Summer Knit and Crochet

It's raining, or maybe it's not, but it's hot and humid and not a good afternoon out of doors. Sometimes Grandmother wants to just sit and knit. Or crochet.
I came across a project today that combines that much needed break from the weather with an idea for giving.

Arkansas Children's Hospital is now conducting it's annual Knitting for Noggins Knit-a-Thon with a goal of 30,000 knit or crochet hats by the end of October.
If you live near the hospital in Arkansas, you can attend the Knit-a-Thon there on October 14th.
Or you may want to host your own Knit-Together with your friends and create hats for the hospital. Go to their website to download a party kit that includes everything you need to host your own Knitting for Noggins party, including a flyer and printable invitation.
And of course, working on hats on your own is the perfect way to spend a summer afternoon.
Visit their website to find guidelines and addresses to send your hats.

Arkansas Children's Hospital, a place of care, love and hope, is a non-profit, private hospital, dedicated to helping children live healthy and productive lives. It is the only pediatric hospital in Arkansas and one of the largest in the country. The staff consists of more than 500 physicians and a 3,500 member support staff. The campus spans 26 city blocks and has a floor space totaling over 1,200,000 square feet. In the last year, the emergency room, outpatient and specialty clinics had more than 250,000 visits from children, not only from Arkansas, but throughout the world. The hospital has many one-of-a-kind pediatric specialists and is licensed for 280 beds.

Arkansas Children's Hospital is a world leader in many areas of care, utilizing leading-edge treatments, state-of-the-art facilities and aggressive research and development.

You'll find a good assortment of free patterns for knit and crochet hats at these sites:

Crystal Palace Yarns

Headhuggers

Five For Friday - Five More Ideas To Start Your Child's Collection

Buttons- you can use buttons to make patterns and shapes the same way you can with caps and lids -
there are also lots of button crafts. A quick google search for button craft ideas will show you button picture frames, button mobiles, button ornaments and our favorite, tiny button dolls.
Bookmarks a little harder to find, these are a good challenge for an older child. The local library is likely to have an assortment as give-aways, bookstores have them as give-aways and for sale (they don't cost much). Making your own is a lot of fun. This collections is likely to accelerate an interest in books and reading and that is a Good Thing!
Menus take-out menus, advertising menus that come as inserts in the newspaper, many restaurants will let you have a menu for your collection if you ask them. Ask friends, grandparents and other relatives to pick up menus for you when they dine out.
Pennies finding pennies is a hobby in itself.
"Find a penny, pick it up;
All the day you'll have good luck.
Find a penny, leave it lay;
Bad luck will come to you that day."
or
"I found a penny here today,
just sitting on the ground.
They say that it's a sign that
my Guardian Angel is around.
They toss them down from Heaven
whenever we are down
just to make us smile
and wipe away our frown."
Greeting cards lots of creative possibilities here. Collect an assortment from every holiday. Cut images from the cards to make collages, dioramas, paper dolls or handmade greeting cards. Open them out flat, sew the folds together and make your own book...

My Collection

The kids have been out of school - what? - two weeks? Have you heard it yet? Yup. That's it..."I'm bored!"
This might be a good time to start a collection. Your kids can learn a lot from making of collection (it doesn't really matter what they're collecting). An early enthusiasm for something now could lead to a lifelong hobby and deciding how to keep, arrange or display things is an artistic exercise in itself.
You may have to help your child to generate ideas about what he would like to collect by making suggestions (otherwise she could fall right into the commercial trap of collecting 'my little ponies').
Here are a few ideas to get you both started:
Candy wrappers, stamps or stickers use them in albums or make colorful posters for the wall
Bottle tops and jar lids collect the tops of all sorts of different kinds of screw-top bottles, jars and tubes. Arrange them in patterns or letter shapes.
Small rocks and pebbles collect pretty shapes or colors. Your child could also paint or use markers on smooth stones to make animals, insects or scenery.
Postcards collect these wherever you find them (you'd be surprised how many are available in your own home town - after all, someone is a tourist there...)Ask your friends and relatives to send them to you. Collect the stamps!
Refrigerator magnets almost everyone is giving these away as a promotion now and a refrigerator makes a very good size display board.
Leaves these are much easier for small children to collect and preserve than flowers. Show them how to press the leaves flat between pieces of paper towel under a pile of books.