Sara from My Merry Messy Life (link party co-hostess extraordinaire!) approached me and several other crochet bloggers and designers recently about joining forces in a crochet-a-long for charity - so of course I said yes! The Crochet for Cancer Crochet-a-Long is a wonderful opportunity to use crochet as a force of good, and to make it extra exciting, Red Heart Yarn has donated a lovely prize package for one super quick crocheter! Read on for details!
The basic idea is, that over the next two weeks, you make 4 projects (more if time allows!) to mail to a chapter of Crochet for Cancer, Hooks of Hope, located in Eastern Pennsylvania. There are 9 bloggers participating, and we've all linked to our best hat patterns for you to choose from to make your projects. There are some gorgeous patterns here, but of course you can use any hat pattern you like! And then! The person's whose packaged is first received by Hooks for Hope wins a prize package from Red Heart Yarn, worth $125!!
~~~UPDATE!!~~~
We've heard your concerns! There are those who would love to win the Red Heart prize package, but due to distance, don't have as good a chance as those who live closer to Eastern Pennsylvania. So to make it as fair as possible, there's a new plan! All packages postmarked between Ap
The Official Rules:
Here are the bloggers participating! Thank you!
- Beatrice Ryan Designs
- I'm Hooked
- Curious Tiff Crochet
- KT and the Squid
- Elk Studio
- Moogly
- Grammy Dirlam
- Petals to Picots
- Tales of a Crafty Mommy
My Merry Messy Life
- Moose Beanie - All Sizes
- Fox Beanie - All Sizes
- Lion Beanie - All Sizes
- Sugar Love Beanie - Baby Sizes
- Cheery Lime Adult Beanie - Adult Size
- Baby Boy Beanie with Pom Pom - Preemie and Baby Sizes
- Crochet Monster Hat - Toddler and Child Sizes
Beatrice Ryan Designs
I'm Hooked
- Basic Single Crochet Beanie - All Sizes
- Basic Half Double Crochet Beanie - All Sizes
- Jake the Dog Hat - Child Size
- Blue's Clues Hat - Child Size
- Cute and Warm Beanie with Bow - All Sizes
- Holiday Hats - All Sizes
Curious Tiff Crochet
KT and the Squid
- Free Simple Single Crochet Beanie - All Sizes
- Bright Stripes Beanie - Child and Adult Sizes
- Walkabout Slouch - Toddler, Child, Adult
- Easy Preemie Hat
Elk Studio
- Morning Frost Hat - Adult Size
- Country Appeal Hat and Matching Scarf - Adult Size
- Mystic Beanie - Adult Size
Grammy Dirlam
- Cabled Hat with Brim - Adult Size
Moogly
- Leaping Stripes and Blocks Beanies - All Sizes
Please Read the Requirements for Your Donation, per the Crochet for Cancer website:
- Must be new – never worn
- Clean – free of perfume, pet hair and smoke
- Placed individually in clear ziplock style plastic bags
- Soft yarn is best- cotton, acrylic, silk, fleece or a blend is best. Do not use wool or alpaca as they can irritate the scalp.
- We accept baby, children, youth, and adult hats.
- Please use patterns that do not have gaps or large holes. A tighter stitch is best so that it covers the scalp.
- Be sure to wash your hands on a regular basis while making the caps.
They also accept other items, which are fine if you want to use these instead for the CAL.
- Scarves
- Blankets (all sizes)
- Prayer Shawls
- Be creative, we accept any type of gift item to give to a person fighting cancer. For example, a crochet pink ribbon pin to support breast cancer awareness.
- Yarn, Yarn, Yarn!!!
- We accept gift cards to purchase yarn and supplies from the following locations: Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, AC Moore Crafts, Wal-Mart, and JoAnn Fabric.
Please Mail Your Package to:
Hooks of Hope
c/o Melissa Wortmann
P.O. Box 163
Neffs, PA 18065
International Readers
We would still love for you to participate by donating your projects to your local hospitals or charities. Let us know what you're up to by sharing on our social media! (Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, etc).
The Fabulous Prize - $125 Worth of Yarn From Red Heart!
Here is the prize that Red Heart Yarn has graciously provided to participate in our event! Please see "The Official Rules" above for details!
