Crocheting for a Cause

This past fall, I tried hard to find out information on what is needed to donate hats to a certain local chemo center.  It was right at the time of my mom's 10 year anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis, so it was really important to me, and I chose the center where she received treatments.

Well, long story short, they never would answer my questions and accept a donation.  In fact, they just sort of ignored me.  I was really upset about it and griped to a lady I met recently that works for the American Cancer Society.  

I thought the subject was dropped, and figured I'd try again at another place.  Then, two weeks ago she asked me if I was still interested in donating hats.  I just....didn't know what she had in mind...

When I said yes, she proceeded to tell me the story of her friend's daughter, who is 4 years old.  FOUR YEARS OLD!! The family was new here so when they little girl had an ear infection they brought her to a new doctor, who did a full work up as a routine new patient procedure.  Yep...they found cancer.  I didn't ask details on what kind of cancer.  I was too distraught.

This little girl was scheduled to start her treatments this past week and my friend asked me to please donate a hat, because she was so upset about losing her hair.  Poor girl...her best case scenario is supposed to be stage 4 cancer.

Needless to say, I cried while making these hats.  This little girl is just a little bit older than my little girl, and I couldn't imagine facing this battle.

People get diagnosed with cancer all the time, and these crochet and knit hats are expensive.  I know, because I make them! When you need a hat for every day, that expense can add up.  These are no longer just accessories.  If you know how to crochet or knit, please consider donating a few hats when you have time.  It can make a huge difference to someone going through a really hard time.

If you're interested in getting started, you can try contacting local chemo centers, or getting in touch with a local cancer society team like I did.  If nothing else, they should be able to direct you to the right people!

Some things to consider when making hats for cancer patients:
-Get the softest yarn you can find. Even yarn that doesn't bother you might bother someone that is losing or has lost their hair.  I've found that Caron Simply Soft is an excellent yarn to use for these hats.  It's easily accessible, and fairly affordable.  While it's $4-5 a skein, you can make a lot of hats out of that one skein!
-Consider kids as well as adults. Adults are, unfortunately, not the only ones suffering.  If you can make hats in different sizes, please consider it, because fewer people donate hats in kid's sizes, making them harder to find. In fact, even if you've never made a child's size hat, if you are willing to try, I've got a free pattern you can downloadhere for a basic beanie for most sizes.
-Make it long. Things you might not think about if you've never been through it: there will be no hair at the base of the neck or in front of the ears.  Make your hats long enough to cover this if the person wants these areas covered.

It was such a rewarding experience knowing that the hat I was making was going to bring comfort to a suffering little girl.  I've told the lady from the cancer society to let me know any time she knows of someone in need of a hat for this purpose.  It broke my heart, but also made me so thankful that I have a gift I can give!

I'm a Professional

I'm sure you've all seen the photos swimming around Facebook lately.  I've been feeling a little left out, since I couldn't find one that fit me and my job.  I'm so glad a friend of mine found it last night!

That last photo looks all too familiar most nights.  If you're a professional crafter, I'm sure you'll agree!

Hippity, Hoppity...

Easter's on it's way! I've been making bunny hats, cotton-tail diaper covers, and bunny booties every day. Now is definitely the time to start planning if you hope to offer some hand-made goodies for your kids' Easter baskets.  

In honor of this, I'm offering a free gift this weekend only!

See these little guys? For this weekend only, you can receive one for free with your purchase of $20 or more.  Just go to the CUTEure Creations store and pick out your order.  In the "message to seller" box that shows up during check out, make sure and put Hoppy Easter and you'll get a little peep bunny of your own.  It's this weekend only, though, so act fast!

Weekend Project-Citrus Sea Salt Body Scrub

The rain is pouring down today at my house.  It's one of those days where you just don't want to leave the comfort of the dry living room.  In other words, it's a great day to pamper yourself at home.  Today's weekend project is all about that, and even better, you probably have all of the ingredients you need already in your kitchen.

This citrus sea salt body scrub is so super duper easy to make, you'll want to make a whole batch, like I did!  Trust me, once you try it, you'll be glad you made extras because you won't want to run out.  Talk about smooth skin!

As much as I love this scrub, I cannot take credit for the recipe.  I'd never even made a scrub before this, so I went in search of an easy recipe to start with.  This scrub, found here is quick and easy and perfect for a spontaneous crafty morning.

What you need:
-1/2 c sea salt
-1/2 c olive oil
-1/2 tsp lemon zest
-1/2 tsp orange zest

To make this scrub, you just take all of these ingredients and combine them in a  dry bowl, mixing well.  The recipe makes 2 of these little jars, or you can put them in larger jars.  These were made to give as Christmas gifts (don't worry, I saved a few for myself!) so I kept them in small jars.

I hope you get a chance to make this scrub today! Trust me, you'll love it!

Weekend Project-Hook Pouch

Well hello there!

It's Saturday morning which is usually a pretty lazy morning for us in our household.  I'm sitting here drinking my coffee and thought I'd share the project I finished for myself yesterday afternoon.

This would be a fun weekend project for other "hookers" (or knitters, really).  It's super fast to work up and very useful!

