Teeny Tears

About a month ago, I was poking through to see if anyone really does pay attention to this blog.  I found a blog that had a link to one of my blog posts about making eye mask for babies in the NICU.  Poking around her site, I found this site: http://teenytears.blogspot.com/ .

"Teeny Tears is a service organization that provides tiny flannel bereavement diapers to hospitals and bereavement support organizations at no charge for families that have suffered the loss of a preemie or micropreemie child through stillbirth or NICU loss. "  The goal is that there is one diaper for the baby and another as a keepsake for the family.

Oh....my.....goodness.....I was blown away.  And of course, had to add this to my list of things to do as I have been looking for some way to honor my son who would be 10 this September 1st if that terrible birth defect, Congential Diaphragmatic Hernia, had not take him from me.  But what a better way to honor his memory than to donate to the hospital where he was born.  I decided to set myself a personal goal of 100 diapers ready to donate by September 1.

To make it easier on myself, rather than use a paper pattern, I took quilters plastic template and cut out the patterns on that.

Then all I have to do is trace the template with a fabric pen and then cut them out.  I have averaged 6 micropreemie diapers and 6 preemie diapers per yard of fabric.

As of today, I have 46 cut out.

Only 54 more away from my goal

Then will come the sewing.  I figure to do it in shifts.  Get them all cut out.  Sew a stack at a time.
 

I am still waiting to see if Women and Infants needs these.   Project Sweet Peas partners with them for other supplies and was starting this but that is part of Project Gabriel.  And I already donate to CHERUBS HOPE Totebag project so adding to Project Sweet Peas may be too much.

I do not know the hospital's needs or requirements.  I hope to hear from Project Sweet Peas soon or I will reach back to Teeny Tears to have them make contact with the hospital.  I would love to able to help them meet a need. 

To Knit, or not to Knit, that is the question

To knit, or not to knit, that is the question that plagues my mind. (with many apologies to the Bard for butchering his prose...)

I love to work with yarn.  I have taught myself to crochet and to knit basic items.  I love the way that knit baby caps look with their little top knots and rolling brims.  But I am much better at crocheting.  I am doing intermediate works such as these Christening gowns below:

Double Love Knot Dress

Tiny Blossom Dress

 These will be available on my Etsy site:  Giggles, Kisses and Love

 But I just love the way that the little knit cap look with the jacquard pattern Bernat yarns.   You can only see the patterns if you knit the yarn like below: 

 So I practiced and practiced.  Frogged and frogged again.  Tried circular knitting needles and DPN needles.   The circular needs stretched to little hats too much.  Never mind frogging, I just cut the yarn and started again.

I also tried Magic Loop method of knitting.  Worked well until I would put it down and it would end up turning itself inside out and I ended up purling the knits because it was facing the wrong way.  Sigh.  Cut yarn and try again.

At first, I was leary of knitting with DPNS. I thought that it would be akin to knitting with a porcupine. The biggest help was switching from metal needles to bamboo needles. The bamboo prevents the stitches from slipping off as easily.


Knit cap with DPNs(Double-pointed needles)

 But as scary as it looks to knit with five needles, the improvement was worth it.  I have four caps completed.

Four knitted caps

But caps are not really special unless they come with a set of matching booties.  And there I ran into another problem.  Finding a cute but easy knitted bootie pattern.  I have tons of cute crochet booties patterns but knit was not going well.

Bleh....not pleased......

Off to my crochet patterns.  Decided on "My Angel Booties" pattern from The Lovely Crow, leaving out the embellishments.  Very quick and rewarding pattern, especially to donate to charity.

My Angel Booties with knit cap

So for now, I am knitting the caps so that the patterns show up and it has the lovely rolled brims but will stay with the crochet booties, unless someone can give me a cute knit pattern.  And is able to convince me that it is worth the switch.

Oh my goodness!  Look at me trying to blog again.  I know...I know...it is really rather amusing to see me try again.  But here goes.  My theory is if I can post updates on Facebook, I really should be able to keep up with a blog.....


Got a new crochet hook last week!  It is Sharp Crochet Hook and it is for crocheting borders on fabric.  It is IDEAL for crocheting a border onto a flannel blanket.  I  am currently working on my 5th blanket since last week!!!

Look at how pretty they look!!!! 

I am going to send them with the package for CHERUBS that my Girl Scout Troop is working on.  The girls are going to cut out eye masks from felt and foam picture frames to send for the CHERUBS H.O.P.E. Tote bag program.

They are so cute that I will be adding this type of blanket to my Etsy store,  GIGGLES, KISSES AND LOVE

Close up of the pretty border on this sweet blanket.  It is a nice way to take a store-bought blanket and turn it into a wonderful gift or donation for charity.

Here is a link to the hook: http://www.sharpcrochethook.com/  Not getting paid for endorsing but it is a nice tool.  I cannot wait to do some cute little girl socks or glove edges next year!!!

NICU Eye Masks

I make these for CHERUBS but any preemie charity could use these.  They are meant to protect a baby's eyes while in the NICU.


NICU EYE MASK

Need two pieces of flannel fabric and a darkening fabric(Denim or corduroy), pins, template, sewing machine, needle, thread, scissors

Cut out Template

1. Layer the three pieces of material as following: Flannel 1 face up, Flannel 2 face down so that the two right sides face each other and then place the darkening material on top.

Here I am using two very different fabrics to show the difference.

2. Place the template on top of all three fabrics and cut them all out at the same time. I cut multiple eye masks at once.
3. Pin around so that the pieces will stay together.

Cut out

Separated to show different layers

Placed together

4. Go to the sewing machine and sew around the mask about 4/8ths (the line between 3/8 and 5/8) this doesn't have to be so precise just even. make sure to leave a space open at the top so that you can turn the whole thing right side out later on.

5. Trim so that you have about 1/4 inch left all around. and clip the curves so that they turn better.

6. Turn right side out and shape. Iron your mask flat. Turn in open edge and hand sew with a hidden stitch. I used a ladder stitch..