I love to crochet and knit.  Well, maybe it's more like an obsession.  I don't do it for a while and then I go slightly hook-crazy. 

For a while I made chemo caps for cancer patients.  Then I made hats for our troops (it's cold in Iraq in the summer.  And when I hear of a baby in the family, I make a baby blanket.

In 2006, a woman named Cindy who frequented the Delphi Etiquettehell board, was very ill.  She'd had a chronic disease for a while, but now it was serious.  After her death, a friend claimed to have had a vision where scarves of various frilly and fluffy types (Cindy loved frou-frou stuff) would be donated to people who needed them, especially in New Orleans, from where Cindy and her family had fled following Hurricane Katrina. 

Blankets of Hope

Blankets of Hope is a project of Soldiers' Angels.  These blankets go to a VA hospital for veterans and the wounded.  It is my privilege to make these labors of love for those who so bravely served our nation.

2009 Blankets
This is actually the second blanket of 2009, but the first one I've finished. I'm entering it in a contest.

2008 Blankets
This is my own original creation.  I call it My Blanket is Happy to See You.  I was inspired by the Unsquare Afghan at Lion Brand Yarn.  That's done in soft pastels, and I wanted something brighter, so I chose black and yellow.  As I went along, the yellow circles started to remind me of smiley faces, so....

I always wanted to do a blanket made of different patterned squares.  I did the Lion Brand Crochet Along.  I hated it.  I've got other patterns.  I think I'll try one of those.
Another knitted one, a Lodge Blanket, made with two strands of black and red yarn.  Interesting, but I hate how the yarn tangled.
This is the same pattern as the blue one below.  I love this pattern. This is Erin Lindsay's granny rectangle in violet, burgundy, and black.
The Rainbow Blocks pattern from Leisure Arts.  This one became a featured photo for the pattern on Ravelry. This is the same pattern in scrap yarn.  I call this my Off Color granny rectangle, because none of the colors are "pure."  It worked out well.
This pattern is from Afghans by the Pound.  The original was in dark blue and white.  I thought it looked stark.  On reflection, I like it better than this one. This is a seven pointed star.  The woman who posted the pattern said it tended to hump in the middle.  Boy did it ever.  I recommend this to anyone who wants to make something similar.
I had a lot of yarn left over, but because of the pattern, half as much white as anything else.  This pattern uses half as much white as the previous. This is a rare one for me.  It's knitted.  I got the pattern from the yarn wrapper, a Rainbow Boucle I got at Jo-Ann's.
The boxes I get hold four or five blankets.  I've already got my next one finished and am well into the one following, an original design.
   

Blankets

The Cindy Project
This pattern is from Leisure Arts.  It is supposed to be in baby weight pastels, but I usually make in in worsted weight bright colors.  I "invented" a lot of simple patterns during The Cindy Project.  (Oh, I'm sure others have done them.  I hadn't.  These were two diagonally striped scarves in black and blue-sparkle or green-sparkle.
This is the same blanket in pastels. This uses the same pattern, but in red, white, and blue.
This is the same pattern modified slightly.  The center has been removed and the sides extended.  Now it's a poncho.  I made this for an Internet friend of mine who disappeared before I'd finished it.  I ended up giving it to a dear friend in Soldiers' Angels who liked the color.  Wear it in good health, Michelle

After I'd gotten the diagonal thing down, I tried it both ways, making a diamond pattern.  This uses the same black acrylic and sparkly blue as the ones above.
The same blanket, in teal and shades of brown and beige.  I made this for a friend on an Internet community, but it's sort of Soldiers' Angels, since she's pregnant and her husband is deployed. 

When I crochet for the veterans, I try different patterns.  I ship several blankets at a time and want them to look individual.  But for my friends, this is my go-to pattern.

 These used two strands of a very thin variegated yard.  Again, I did one in green and one in blue.
This is a simple rainbow band, but I was so proud of those fringes, which, I swear, were the hardest part of the scarf.

Caps
    Here is a selection of caps I made to send to the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago.  My stepfather went there and is still on the Admissions Board.