Blankets for Veterans

As you probably know by now..... I crochet blankets every year, give them to a friend, who then gifts them to Veterans at Christmas. Every year she gets a list of Veterans who would like a blanket. This year there are 9 on the list.

Last year I purchase 2 colors of Caron Big Cakes on a super sale. Of course the sale was because they were discontinued, at least on that website. Thankfully I bought 6 skeins of each color. They were purchased with the intention of making 2 blankets for Veterans.

When I got the yarn I was a bit disappointed at how thin the yarn was. I am going to have to change the way I think about worsted weight..... it's thinner than it used to be. The yarn is easy to work with and crochet. No splitting and unravels well. I would use it again if I could find it.

After looking at the yarn for a few months I finally had an idea for the blue skeins. Self striping yarn can be hard to design with, the stitch patterns just don't show up the same as if the yarn is a solid color. That means the design has to be a simple one. I don't do "boring" very well lol.

Once the blanket was finished I was happy with it. I let the colors change where ever it worked out. That is the point of self striping yarn isn't it? Never sure why people buy the yarn, then cut it so the stripes always change at the end of a row.... so much wasted yarn. Then you may as well buy the colors and make the stripes yourself right? That's just my opinion :)

I took the brown yarn along for the winter. It sat in a tote under the bed in the camper for a few months before I decided I should probably do something with it. The stitch pattern I used is one I've done before. It make a great blanket! Lots of texture but still nice and warm.

It was a fun project :) But as usual, by the time I was 1/2 done I was wishing it was a smaller blanket lol.

I LOVE to design blankets, but they take so long to make! Would be nice sometimes to just design and let someone else make the projects lol. There are designers out there who do just that. But something in my brain says if you just design something on the computer, but don't actually crochet the pattern.... are you really a crochet pattern designer? I don't know. What do you think?

One of the Veterans this year is a small woman. When I started this blanket I thought it would be bigger, it's not lol. I only had 9 skeins of this yarn so didn't want to run out. The blanket did use just over 6 skeins, so I had some left. The blanket was going to look very different, started it, had about 20" done, got bored, put it away for 2 months, got it out, unravelled and started again. The joys of designing. If I'm not happy with a blanket, why would someone else buy the pattern? I can't crochet something I don't like. Much happier with it now :)

I have started a blue blanket, almost 1/2 done I think. Haven't looked at that one in about 6 months. It will look amazing once it's done, but my gosh it's boring......LOL Should probably dig that out of the "for later" pile and finish it before starting another blanket. Need to get those WIPS done!

Have you checked with your local Legion to see if there is a Veteran who might love to have a handmade blanket? Or maybe a VA hospital? Not sure what the US has for places to donate to Veterans.

Where do you donate blankets? I would love to know :)

All of the blanket patterns above will be tested in the next few months and published later this year or early 2026.

Happy Crocheting My Friends!!

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