March--Blankets and Comfort Shawls

The Charity item for the month of March is small blankets, such as baby blankets or small cuddle blankets, or comfort shawls. Charities appreciate baby blankets for mothers who don't have anything in which to wrap their babies.

Pat also points out that blankets for children need not be large enough to sleep under. Children undergoing painful medical procedures sometimes need a small blanket as a “lovey” to hug while in the hospital. Use machine washable yarn that is soft. You can find children’s blanket patterns all over the internet and in pattern books. One of the easiest, that also knits up quickly, is the Diagonal baby blanket pattern from Lion Brand. The pattern is all garter stitch and you can use big needles. Either use bulky but soft yarn, or hold two or three strands of soft lighter yarn together. Pattern is below.

Comfort shawls and the prayer shall ministries have proven to be popular projects for many church knitting groups. Because the shawls are for people in distress, physical or emotional, using machine washable yarn is important. Again, Lion Brand Yarn has a basic prayer or comfort shawl pattern, using a K 3, P 3 motif.

If you don’t think you can finish a blanket or shawl by yourself, Ask a friend to join in the knitting. Use the same or complementary yarn. Knit strips of a pre-determined length. Get together for coffee, tea, wine, etc., and sew the strips together! You will comfort yourself with friendship and with the knowledge that some unknown recipient will also be comforted.

See you at the March meeting!!