Making a Difference (Part 3) - The Yellow Edition

My recent charity makes have one thing in common - they all feature the colour yellow!

I haven't written a Making A Difference post since 2018 (here's the links to Part 1 and Part 2) but I'm always on the lookout for ways my knitting needles or crochet hook can help me to contribute to good causes.

Back in September I saw on social media that the Highland Hospice in Inverness intended to create a cascade of sunflowers in their reception for Wear Yellow Day 2021. That's on May 28th in the Highland Hospice.  The sunflower features on the Hospice's logo, and knitting and crochet patterns for sunflowers were available on the Hospice website thanks to Marjory aka @barraandcarly.  

I was happier with my crocheted sunflower than my knitted one, though I appear to have had scant regard for the pattern after crocheting my first sunflower.  The next two I made are a little more 'free form'! 

I'm not worried that they're not all the same.  The profusion of woolly blooms will be incredibly eye-catching I've no doubt, and the aim of fundraising and raising awareness for the Highland Hospice will be achieved in a glorious curtain of gold and yellow sunflowers!

I had my crochet hook out again in February after seeing an Instagram post appealing for squares to be made into two blankets to be raffled in aid of Mind UK. 

Helen, aka @florahoneypot,  requested two squares per participant and was specific about size and pattern.  Colour choice was up to us.  I'm not sure why I chose this sparkly yellow wool, hand-dyed by Erin of HennyPennyMakes, other than it's gorgeous, and it was an unusually sunny February day when I decided to start my wee squares!

So great was the uptake of crocheters who wanted be part of this worthwhile venture that Helen had to limit the number of willing crocheters to 180.  Luckily I applied straight away and was able to join in.  I was only too happy to comply with Helen's requirements as she is single-handedly edging all the squares and joining them together into two big blankets  A mammoth task!  She keeps us all up to date on Instagram with her progress and I shall publicise the raffle on Facebook and Instagram when the blankets are complete as they are already looking very beautiful as well as soft and cosy.  

See more of this collaborative fundraiser here  #communitycomfortblanket/

There was no question what colour I'd be using when I decided to take part in the Marie Curie crafting challenge to help support their Great Daffodil Appeal.  Though the charity has both knitted and crochet daffodil patterns on its website, I was keen to use this book which I received from my Secret Santa at work.

If I'm honest, I didn't get on all that well with the daffodil pattern in the book.  My flowers just didn't look like like the ones pictured.  I made two daffodils, one of which required surgery, and also tried a narcissus.  Feeling despondent that I was not going to manage to make the ten flowers encouraged for the Marie Curie Challenge, I remembered a great on-line source of crochet inspiration with clear photo tutorials, the blog by Lucy at Attic24.  

Lucy's daffodil pattern uses 4ply merino wool, rather than the cotton specified in the flower book, and I had two perfect skeins in my stash I'd picked up from Hennypennymakes at the Portsoy Wool Festival in 2019.  My memory may have been jogged by these mini eggs as much as by these daffies in the field next to us!  

Over the Easter weekend I was able to make seven more daffodils following Lucy's straightforward crochet instructions. 

Most knitting and crochet benefits from blocking - which means dampening then pinning into shape.  Even the wonky cotton daffies look a bit better.

The Marie Curie Challenge suggested we make our ten handmade daffodils into badges then raise funds by selling them onto friends, or sending them to a Marie Curie shop to be sold in aid of funds.  As I'm still not seeing many friends, and did not consider my flowers to be worthy of onward sale, I made a donation to Marie Curie instead then created this spring wreath to brighten up our home.

Just as I'd completed these three yellow projects for charity, my latest yarn purchase arrived from Rosies Moments for the next charity knitting initiative I'm joining 

and, 

you've guessed it, 

it's yellow!