Yarn Tales Tuesday

National Crochet Month and #crochetforcharity

  March is National Crochet Month. How will you celebrate? I'm "all over the place" in crochet right now... Whether you make something special for yourself, or create an item for a gift or charity, there's plenty of ways to celebrate the craft. If you're just beginning, try crocheting something simple to display, just to say "look what I can do"! If you're experienced, consider teaching someone with your skills.


  I already celebrated with a big gift to myself - I've wanted to join the Crochet Guild of America for a long time, so I finally did it! These are the people who invented National Crochet Month, so I figured that it would be perfect to join them in March to celebrate this "crochet holiday". I was unaware of an extra bonus until I signed up: Your membership includes quarterly issues of Crochet! magazine - I was planning on getting a subscription for my birthday, and now my CGOA membership takes care of that for me. (Cool!) I'll have to cover more about the Crochet Guild of America some other time, but until then (if you're not a member yet), you should know that it's a great way to connect with other crocheters, find help, tips, and patterns, plus plenty of other benefits!



  And for a less-selfish way to celebrate National Crochet Month, I'm picking this month to begin even more charity projects. In a previous Wednesday Wishlist post, I told you how I blew my budget on a big Caron United sale. As in a "buy more, save more" sale. I bought more for sure! Check out what showed up at my door - well, I like to be honest, it showed up outside my gate on a rainy day... Delivery drivers can't come inside my yard because of my dog, but my local UPS driver was considerate enough to take extra time stuffing this big box into a plastic bag to keep it nice and dry for me:

Yay, it's here!

  That's a lot of yarn for me - fifty skeins - yikes! Maybe I went a little overboard, but the sale really made getting this much worth it. I saved a percentage off of the regular price and got free shipping. Plus, $7.50 was donated to the Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation because of my purchase. That's what I like the most, because I'm not always financially able to donate to charity. But, I make my money by crocheting, and crocheting (usually) requires yarn, so I get to donate by purchasing something that I need anyway.



  And, of course, it gets better... What will I use part of that big box of yarn for? Well, have you heard of the World's Biggest Stocking project? This is such a cool idea! Caron United and the lovely folks at yarnspirations.com are trying to make - you guessed it - the world's biggest stocking, and you can be a part of the project, too! They provide you with free patterns for both knitted and crocheted blankets, which are all 36" (91 cm) square. You donate the blanket(s) you've made, then they join them all together to make the stocking! After the whole thing is complete (which will break a world record), it will be disassembled, and the individual blankets will get donated to military charities. Imagine how cool it will be to help families in need and be a part of a world record!

Beginning test square using Caron United

  Interested yet? Here's a few things I skimmed from their FAQ page that might get you "hooked": Although it would be preferable to make the blankets all in the same yarn, you don't have to use Caron United, or the patterns that are provided! That means, if you already have a stash of some other worsted weight yarn, you can still use it to contribute. They also say: "Red, white, and/or green blankets are preferable, but we're accepting blankets in any color". The most important rule is that the blankets are made with worsted weight yarn, and that they are the correct size (36"). The Stocking Tracker is only at 10%, so let's get helping, people! I'm starting mine today, and you'll be seeing some sporadic posts about my progress.

Check it out:
Beginning work on the Big Granny Square Blanket

Wow, after all that...

Happy National Crochet Month!