What to do? Stay home, stay safe and not go stir crazy. For me, it's been fairly easy - knitting helps keeps me focused on something I can do to help during this unusual time. I dived head first into my yarn stash to dig out tried and true acrylic yarn to make blankets/rug for the animal shelters.
Talk about tried and true. Those of you who knit will recognize "Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth" pattern, knit corner to corner to make a square.
Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth
- Row 1: knit 4.
- Row 2: knit 2, yarn over, knit to the end of the row. Repeat row 2 until you've got 44 stitches on your needle.
- Row 3: knit 1, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to the end of the row. Repeat row 3 until you have only 4 stitches left on your needle.
I made one change to the pattern in Row 2. Instead of "yarn over", I increased with a "make one", that way eliminating the hole made by "yarn over." Worried about little toe nails getting caught in the hole. I used three or four strands of yarn at a time on size US 13 or 15 needles. The number of stitches on your needles will determine the size of the rug. I made them a variety of sizes keeping in mind some will be used in animal crates or cages. I made a crochet border on some, but added a red heart to all of them. Just a little comment on human love of animals that hopefully will find forever homes.
There are many good heart knitting patterns, but this one is my favorite.
I also used this pattern to make some of the blankets rectangular in shape: Cage Cozy by Vicki Mikulak https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cage-cozy
However, with time on my hands, my mind wandered to some sweet people I know but cannot go visit, who have beautiful long hair - the perfect place for a scrunchie or bow on a ponytail or bun.
Again, I found a variety of yarn in my stash and brushed off my crochet skills. The scrunchies are crochet and the bows are knitted. There are many patterns both crochet and knit on the Internet.
Flower Hair Tie by Dorothee Grall: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/flower-hair-tie
Crochet Scrunchie by Kinjinlu Khumba:
These are so easy and fun to make and use such a small amount of yarn, it's easy to make a bunch adding a little creative touch to each. I finally put my little bundle of "hair accessories" in the mail and will soon receive photos of my scrunchies being worn by two lovely girls who were so excited they couldn't choose which one to wear first. (Grandma said.)
Finally, here are my bears for the Mother Bear Project.
Whether you knit or crochet, if you want to make bears for this project, there are patterns for both and plenty of guidance for sewing them together plus patterns for making clothing. I used basic acrylic worsted yarn from my stash. Get creative - give each bear a personality. There's a child waiting to give it some TLC.
minipurl was never bothered by the toilet paper shortage.
Stay safe everyone. Knit on.
