These last few weeks, I have been busy crocheting more hats for the Warmth for Warriors annual hat drive. These hats were crocheted using the free Red Heart Ridged Hat Pattern. I first saw this hat on a Red Heart yarn wrapper and really liked the look of the crocheted cables on the hat.
I have crocheted this pattern using a I hook and also a J hook. Both times the hat is too short without having to add some additional rows to get the desired length I need for a men’s hat size.
I have found that if I add 3 extra rows in the middle I am at about 7.25” long in length. Then I crochet rows 14-17 (4 rows) for the trim rows. Length is about 8.5” long and fits nicely.
Here is one more hat I crocheted using the pattern and added some camo type yarn for stripes.
As many of us are under stay-at-home orders, I have taken this time to enjoy all the extra time I have to crochet. I have lots of yarn, plastic bags to recycle, and so many projects to work on. There are all those charity crafting projects to work on. There are hats and mini Christmas stockings to crochet for Warmth for Warriors. Then there are gift items I can get done for upcoming birthdays and of course in-advance Christmas gift making. Anyway for those of us who love to knit and crochet, this is a grand time.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I do miss my work and my friends. I wish I could use this time to get-together with loved ones and friends but this is not the time. We need to stay home and keep our social distancing with the Coronavirus raging in so many areas. We don’t want to needlessly chance the spread to those more vulnerable.
So check out all my free patterns for crafting ideas should you be looking for a new pattern to try. Come join me in making hats and mini Christmas stockings for the troops through Warmth for Warriors. And of course, grab those stashed plastic bags and recycle them into some plarn to crochet a tote bag, purse, or other useful item. But overall stay safe and healthy.
As we celebrate Memorial Day, let’s not forgot the reason. Remember and honoring our Veterans and those who gave all.
On this Memorial Day 2019, thanks to all our Veterans here and gone. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.
If you are looking to craft for a cause, may I suggest Warmth for Warriors. It is an organization who honors our troops and Veterans through crafting hats and mini stockings for Christmas. If you are looking for a crafting group such as this, please join us over at the Warmth for Warriors group on Ravelry.
Happy New Year Everyone!
2018 was a great year for our crafting for Warmth for Warriors. As you may know, I head up the Warmth for Warriors group on Ravelry. Each year we knit and crochet warm, wool hats for our soldiers serving overseas and for soldiers and veterans here at home. We also make and collect small handmade Christmas stockings. The little stockings are stuffed by the Warmth for Warriors organization with small soaps, toiletries, and candies and shipped overseas to our troops as a little Christmas gifts.
We just received the final counts for last year on our hat and mini Christmas stocking drives. Warmth for Warriors received 3,295 wool hats and 877 acrylic hats in 2018 for a grand total of 4,172 hats. 3,746 hats were received in 2017.
As for the mini Christmas stocking drive the total number of stockings received in 2018 was 3,648! We blew out our achievement for 2017 which was 2,819 stockings.
Thank you all for your support of Warmth for Warriors for our troops.
We are just kicking off the 2019 charity crafting drives for Warmth for Warriors (W4W) this month.
I just finished up a RWB (red, white & blue) wavy ripple lapghan for this year’s Warmth for Warriors blanket drive. In case you are not aware of the organization, Warmth for Warriors collects blankets, lapghans, hats, and mini Christmas stockings each year for our troops and Veterans. If you love to knit or crochet and would like to support our soldiers, come check out our group on Ravelry.
Here is my wavy ripple that I crocheted in a lapghan sized blanket. I used this wavy ripple blanket pattern and chained 107 stitches to start. I used an I (5.5 mm) crochet hook along with skeins of red, white, and blue Red Heart jumbo yarn. I probably only used about half the jumbo skeins for this project as I still had at least half a skein leftover in each color when I finished.
I did 10 rows of ripples in each color before changing
With the 4th of July just around the corner, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share some patriotic Christmas stockings that I crocheted for the Warmth for Warriors.
Each year we handcraft mini Christmas stockings for the troops and fill them with little items such as soaps, shampoos, chapsticks, candies and other little goodies. The mini stockings are then given out to the troops as little Christmas gifts during the holidays. These little stockings might not seem like much, but we are told they are well received. The mini stockings filled with goodies are a wonderful way to say thank you to our troops and give them a little Christmas cheer during the holidays.
I played around with a few mini Christmas stocking patterns to come up with these patriotic themed socks. The stocking on the left is a cuffed Christmas stocking of mine and the other is a variation of this crochet pattern.
Below is one more cuffed mini stocking I crocheted in red, white, and blue yarns.
The Warmth for Warriors organization is once again requesting homemade mini Christmas stockings for the troops. For the last several years, I have been heading up the yearly drive for the group on Ravelry and promoting the stocking drive on other sites.
Each year we ask for handmade crocheted, knitted, sewn, or woven mini Christmas stockings be crafted to about 6 inches long. They are then filled with little goodies at the Warmth for Warriors headquarters before being sent off in early November to soldiers overseas.
In 2017, over 2800 stockings were stuffed with soaps, shampoo, candies and other little treats as a small gift for our troops for Christmas. The filled socks are just a little gift to brighten spirits for our troops during the holidays.
I have several different free crochet patterns available on my site to inspire people to make stockings for the Warmth for Warriors. I hope that others will be inspired and help us in this year’s campaign. Here is the top-down mini Christmas stocking pattern featured in the above photos.
We have been making mini Christmas stockings for Warmth for Warriors over at Ravelry for the past month. Cindylen of Good Things Together helped host a stocking along in which over 250 handmade mini socks were made.
I tried my hand at more crocheted waistcoat Christmas stockings. I find if I work the waistcoat stitch only on the chart portion of the stocking, I have a much easier time crocheting the pattern. I use the waistcoat crochet mini stocking pattern and only crochet the waistcoat stitch for the chart. There are many different chart patterns that a person can use on the mini Christmas stockings. I find the ones that are about 10-12 stitches across are the best suited for the stocking fronts. Here are a few examples
Here are bears number 25 and 26 I crocheted for the Mother Bear Project. This is a charity that is near and dear to my heart. The first bear features a colorful shirt that I crocheted using this bear skirt pattern with a yarn bear kit that Delights sent me for winning a Bingo on Ravelry. The kit included the pretty scarf that matched the yarn so it all worked into a cute little outfit for my bear.
Next is my little Jammie bear that I crocheted with MillaMia Yarn that was donated by LoveCrochet.com for my Mother Bear #26. My Jammie bear is crocheted seamless changing yarn every 2 rows. This wool yarn is very soft and super nice to work with.
I added a ruffle collar to my Jammie bear by crocheting Sc, skip 1 st, 6 DC, skip 1 st, repeat around the neck. I then just crocheted a chain and SC down the chain
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