Current Projects

Current Needs – June 2023

Below are our current, most pressing needs but, as always, feel free to make whatever you like as we can certainly use it. If you create an item with a specific recipient group in mind, please clearly write that on the back of the tag and feel free to add a personal note of encouragement or simply a “made by” if you want to do so.

Lots of patterns are available on our website at: https://fromtheheartstitchers.org/patterns/. 

If you deliver any items yourself in the Richmond area, please let Deb Abresch know at 804.512.3162 or by email at debabresch@verizon.netloisfth@me.com. In the Fredericksburg/King George area please advise Sally Moore at 540.295.6224.

Fredericksburg

  • Shirt protectors
  • Neck pillows
  • Dialysis mitts
  • Shawls
  • Large Blankets

Richmond

  • Baby hats, blankets for female veterans (due by June 10th)
  • Surgical hats
  • Infant fleece blankets, 30” x 30” to 40” x 60”
  • Market bags
  • Large blankets
  • Lapghans (wheelchair/lap blankets)
  • Washcloths
  • Baby hats and baby blankets 28” x 28” and up
  • Fidget items
  • Red, White and Blue Wheelchair blankets/Lapghans
  • Toys/Dressed bears

Click HERE for patterns for blankets (one knit and one crochet.)

There are lots more blanket patterns available on the From the Heart website HERE.

From the Heart tags are attached to all completed, ready to be sent out items. Click HERE for tags or you can find them on both the patterns or the members page if you wish to print them yourself.  They must be printed on white card stock, a hole punched in the upper left corner and attached to the items using a bow rather then a knot. Tags are also available at the workshop any time we are open.

Ready for a new and different project?

How About a Market Bag!

One of our recipients, World U.P., needs reusable market bags.  This organization helps to bring fresh produce to food desert areas in RVA. You can help in several ways. Donate your clean market bags. Can’t spare your bags? No problem, let’s make some! If you crochet, knit, or sew, you can find free patterns online easily. If you sew, we have many upholstery samples in the rear of the workshop. It doesn’t matter if the patterns match. Just sew two samples together and make a strap from another pattern piece. That makes it interesting. This material will also be very sturdy for carrying produce.  You will find some free patterns online here if you want jazz it up with your stash of fabrics.

An easy crochet pattern, Retro Produce Bag, is a quick project. We have plenty of partially used cotton and acrylic skeins at the workshop to choose from.

And, if you would rather knit, a favorite bag of some FtH members is the Grrlfriend Market Bag.  (Yes, that’s the correct spelling.) Again, come select some partially used skeins of yarn for this project. Mix and match colors to add some interest. Below is a pattern for our knitters who may not have internet access (see photo above).

There’s no deadline for this project so take your time and enjoy the rhythm of your stitches.

Lacy Cotton Shopping Bag – Knit in the Round

Gauge is not a major concern.

Materials,

About 7oz Cotton yarn,  such as Sugar N Cream

Size 9  24″ circular needles, DPN’s of same size.

1 stitch marker

Pattern:

Cast on 9 stitches, join, being careful not to twist, and knit one round. Place marker so that you know where a round begins.

yo,k1 around (18 st), k3 rounds.

yo, k1 around (36 st), k6 rounds. yo, k1 around (72 st), k 12 rounds.

yo, k2 around (108 st), k for 3 inches, begin lace pattern.

Lace pattern:

R1: yo,k2tog around

R2: k around

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until lace measures 12” deep, garter stitch (k 1 round, p 1 round, repeat) for an additional 1.5”.

Straps: on a knit round, k16 stitches, bind off 38 stitches, knit 16, bind off 38, you should be back to your first set of 16 knit stitches, knit these, then turn and purl them, continue knitting in stockinette stitch until approx. 20 inches long. Kitchener these 16 sts to the 16 stitches on other side of bag. Weave in ends.

Project Sizes, Supplies and Ongoing Projects

General Project Sizes

As always anything you want to make we can really use to help fill the bins in the shop and warm the hearts and bodies of those in need. Below is a list of items we can use at any time along with our General Project Sizes list. If the sizes below differ from what is given on “Current Needs” list, please go with what is given on the Current Needs.

  • Chemo Hats for Guys and Boys
  • Socks for the Homeless – prefer white, non – Wool socks. Tube socks work well (no heels to deal with!)
  • Chemo Shawls 30″ x 48″
  • Chemo Blankets 38″ X 48″
  • Blankets for Hospice/Palliative Care 27″ x 36″ (No fringe, no tie on’s if wheelchair blankets)
  • Lap/Wheelchair blankets Approx. 42″ X 27″
  • Baby Blankets
    •  36″ to 40″ square
    • Rectangles from 32″ X 30″ and up
  • Children’s blankets (for clutching or draggin’) 24″ sq up to 36″ or 40″ & not necessarily square
  • Bone Marrow Transplant Unit blankets Large and COLORFUL! (Just enough to cover the top of twin bed)
  • Dialysis blankets: 60″ long.  30-32″ wide.
  • Home Again (Battered Women and Children’s Shelter) large enough to wrap a small child in cold, drafty house
  • Chemo Hats Small, medium and large sizes for both adults and children
  • SPCA rounds or squares 15-18 inches up to 3 feet to fit crates using leftovers of mixed yarn, wool, blends, cotton or acrylics
  • Squares 12 inches to be stitched together into blankets
  • Infant Hats, Must be stretchy. Full term newborn needs to fit over a 5″ Styrofoam ball.
  • Layette Sets Used as “take me home” outfits for newborns.
  • Bears and Toys: New bears from Dollar stores, dressed with knitted or crocheted outfits. Given to sick, scared or needy children in ER, clinic, oncology, hospice and other areas.
  • Items for use in Memory Care Units.  Go to our Pattern Page and then click on either Knitted or Crocheted Patterns and, then, “Comfort Items” under the Knitted or Crocheted Patterns list.
  • From the Heart tags can be found HERE