So, share the projects you've completed and are sending in on any of my social media and comment with what you'll be making below! Use the hashtag #CrochetForCancerCAL so we can follow each other!
Many thanks to Sara of My Merry Messy Life for putting this all together, and to all of the other bloggers for volunteering their patterns! We'll all be spreading the work on our blogs and social media - I hope you'll join it!
Dawn Maccione
I love this!! Heading to the yarn store tomorrow to start on some awesome hats for a great cause. I'm so excited to be doing something worthy with my hobby. Many thanks.
shelley
another place to donate crochet is https://www.facebook.com/SadieSunshineChapter
Melissa W
This is a great cause and all of our Crochet for Cancer chapters will gratefully accept donations. However, please remember to have a chance to earn the prize the items must be shipped to Hooks of Hope at PO Box 163 Neffs PA 18065. Just wanted to clarify so that people are not mailing for a chance at the prize and not being entered.
THanks
Tamara Kelly
😀 Thank YOU Dawn!
Deborah Rivers
I would love to to donate..this is a great cause..
Tamara Kelly
Thank you Deborah! 😀
Melissa W
That is wonderful Deb! We would love to accept your donations at Hooks of Hope PO Box 163 Neffs PA 18065.
Julia
What a nice idea. I'll see if I can participate though I have no hope of winning the prize as I live on the west coast.
Tamara Kelly
Thank you Julia! 😀
Melissa W
Hey Julia - with the adjusted mailing requirements we can no offer you the same chance to win as everyone on the east coast! THanks so much for helping us with this great mission and good luck 🙂 Melissa
Ida
Thank you.
Tamara Kelly
😀 Thank you Ida!
Jaiden
Already making my first hat!!
I am doing this in loving memory of my sister Liz who died from cancer.
Thank you for posting this!!!
Tamara Kelly
<3 My condolences Jaiden, and thank you!
Jaiden
Thank you.
I hope that whom ever gets the hats will be happy to wear them.
I sent them off in the mail.
I am certain I won't win but I am happy that they are going to people in need and I hope it brightens their day!
Jaiden
I have a question after the contest is over, are you still going to accept more donations? I would love to donate more hats or even blankets.
Thanks.
Tamara Kelly
I do believe it's a year round charity, so yes! And thank you! <3
Melissa W
Thank you so much and we are so sorry to hear of your loss. My Co leader and I have also lost family members and have members currently going through chemo. We understand all to well how important this cause is and how peoples lives are impacted by this dreaded diagnosis. We appreciate and are so grateful for all the wonderful people in the crochet community like yourself helping us with this mission to bring some comfort to those suffering. Thanks you again Melissa
cegger77
I love the idea and the generosity of this. On the other hand, the contest portion of this kinda seems slightly unfair to me. If all the packages are required to be sent out the 21st or after, the 21st being the first day you can mail anything out, which of course most people will asap that day, lol , and they go to the same place in Pennsylvania, then I have no chance of winning. For me to mail it half way accross the country will take a couple days, where as someone who mails a package the same day and time as i , who lives closer has an advantage just my proximity. Just saying. Hope there are tons of donations heading there by the date!! For such a good cause!!
Tamara Kelly
I understand your concerns cegger77! Though from what I've seen of the USPS, it might be more of a tossup than you'd think, heh.
Melissa W
Hey there - with the new rules in place I think everyone will be able to have the chance to win! I look forward to seeing your donations! We at Hooks of Hope are so grateful for everyone's generosity in donating to this wonderful cause. The crocheting community is wonderful 🙂 Melissa
Melissa W
HeyI We at Hooks of Hope are so grateful for everyone’s generosity in donating to this wonderful cause. The crocheting community is wonderful 🙂 We are hoping with the new mailing parameters we put in place that everyone will be able to enter and have a chance at this great prize Melissa
Amanda
So awesome and a great way to give back I will be participating..lol Thanks so the chance
Tamara Kelly
Thank you Amanda! 😀
Melissa W
Thanks Amanda! I look forward to seeing your donations they are so appreciated. Melissa
Carrie
Great idea! I'll have to pop in on Sara and tell her so. I haven't stopped by My Merry Messy Life in a while 🙁
Patricia
I'm in. I'm 3/4 done with the Leaping Blocks and Stripes in the child's version. Thanks for provding a good cause for us all.
