Crocheting for Charity

I'm so excited to have found some amazing charities to crochet for and donate some of my time to!  I love helping others and love what a good crocheted piece does for the heart, not just the recipient but mine as well.  It just fills me up with joy to crochet for others and that they could receive something they needed and brought them joy also.  Charity crochet can be an amazing thing for everyone and that is why I am going to share some of the charities that I'm going to be crocheting for this year.

Last week I was contacted by someone locally about crocheting for our local Humane Society.  The Colorado Springs Community Alliance is collecting blankets for the kitties at the Humane Society and have asked everyone to join in.  I can't wait to get started on this project because I'm really excited about doing something more locally.  While I'm not particularly a cat person (just being honest  here, LOL) I do love animals and have compassion for them all, so I really do want to help out.  The blankets they are asking for need to be 18x18 in size, so I'm going to attempt to make at least two blankets, hopefully more.  There does happen to be a deadline for this, but since they are always in need of these blankets I was told that they will accept more blankets after the date if I contact them!  if anyone else would like to make some blankets for our local Human Society then please feel free to email me about sending them to me.

Another great cause used to elude me somewhat before I actually knew more about it, but it's for breast cancer survivors.  Craftsy has teamed up with Knitted Knockers to provide knitted and crocheted prosthetic breasts to mastectomy patients.  Now, in all honesty, I used to see patterns for these types of items on ravelry and so on and never quite understood why someone would make these or how functional they would be, but truth be told they are more comfortable, breathable, and their light weight makes them more realistic when worn.  After reading all the info provided on the websites and what real survivors were saying about them, I knew that I really wanted to help this wonderfully amazing cause.  My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor, as well as a cousin on my husband's side of the family, so I enjoy doing what I can for breast cancer awareness!  This is going to be a very awe-inspiring charity for me and I can't wait to make as many knockers as I can!  ;)  Here is a nice crochet breast pattern I found on ravelry that I plan to use!  :)

So I posted about Scarves for the Special Olympics last year and was very ambitious in thinking I would make soooo many scarves on my knitting machine!  In the end I didn't have a chance to buy the second color of yarn I needed and therefore never created any scarves.  This year, it just so happens that National Committee of the Special Olympics has decided to discontinue the scarves program.  The good news is that several states have decided to proceed on their own.  It just so happens that the state I currently reside in, Colorado, is one of them (YAY, me). If you want to see what states are participating and where you should send your scarves to then you visit and join the ravelry group State Special Olympics Scarves.  There they have a comprehensive list of participating states, as well as addresses, yarn colors, and more!  My goal for this project is to make at least one scarf.  With all the charities I want to participate in, as well as my shop, my family, my personal fitness, and so on, I don't want to overwhelm myself with too much.  I do, however, want to contribute something, because we don't know if they are going to be collecting scarves next year!  Right?

So, that's the charities that I found this past week that I plan to participate in.  Wish me luck!  Are you planning on creating something for a charity?  What type of charities do you like to create for?  Let me know in the comments section!  :)