Marine Corps Kids

As some of you may know, I am involved with a great organization called Operation Marine Corps Kids.

Warning: Shameless Plug

My friend Deb and I organized this effort as a way to say "thank you" to our military families. Deb's son is a proud Marine who served three tours in Iraq, and Deb is very active with the Marine Corps Family Foundation.

Through the generosity of many crafters around the country, Operation Marine Corps Kids sends care packages to babies who are born while their father is deployed. These gifts of hats, blankets, sweaters and booties are a small and simple gesture of thanks to the families for their service and their sacrifice.

For every family that we reach out to, there are dozens more. We would love to send gifts to all of them, so I'm asking for your help.

If you are a crafter please consider donating towards our cause. Every item donated is sent to the newborn child of a serviceman. We also, sometimes, are able to send gifts for older siblings and the new moms.

If you are not a crafter, but would like to help, please consider buying and donating an item from our online store. These logo products are a great way to show your support, and 100% of the proceeds from sales go towards our costs to ship gifts to the families. You can also make monetary donations through our link at the Marine Corps Family Foundation site.

Most importantly, you all can help by spreading the word about what we do. Tell others about what we do so that more military families know about us and more crafters can get involved.

Note: This post has been post-dated to keep it at the top of this blog.

TADAH!!!

Over the weekend hubby and I went to visit family. It's been cold and miserable, so I decided to make my adorable Olivia an ear-flap hat to keep her warm during this horrible winter.

While looking for a pattern, I came across the pattern for the TADAH! Hat, and fell in love with it!!! It doesn't have warm ear flaps, but the funky colors and fun design are sure to be heart-warming and cheery during the most grey of winter days.

I think that this pattern is pretty darned cute in its own right, but when you put the hat on Sweet Olivia it becomes off the chart adorable!

500 Hats!!!

I know that when I make and donate a baby gift for Marine Corps Kids or a hat for a cancer patient, it makes me feel good. It's a tiny gesture but it let's someone know that we care and that we're thinking of them.

This story really touched my heart.

Three-year-old Hudson Francis is in remission from leukemia. He wanted to do something for the other children in the cancer institute, so he and his 11 year old sister started a hat drive. They collected 500 hats that they gave to other cancer patients as well as to Hudson's doctors, nurses and other care takers.

It's hard to think about young children fighting cancer and dealing with the effects of chemo. Hopefully someday soon we'll have a cure for cancer.

Until then, it's really beautiful to hear stories like that of Hudson and his family. That little boy has a huge heart!!!

May the new year that will start soon be one of health, happiness and peace for everyone. It's my hope that we can end the need for chemo caps and just make hats for warmth and for fun!

Chemo Caps

My dad had his surgery yesterday, and thankfully it seems like everything went well! He'll be in the hospital for a week or so, but he is doing as well as we could have hoped for. With any luck all the tests will come back with good results and this will all be behind us.

The surgery did take longer than we expected, and sitting in the surgical waiting room for a full day is a nerve racking experience. Of course I brought yarn to help pass the time. I was very nervous, but I managed to make six chemo caps while I waited.

Today I took them to the nurse's station on one of the oncology floors in the hospital. I hope that some of the patients there might like them.

Jealous Heads

Helga was envious of Sam's hood, so she needed one of her own.


This one is made with a pink and green boucle yarn. I don't remember what brand.

I made this one shorter. The ends aren't long enough to go around the neck, but wrap nicely to tuck under a jacket.

Chemo Cap

I made this cap for a friend who is undergoing chemo.

It's made from my MZ cap pattern.

Sam in the Hood

I forgot that I have Samantha to model for me!!!

This is the hood that I made for my mom. I used Sensations Boucle, so it's very soft and light-weight, but still warm.

Dad if finally scheduled to have his surgery next week - that's great, but it means that my parents who usually winter in Florida will have a real winter this year. I thought that mom could use this as she battles the elements.

I like this yarn so much, I might make another one for myself.

In the Hood

My latest crochet obsession is hoods. Winter has hit the corn field, and it's been COLD!!! I made myself a cute hat last year, but that would involve hat-head-hair. The only solution - a hood-scarf! I've been using this pattern, and I love it!!

Using soft boucle yarns, I've made two hoods for myself (one in a spearmint green, the second in shades of brown, and am working on a purple one for my mom. I'd post of photo, but that would involve taking a photo of me - and thats not going to happen today.

If you are looking for a hood pattern - I highly recommend this one!

Wormie's Pattern Place

Recently I've had a few of my readers ( it's always such a thrill to realize that I actually have readers) ask for a list of all my patterns.

I've created Wormie's Pattern Place to catalog my original patterns. At that site, you'll find a list of my patterns by category with links to their original posts.

I won't be posting at Wormie's Pattern Place and the site will not accept comments, but I will update the lists as I develop more patterns. That way there will always be one place to find a concise list of my patterns.

Thanks for suggesting it! It will be helpful to me too.