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Need Something to Knit While Stuck at Home? Why Not Knit for Charity

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There are so many ways we can help others in this time, from monetary donations to sewing masks and making blankets and other items.

It’s always true when it comes to charity knitting but maybe even more so now: check with the charity or place you want to donate to and see what they need and whether they are currently accepting donations.

Offices for nonprofits might be closed right now, or they might not want to accept donations if they don’t know they were made by a healthy person or if they are going to hospitals.

Warm Up America has current needs listed, for example, but their office is closed so they are not accepting donations to be shipped there (there are other projects that can be sent elsewhere, or you can hold items to ship later).

Hat Not Hate’s deadline is August 1, and they note that by the time the hats are distributed it’s unlikely the virus would still be active on the items. Shira Blumenthal is doing Facebook Lives on the Hat Not Hate Facebook page Monday through Friday for the foreseeable future.

Project Linus started a knit and crochet along March 7 that you can still join. You can get the pattern for a $15 donation (or $30 for both knit and crochet) and get access to a Facebook group about the project. The charity encourages crafters to contact their local collection site before sending or dropping of blankets to ensure they are still able to receive them.

Knitted Knockers says it is slowly and carefully continuing to distribute knit items on a limited basis at this time.

I know this barely scratches the surface of the options for knitting for charity but I wanted to throw out some options if you are home and looking for someone to knit for. If you have a favorite knitting charity and you know what their response is right now, let me know and I will add it to the post.

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Comments

  1. Member of charity knitting group here, great to encourage charity knitting. Hope you won’t mind me saying, from experience, that it’s good to check the charity needs stuff (as you say). The field of charity knitting is littered with some well-meaning failures..we knitters are prolific, love to find a new idea, bootees for burnt koalas, octopuses for preemies etc that I’ve seen some websites disappear, innundated with items they can’t find outlets for. Do check before sending.

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Yarn Cozy Knitting Patterns

I’ve been toying with the idea of making a yarn cozy or yarn ball holder on the circular knitting machine, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. In the meantime, here are some yarn cozy knitting patterns you can make with knitting needles. Use yarn to hold you yarn!

In its simplest form, a yarn cozy is just a sleeve or a little basket that holds your yarn when you’re working with a center-pull ball so it doesn’t fall apart when you knit. The easiest ones I could find are from Love in Stitches KN, which has a regular size and a mini size. They’re worked with sock yarn and there are options for making them with ribbing, faux cables and with self-striping yarn.

For bigger cakes there’s a project called We call it the “bail holder” from Nicole LeBlanc. This pattern is available on Ravelry and you can use any yarn and make it any size you like. It features an I-cord edging that has a loop in it so you can thread they yarn through the loop to keep it extra contained as you knit.

Another large one that has a slightly fancier pattern is this one by Mareike Meye. You can use any yarn and any gauge, and slip stitch pattern worked in different colors on the sides makes it a little more fun and uses a bit more stash. A strap buttons across the top to hold the ball in place and you can add a buttonhole to the middle of the strap to thread the yarn through. Check this one out on Ravelry.

Adding lace to a yarn cozy makes it fit a wider variety of balls and expand or shrink a bit as needed. Jennifer Sugarman’s Ball Sack uses sock yarn and is made to hold sock yarn. It has the option of making I-cord or using ribbon or cord you already have to make a drawstring at the top. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

Another lacy option is the yarn ball holder from Frugal Knitting Haus. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has an easy mesh lace pattern and an I-cord drawstring that’s sewn together at the ends so you could loop it over your wrist while you knit if you like. This pattern is also on Ravelry.

Speaking of wrist yarn holders, I also found this one form Knituition. This one uses sport weight yarn and has a spiral rib pattern on the body. The strap is attached to the bag with D-rings, or you could make it a little longer and just sew it into the bag.