Thursday, March 16, 2017

Gifts for others: babies and charities

Food baby gifts

My husband has a cousin in Boston who is expecting his first child with his wife. They are foodies and have cute modern style, and I asked them what kind of awesome baby gear they wanted. 

I have made a lot of things over the years, so I had a lot of choices available. They asked for sushi, or maybe donuts. I thought, hey, sushi can be for the wife's side of things (she's super chic and health conscious) and donuts can be for the husband's side of things (more goofy and indulgent). 

And best of all, I got to use scrap yarn for these cute little guys! So stackable and adorable.

The sushi was super fun to knit; I had one crochet pattern from a book, but I wasn't a fan of how it looked. I had been eyeing Needlenoodles' sushi set for a long time, so I decided, now is the time to jump on it.


And they turned out so cute!! I decided to do three rolls and three nori, which are adorable. I also learned some new techniques while making these. Of course, you should serve with DPN chopsticks...

Winter clothing for Syrian refugees

My coworker told me about the Syrian Refugee Knitting Project - a cool charity that is sending knitted and crocheted winter items to Syrian refugees throughout the world.

I sprung my fiber network into action and was able to collect donations from my crochet group in the burbs, my knitting group at work, and even some donations from Committed Knitters, the charity I volunteer for to teach knitting and crochet to inmates in the Cook County Jail.


Here's the first box:


And the second! Clearly, we got a good mix of hats, gloves, and scarves. Wide range of colors and sizes, too. 

Part of this project, for me, is showing Syrian refugees that America - and most humans - are not the irrationally fearful and racist individuals that end up on the news (or in public office...sigh). We are welcoming, we are concerned, and we are sympathetic. This is our Midwestern American spirit, knitted up into yarn items and sent off to warm others abroad.

I've got some big projects cooking otherwise, and I hope to be able to post photos of my finished gray poncho soon. So far, it has looked like a sad trash bag, so I haven't wanted to post photos to my Instagram.

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