Tamara Kelly
Thank you so much Patricia!
Melissa W
Wonderful! Can't wait to see your donations thanks so much for helping us fulfill our mission 🙂 Melissa
Grace
Having the mail in date be April 21 is actually blocking a lot of people from sending it in....It's Easter Monday and ALL of the post offices here are closed for the stat holiday. Unless this isn't open to people of Canada...
Tamara Kelly
I believe international people are welcome to send them in, but it's unlikely to arrive in time. Please see the section on International Readers.
Grace
okie dokie 🙂 I'm still going to send them in, I have 7 premie hats made already XD I have too much random yarn laying around I needed a project to use it up 🙂
Melissa W
Thanks Grace! I look forward to seeing your donations. With the changes to the mailing requirements I think we have now accounted for international entries thanks again. Melissa
Stevie
I'm excited about this!! I keep trying to find good places to donate, there's not many around my area though. I love making hats, I just never wear them. I'll start on one soon; help my idle hands out some 😀
Melissa W
Thanks Stevie we are so grateful for your help and I look forward to seeing your donations! Please check us out on facebook to see some of the things we have already donated for this wonderful mission. https://www.facebook.com/HooksofHope
Stevie-Ra'
I have about two drawers full of Caron Simply Soft; will that yarn be suitable? Also, should I pre-wash them or no?
Melissa W
Thanks for asking Stevie :). Love the Caron Simply Soft (I use it myself I have a watermelon and teal I've made hats from) please use that. We do not use wool, angora or things like that we stick with acrylics and cotton. No need to prewash we take care of that prior to tagging and bagging. It is part of what we do as the Chapter leaders. Thanks again for your support I love it! Melissa
Stacey
I do crochet for cancer but I send mine to St Jude Research Hospital in Memphis. I think this a wonderful contest but I think I will skip it in order to continue my own. Thanks to all who participate and to the wonderful people who set this up!
Tamara Kelly
Thank you for what you do, Stacey! <3
Stephanie Bilbao Worsnopp
I will definitely be sending some hats next week. I just wanted to clarify, do the hats need to be made with the patterns listed? I wouldn't mind making all new hats, but I do have some that I can send that were made previously from different patterns.
Tamara Kelly
Hi Stephanie, and thank you! You are welcome to use any patterns you like. 😀
lori draughon
I got 6 hats crocheted, 3 adult . 3 kids. Will be mailing them tomorrow. Thank you for this opportunity to help others and maybe win more yarn 🙂
Tamara Kelly
Thank YOU so much Lori! <3
Magpie
Hi, guys 🙂 Just as a note from someone who is a cancer survivor (ovarian cancer, Stage IV), hats are great but they're not the only thing cancer patients can use, let me tell you! There are a lot of weird little odds and ends you might not think of that I have found very useful while undergoing chemo and the like.
Sometimes putting up with treatment's idiosyncracies is just a giant pain in the arse. Here are some things I've learned to pick up and take with me along the way back and forth from the hospital:
* Mug cozies: Yeah, those tightly-knitted or crocheted sleeves that fit over the body of coffee mugs or (paper?) cups. Being completely hairless can be a boon or a bust. On the one hand, it's a break from having to shave your legs. On the other, ya get cold fast. Mugs or cups of hot stuff can warm you up quickly, but because the containers aren't always insulated very well, it means you can get scalded or burned much more easily than you normally would too. Having a cup cozy around can prevent that business from happening -- and if it gets spilled on, so what? Throw it in the wash. Packs conveniently in purse or pocket 😉
* "Instant laundry" kit: What a relic of a bygone age, but a lifesaver when you need it. It's a little knitted or crocheted bag with a flap cover, sealed with a button, that contains nothing more than a length of clothesline (either crocheted or clipped from a longer length) and about four clothespins. The one pattern I have for it is an antique, published in an old Anna Weurfel Brown book from about 1915; I'll have to see if I can't update it and post it on Ravelry or something. Great for those times between when they take the catheter out and when you're released from the hospital, when you and your socks haven't exactly figured out how to manage getting your IV rack into the bathroom with you in time. (It happens.)
