Discover the charities Fox Valley Knitters' Guild supports

The Fox Valley Knitters’ Guild typically selects a few charities to

knit and crochet for during the year. This year, we will be knitting

hats, scarves and mittens for the

Wayside Mission Cross centers in Aurora and Elgin. These are facilities for the unhoused and will distribute items to people to help keep warm in colder months.

Also, we are making shawls for the residents of the DuPage Care Center, a nursing facility in Winfield. The residents enjoy the shawls as lap blankets and around their shoulders as an additional layer during the cooler seasons.

Members can also choose to make 8 x 8-inch squares for blankets collected by Lisa Mattingly for the American Legion; and hats, scarves, socks, mittens and shawls for LGBTQ+ Charity/Knit the Rainbow.

Here are some suggested patterns for our charity knitting.

Free shawl patterns on Ravelry for DuPage Care Center:

Knit: “Mom’s Bench Prayer Shawl” by Alice’s Embrace

Crochet: “Half A Granny Square Shawl” by Churchmouse

Shirley’s Easy Peasy Hat Pattern

Materials:

Use size 5 & 6 needles if you knit tightly, 4 & 5 needles if you knit loosely. I use 16 inch circulars. Use any leftover yarn, you won’t need a lot. (Based on Ann Budd’s “Hats” pattern in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns)

Using worsted or DK yarn, for a large child’s head or adult, cast on 76 or 84 stitches, depending if you want a bit smaller hat, or a bit larger. Knit 1-1/2 inches of ribbing (3 inches if you want it to roll up) with smaller needle. (Mark the beginning of the row with a marker) Switch to larger needle and knit in stockinette for 7 inches. Here is where you can have some fun. Do a texture like moss stitch, or do a slip-stitch pattern, or knit in some Fair Isle stranded color knitting with some other leftover yarn. Or do stripes. For decrease: K 2 K2 together for one row. Knit K1 K2 together for one row Knit You will probably need to switch to double point needles here if you’re not using a long circular. Start decreasing by K2 together all the way around until you have about 6-8 stitches. Then cut yarn, leaving a 6-8 inch tail. Using a large needle, run the tail through remaining stitches and pull up tight. Decorate top with pompom, I-cord, crocheted loop, etc. or leave plain if desired. Feed in all tails. Voila, you are done! Try it on! Wash and block if needed.

Shirley’s Easy Diagonal Square

Materials:

Size 7 or 8 knitting needles

Scrap yarn, washable & dryable

Cast on a stitch. Row 2: Increase to two stitches Row 3: Knit Row 4: Increase each stitch (4 stitches) Row 5: Knit Row 6: Knit 1, increase 2nd and 3rd stitches, Knit 1 (6 stitches) Row 7: Knit Row 8: Knit 1, increase 2nd stitch, knit, increase next to last stitch, knit 1 (8 stitches). Row 9: Knit Continue in garter stitch, increasing 2nd and next to last stitches on every other row, knitting the other row, until you reach a width of 8 inches. Then start decreasing every other row on the 2nd stitch and next to last stitch until you are down to one stitch, finish off.

Discover the charities Fox Valley Knitters' Guild supports

CHARITY KNITTING

Free Patterns - created by our own SHIRLEY REMES

Materials:

Materials: