees.

I have various yarns in my stash that I either thought were a good idea at the time or I have been given and I have used up one such ball in this task. The fun fur yarn was won by me in a Loving Hands raffle - it makes for cute chicks but I wouldn't like to make anything bigger in it and it is not forgiving if you make a mistake and try to take it back!

So the first hatch:

77g of chicken!

Stash Busting Progress:

Yarn at start of year: 31,034g

Yarn gained: 450g
Yarn busted: Jan: 1049g, Feb: 1157g, March:  77g     Total: 2283g
Yarn given away: 100g

Yarn in stash: 29,101g