Will you help support Cwtch of Comfort?

Hi folks!

I have something really important to talk about today and I really need your help.  There is a charity local to me that is called '2 Wish upon a Star Foundation' and it's such an vital cause.  Many of us are lucky enough not to know the pain of losing a child.  Sadly though, for those suffering this tragedy there still seems to be a lack of support.  This charity is working to help this.
In its own words: 

"The aims of 2 Wish Upon a Star are to raise funds to improve bereavement services initially in South Wales. Emphasis will be on bereavement support for parents after losing their child suddenly and traumatically. 

Our Aims
*Ensure every A and E Department in South Wales has a suitable bereavement suites for bereaved relatives
*Bereavement boxes are available for parents at each of these hospitals
*Immediate bereavement support is available for parents and siblings
*To provide a professional counselling service for bereaved parents"

Here's how you can help.

The bereavement boxes contain, among other things, a blanket that the child can be wrapped in, either for burial or to be kept as a keepsake.  These are donated and as you can imagine, they really need more.  The project for making these blankets is called 'cwtch of comfort' ('cwtch' is Welsh for 'cuddle' ) and it would mean a great deal to have your help.  I am commiting to making three blankets for this cause-with the help of my friends, we are planning to make more through a crochet along and we are asking for donations of 6" squares to use.
Here's what I'd like you to do-
Pop over to the website and have a look at the blanket requirements.  They must be in either white or very pale pastels (in gender neutral shades only please) and there's a rough size guide.  If you can commit to making a blanket, please, please do!  You can email me for my address to post it and I will donate it with the others that we are making here.

 Or make us a square!  I'm following the amazing example of the SIBOL project and I'm asking for 6" WHITE or very pale gender neutral pastel squares in acrylic yarn.  We will make them into blankets and if you can attach your name to your square, we'll make sure that your name is listed on the finished item.  The deadline for squares at this point is the end of May 2015-please email me at amberspider@googlemail.com and I'll send you my address.


Lastly, a big help would be sharing or linking to this post on your blog.  The more people who see it the better!

Please, please help.  I know how wonderful the online community is at joining together to help a worthy cause-I'd be honoured to have your involvement.

So, in summary, we need:

6" squares in white or very pale gender neutral pastel shades.
Acrylic yarn preferable.
Knitted or Crocheted

Thank you so much

Puppy Love Blanket

A while back, my best friend V asked me to make her a blanket for her dog Kira.  Many, many, many Moons ago, when I first started making blankets, my second big blanket I made as a gift was the blues and greens one for V.

 Kira is getting on a bit and feels the cold and V keeps having to fight her for her blanket!  So she asked if I would make one just for Kira and it's such a lovely idea that I think other people may one something similar...
I couldn't settle on one idea though-I kept flitting back and forth with it and it took ages to get it clear.  I wanted to include quite a few elements-using diagonal squares to make the 'K' initial in the centre; having heart squares (I ended up using a few that I'd made for the Christmas Fayre and improvising a square around them); designing a bone motif and a tree motif and using DebiY's brilliant 'squircle' square to suggest a ball theme.  I used mainly earthy/autumnal tones with a bit of blue/green squares and pinky shades thrown in as well.  and I ended up making it quite a bit bigger than I'd initially planned but I figure V and Kira can snuggle up underneath it together...
Posted it off today-very excited to see what she thinks!

It measures over 41" square....

Full of Love Blanket

I really enjoy working at Greggs.  There are some people that I don't gel with as well as others but overall, most of the staff there are really hardworking, friendly, kind and welcoming.  It's a very busy shop, no time to stand around and it's a surprisingly stimulating environment!  I never expected that Greggs would be a challenge but it is and every day is different.  Hard work is noticed and appreciated and there's a strong sense of team spirit.
A couple of weeks ago, I was working a Saturday and I found myself getting frustrated with one of the women who works there-she was just irritating me so much and I kept having to hold my tongue and shake it off because I knew I was being oversensitive.  Well, towards the end of the day, she got a phonecall from her husband-turned out her daughter had been in labour all day and the call was to tell her that she had been rushed to theatre with the baby.  K came off the phone, put her hands over her face and just sobbed.  And I ran over and wrapped her up in a hug.
Thankfully, the mum and baby are both fine-she had a little boy so to celebrate the new Grandson, I decided (of course) to make a baby blanket for her.  Even though I didn't let it show, I still feel really bad about thinking so ill of her-I'm so relieved that it all turned out well and it certainly was a lesson in compassion for me.
(We get on really well now)

So I turned to my 'Four Hearts' design and did a bit of tweaking.  It measures approx 31" square, made with Patons Smoothie yarn and K is delighted with it.

I'm currently making another in white as a donation piece, will tell all when it's finished.  I have 5 blankets that I'm working on!

Ocean Waves Blanket

A very long absence!  Happy New Year and hope you have had a lovely Easter season as well-Myf and I have been enjoying the sunshine.  I have been working for Greggs which I absolutely love although it hasn't left much crochet time but recently I've managed to finish up a couple so I thought I  better catch up with this blog!

I started this blanket so long ago.  I was so enthustiastic initially with its pretty ripples but I got more and more frustrated with it-I was only doing two rows per shade and didn't have much plan towards the colour order so as it got bigger it looked less and less how I wanted :-(

It's beautiful but I just couldn't get past my frustration!  I couldn't start adding wider rows so it got left to the side for months while I tried to figure out a plan.

My gorgeous sister and my darling nieces came up for a New Year visit and I was chatting to her about my dilemma.  I  eventually decided to finish it off, perhaps for SIBOL, and start myself another one with more planning and wider strips.

I was about halfway done when we had a visit from a friend with her little daughter-she commented that she was cold so I wrapped her up in the blanket. She immediately loved it so much, stroking the colours (she's only four) so I decided that I would finish it up for her as a gift.  I finally finished it about a month later and put a very simple border around it before we took it over.  Little lady loves it a great deal and as it''s huge, she should be snuggling up in it for many years to come.  Don't worry SIBOL, I plan on making another water themed ripple for you soon!