* For those of you not necessarily concerned with making projects for the giveaway, COWLS. Hats are great, but many of us women miss that hair on the backs of our necks! Before all of my grief started, I used to have a long braid down to my butt....and man, do I miss it, especially after this winter, lol! In all seriousness, though, hoods and cowls are a much more comfortable choice for a lot of us.
* Dammit Dolls and Stress Bunnies: Yep, amigurimi for adults. Especially for those of us without ports, sometimes our veins just need that extra "pumping" action one gets by squeezing stress balls. And hey, those things do help relieve some stress! Chemo is dull, dull, dull -- "hurry up and wait" is the motto while your morning blood work takes time to finish maturing and the pharmacist makes up your "chemo cocktail" for the day -- but only if the blood work indicates the patient can have it. The patient won't know -- and there is no way for him or her to know -- until after the morning blood work has been taken and evaluated even if he or she can have the scheduled treatment that day. If counts aren't where they should be -- white cell counts are low, blood sugar may be too high -- then treatment may have to be rescheduled. So there isn't really much to do but sit around and....well, stress. Now for those of us crafty people, waiting is no big deal; we travel with our projects, so there's always something to do. Try to stress us out, I dare you! The people who suffer are those who have no hobbies -- or, at least, no portable hobbies. So giving them something like cool handknitted or crocheted stress balls to squeeze (which also, by the way, aids in getting their veins to pop right up and say hello when it's time to take blood or insert an IV for infusion) can be ideal. And those stress balls don't have to look like little balls either. Stress bunnies, stress chickies, stress piggies, stress bulls.....hey, why not? Laughter's the best medicine.
* Market sacks: ....filled with the stuff I could eat that day. When I was going through my first rounds of chemo, there were times when everything tasted funky and/or smelled just plain bad, so I couldn't eat things consistently. I'm not exactly Cindy Crawford to begin with so believe me when I tell you this put just about everyone who knows me into a blind panic. Every single day it was different: one day everything was too salty, the next, everything was too sweet, the next, everything tasted like cabbage (of which there was none in the house, mind you).....it was neverending. My poor husband 🙁 Regrettably, the food at the hospital where I got my chemo was gruesome whether you were healthy or not so the best we could do was pack a bunch of stuff I **could** eat that day into market sacks and take off. (Moogly, you have a wonderful pattern on your site here for your Rainbow Pocket Market Bag that would really work well for this!! Wish I'd had it back then 😉
But those are just a couple of ideas for things **other** than hats that I know chemo patients can use. Any more survivors out there that can shed some light? Thanks, everyone, for letting me share 😀
Tamara Kelly
Thank you so much for sharing all of this Magpie! <3 Ovarian cancer took a dear friend of mine, I am so glad you made it through!
Alison
I really don't know how I missed this...just saw it last night! I think maybe I've just had WAY too much stuff going on! However, we're going on a road trip from Cincinnati to Ontario this weekend (for the Creativ Festival! YAY!), so I'm jumping in. I know the deadline is Monday, but I think I'm up for the challenge. The least I can do is send 4 premie hats...but I think I'm going to challenge myself to see just how much I can get done on a weekend road trip...after all, it's for a great cause 🙂
Tamara Kelly
That's awesome Alison! Have a great trip!
Sherika
Mailed off the hats I made today. Hope they are enjoyed!
Tamara Kelly
Thank you so much Sherika!
Pony
Is your living room full of hats & scarves & more? Did I miss the announcement?
Tamara Kelly
I'll be sharing the winners on Monday the 26th! 🙂
cathy urbanski
I just popped in to THANK every single one of you who participated in this! I was unable to join in at the time, but I will be making use of the patterns now. My brother was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, my mother-in-law passed from cancer this January, and my husband was diagnosed in July. I love to crochet while waiting for hubby's appointments because it eases my nerves and hopefully I can make something that makes life a little nicer for somebody during a very difficult time.
Also want to thank the person (sorry forgot your name!) who offered all the other suggestions. I never would have though about cup cozies. - brilliant!
Tamara Kelly
♥♥♥