More Crafting for Charity (& a bit of history)
The Red Cross Museum (didn’t know there was such a thing, did you?) in Washington, DC has some interesting aspects - one of which is the history of knitting involvement. It says,
“During World War I and World War II the American Red Cross launched nationwide, volunteer driven, knitting campaigns to supply soldiers and civilians with warm clothing. The participants belonged to a unit then called the Production Corps, that also produced bandages, and sewn garments like pajamas for veteran’s hospitals and civilians. “
The site includes various designs that were created specifically for soldiers and sailors. It also includes some period-era posters and pictures around knitting.
There’s MORE information about the Red Cross’s knitting history on the website for afghans for Afghans.
That’s today’s modern-day charity - Afghans for Afghans. It’s a group that collects and distributes blankets, mittens, socks, hats, sweaters, vests, etc. to people in Afghanistan - residents and refugees. There are patterns and guidelines on the website for knitted and crochet items as well as guidelines (like - no synthetics, they don’t wear well). They also raise money for their effort, and sell things to benefit their efforts.
Top 5: Amigurumi patterns on Etsy
Heard of amigurumi? It’s a Japanese craft form that means, essentially, a knit or crocheted doll. Amigurumi has gone way beyond dolls, though. These little figures are fairly simple to knit or crochet, so I’ve seen an absolute explosion of every kind you can and can’t imagine on my rounds of craft magazines, blogs, etc. Interested? Look through this Flickr search and see what other crazy stuff people have come up with.
P.S. Just after posting I ran across this article about getting started with amigurumi (and crochet, of course). Apparently people take up crochet just to make up these nifty patterns. I can see it.
There are a whole bunch of patterns you can get for these things, and these are some of my favorites:
5. Penguin and Snowball - for bowling! by catcozy
4. Happy (as a) Clam - and yes, he DOES come out of his shell. by theselovinghands.
3. HAHAHAHA - <splutter> - it’s a Cactus Pincushion! by craftyjoy
2. Sushi, anyone? This is one page of a huge 15-page pattern book for making all kinds of amigurumi sushi. Really. by needlenoodles.
1. And I think perhaps the Mother of All Amigurumi right now on Etsy can be found at the Wunderkammer site. Don’t know what a Wunderkammer is? It’s a Cabinet of Curiosities from an earlier era - you can read about it here on the Wiki.
Here on Etsy, it’s crocheted items from the Wunderkammer. My two favorites are, well, pretty much everyone’s favorites - the coral (which I’m making) -
and the Gentleman Prawn
Hidden tab-top curtains: the How To
[Note 9-10-2008: I moved the file to another location because the previous one seemed to just be horrible. Hopefully you can download it from Box.net without issue. The link is:
http://www.box.net/shared/ikdejpx018
Please let me know what you think of this if you use it! Happy Sewing!]
In the weeks since I posted about making hidden tab-top curtains, I’ve noticed a lot of people finding my site because they’re searching for how to make said hidden tab-top curtains.
SO, since I know how to make them, I thought I’d make my Very First Tutorial about them. It turns out tutorials are not easy things, but I persisted, and thus have the following link to present. It’s a PDF file you can print out: How to Make Tab-Top Curtains.
I hope that you enjoy and find it useful. If you notice something wrong with it, something that needs fixing, please let me know at crafterbynight -AT- gmail -DOT- com.