I have the hardest time with those crochet hook holders that each have a spot to slide a hook into a little individual pouch.  For one, there are never enough spots for all of my hooks (I have a lot of crochet hooks).  Another problem is, what do I do with my really big hooks, like P's & Q's? This little pouch is the answer! I was able to fit all of my crochet hooks, plus my measuring tape into this pouch which would be easy to carry around or even just to keep all of my hooks from getting lost at home.

I made mine using a size H hook and 100% cotton worsted weight yarn.  Any yarn would work.  I just didn't want to buy anything special for this project and had this cotton yarn left over from last summer so it worked out great! I do like how sturdy the cotton made it, though.

So, if you want to make one for yourself, I've jotted down a simple pattern to make your own.  It took me a couple of tries to get the proper size for everything so I'll save you the headache of unraveling what should be a complete project.

Materials:

1/2 skein worsted weight yarn (I had a little over half a skein of sugar & cream cotton yarn)

H (5 mm) hook

Darning needle (optional)

Skill level:

Beginner

Row 1: Ch 17, 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook & each ch st across. ch 1, turn. (16 sc)

Row 2: 1 sc in each sc across. ch 1, turn (16 sc)

Repeat row 2 until your rectangle measures about 7" tall (you can measure your biggest hook if you feel you need a bigger pouch, but this fit my Q hook).

Tie off and weave in ends.

Now you'll make a second rectangle, except you'll add a "mouth" towards the top to slide your hooks into. Here's how:

Rows 1-7: follow the same steps as you did for the first rectangle. (16 sc)

Row 8: sc in next 3 sts. ch 10, skip 10 sc sts.  make 1 sc in the last 3 sts of the row. (6 sc, 10 ch)

Row 9: 1 sc in each st across, treating the ch sts as sc. Ch 1, turn. (16 sc)

Row 10: 1 sc in each st across. Ch 1, turn. (16 sc)

Repeat row 10 until your second rectangle is the same height as your first rectangle.  Mine measured about 7" tall.  Tie off and leave a long tail for sewing.

Place both rectangles together (inside out). Using a darning needle and the long tail of yarn sew both rectangles together using the whip stitch (come up from the bottom, go around the edge, come up from the bottom again) and pull the stitch tight. Once you go all the way around the pouch tie it off and weave in your left over yarn. Then you can turn it right-side out from the hole in the front.




If you don't have a darning needle, you can "sew" the 2 rectangles together by using a slip stitch around the entire rectangle using your hook and the long tail left over.


Ta da! How simple was that? And now you've got an awesome pouch to hold all of your hooks in.  You could even make the same thing for knitting needles, although it would have to be much taller and maybe wider depending on what needles you have.

She loves putting the hooks in and taking them out.

Make it your own:

Using a solid color yarn (or 2), some white felt & some googly eyes you could turn your hook pouch into a hook monster
Using a solid color of yarn, gray felt, and some black buttons you could turn it into a robot
Using a button and a row of DC right before your ch row, you could make the pouch button in the front for additional closure.

Happy crocheting!

Stuff It

Do you create amigurumi?  Or do you ever make a hat that requires some pieces to be stuffed?

Well, I don't know about you, but I really dislike using the typical poly-fill in hats.  While it might work well in stuffed animals, when you make a hat or another piece of wearable crochet, you may find that after a few washes the stuffing starts to peak through the stitches.  No good!

Well, when you find yourself in this situation, a neat trick is to use left-over scraps of yarn to stuff your pieces.  I just did this to create a darling giraffe hat.

Don't worry about using matching yarn. Just any scraps you have laying around will work!

When you stuff your crochet pieces this way, it's less likely to make the stuffing start peaking through your stitches after being washed.  Now, what are you going to do with that big old bag of poly-fill you bought for all of those little pieces?

Ta-Da! No Poly-fill!

Shop CUTEure Locally

Shopping online is great.  I love online shopping.  Still, there is a lot of attention lately to the idea of shopping locally.  After all, when you shop locally, you are supporting your town.  You are creating new jobs and more money to go around.  Not to mention, you can try things on, see how they look!

Another added bonus is if you are shopping with a tight time frame, such as if you are looking for that perfect Valentine's day item.  At this point, some online stores (especially handmade) may not be able to work with that deadline.

There are many fabulous reasons to shop locally when it's possible.  That's why CUTEure Creations has now gone local!  If you live in the Southeast-Texas area and want to find that perfect accessory on a tight deadline, you can find CUTEUre Creations-among many other great artists and crafters-at The Rustic Door in Nederland Texas.

Alas, I only had my cell phone camera
 during set up.

I set up Friday afternoon and love my space!  The only problem I have is that I actually had to bring stuff home because I didn't have room to display it all.  Still, I've put out many flowered hair accessories which will be perfect for spring, in addition to some headbands and clips that might be that finishing touch you need for your Valentine's day photos or day out.

You may be able to also tell from the photos, but Easter is starting to make an appearance! I love, love, love my bunny booties, and these are always a big hit around Easter.  They are the perfect addition to an Easter basket or Easter PJ's.  While they aren't out yet, check back soon for some in bigger sizes as well as slip resistant bottoms!

Also, while I do realize that it's January and almost 80 degrees outside already, you just never know what the weather here will do.  Don't worry if you find the temps dropping again.  You can find a large selection of hats, ear-warmers, and scarves here, too!

Be sure to drop in! I'm sure you'll find something you can't live without.