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Destatsh for a Good Cause: Knitting for Charity

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stash bustingIf you have yarn that you like but there’s just too much of it for you to knit it all for yourself and those friends and family members who who be grateful (because, let’s face it, not everyone in our lives deserves our knitting), the next option would be to knit things with an eye toward donating them to charity.

There are all sorts of charitable organizations out there that accept handknits, though the requirements and items accepted vary widely. You can find places to donate blankets for animals in shelters, sweaters and hats for homeless people of all ages, chemo caps and hats for preemies, even burial gowns for infants who didn’t make it out of the hospital. And that’s just the beginning.

I like to urge people who are interested in knitting for charity to look locally first. Is there a local homeless shelter that would accept knit hats or socks? A prayer shawl ministry you can support? Or even an affiliate of a larger group like Project Linus or Warm Up America.

If that’s not something that appeals to you, check out the Lion Brand Charity Finder, my list of charity knitting sites at About, or just do a web search for knitting charities maybe with some qualifiers about what you’d like to knit or for whom (as in, children’s hat charity knitting, for instance).

Most of all, check with the charity or group you intend to knit for and make sure you’re clear on what their needs are in terms of item type, sizes and fiber content of yarn before you get started. We want to knit things that will actually be useful, right?

If you have a favorite knitting charity that you’ve worked with in the past, I’d love to hear about it!

Looking for more Chemo supplies, Check out these Chemo friendly low irritant body products Gentle on the skin

This chemo cap is knitted in the round  and has a roller brim, This chemo cap is knitted in the round and is ridged with a small rim. We have some other patterns for knitted chemo caps too, check them out here.

One Ball Knitted Chemo Cap beanie

Rolled brim Chemo Cap

Visit our charity crafts page for listings of groups in your area who collect and donate these knitted items to charity.

Comments

  1. I have been working on using up my stash. Two blankets, several hats.

    Now I am working on hats for newborns, and hats, blankets and gloves for the homeless.

  2. I knit up a stash of scarves and hats, put them in my car, and when I meet a squad car that is not in an emergency situation, I visit with the officers and give them the bags of hats and scarves for them to give to needy people when they come across them. The need has been REALLY great this year.

  5. I have done squares for Warm Up Canada. One of my dear friend, he along with his family goes to Honduras to set up schools and homes. I donate some of my teddy bears to them to pass along to the children.

Have you read?

Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork. 

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn. 

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look. 

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me. 

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. 

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.