Happy Holidays, T.H.R.I.V.E. family! Thank you for coming out to support us at the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth. We still have several mystery gift boxes and stress footballs, so please head on over to our online gift shop at https://thrivevets.square.site to continue to support our cause of helping to end homelessness among our veterans and their dependents. All donations are tax deductible and greatly appreciated!
Happy Friday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! We hope that you are all enjoying this lovely festive season. Earlier this week we had the great privilege of serving Operation Care’s Annual Christmas Gift here in Dallas. We were able to provide 200 hats and scarves to the wonderful veterans who are scheduled to attend this incredible event. Our work is still far from over! We still have many more Stand Downs coming up, so please keep sending in your donations so that we can continue to serve those who so admirably served this great nation! Again, we have had a very special request for lap blankets from one of our long-time Stand Down partners.
If you would like to donate a hat, scarf, face mask or other handcrafted garment to our cause, please remember that the dear veterans and their dependents prefer dark colors, e.g. blue, black, green, grey, and all-time favorite, camouflage. If you would like to knit, crochet, or sew a garment in a brighter color, red or deep purple are always popular bright colors. We cannot emphasize this important point enough: please do not use sparkly or overly decorative yarns and fabrics. While they have their place, they are simply inappropriate for the veterans and their dependents (including children because of choking hazards).
If you are not a crafter, but would like to help, there are still many ways to support our cause! Please consider donating materials and/or making a monetary donation to help us cover the costs of materials, shipping, and overhead. Please remember you can support our cause by shopping on AmazonSmile. See the “Shop for Our Cause” blog post for additional information.
If you need yarn, or other supplies, please contact us through email at thriveassociation@thrivevets.org or by phone at (469) 427-9654. Please be aware that any communications are recorded. If you have donations and cannot make it to one of our in-person knitting groups, we are still continuing our policy of curbside pickup. Please contact us to schedule a pickup if you are in the DFW area. If you reside outside the DFW area and would like to make an in-kind donation, please contact us to make arrangements. Remember, even one lovingly handcrafted hat or scarf can make a huge difference in the life of an underprivileged veteran or their dependent(s).
Happy Friday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! We hope that you are all enjoying this lovely festive season. It is getting very cold in so many areas that we serve. We still have many more Stand Downs coming up, so please keep sending in your donations so that we can continue to serve those who so admirably served this great nation! Also, we’ve had a very special request for lap blankets from one of our long-time Stand Down partners.
If you would like to donate a hat, scarf, face mask or other handcrafted garment to our cause, please remember that the dear veterans and their dependents prefer dark colors, e.g. blue, black, green, grey, and all-time favorite, camouflage. If you would like to knit, crochet, or sew a garment in a brighter color, red or deep purple are always popular bright colors. We cannot emphasize this important point enough: please do not use sparkly or overly decorative yarns and fabrics. While they have their place, they are simply inappropriate for the veterans and their dependents (including children because of choking hazards).
If you are not a crafter, but would like to help, there are still many ways to support our cause! Please consider donating materials and/or making a monetary donation to help us cover the costs of materials, shipping, and overhead. Please remember you can support our cause by shopping on AmazonSmile. See the “Shop for Our Cause” blog post for additional information.
If you need yarn, or other supplies, please contact us through email at thriveassociation@thrivevets.org or by phone at (469) 427-9654. Please be aware that any communications are recorded. If you have donations and cannot make it to one of our in-person knitting groups, we are still continuing our policy of curbside pickup. Please contact us to schedule a pickup if you are in the DFW area. If you reside outside the DFW area and would like to make an in-kind donation, please contact us to make arrangements. Remember, even one lovingly handcrafted hat or scarf can make a huge difference in the life of an underprivileged veteran or their dependent(s).
Happy Friday, T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! This week, we sent a large package of hats, scarves, and face masks to West Virginia. We are proud to be able to provide these items to our wonderful veterans and their dependents. Many thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers for their hard work!
The hard work still isn’t over, however. We still have many more Stand Downs coming up, so please keep sending in your donations so that we can continue to serve those who so admirably served this great nation!
If you would like to donate a hat, scarf, face mask or other handcrafted garment to our cause, please remember that the dear veterans and their dependents prefer dark colors, e.g. blue, black, green, grey, and all-time favorite, camouflage. If you would like to knit, crochet, or sew a garment in a brighter color, red or deep purple are always popular bright colors. We cannot emphasize this important point enough: please do not use sparkly or overly decorative yarns and fabrics. While they have their place, they are simply inappropriate for the veterans and their dependents (including children because of choking hazards).
If you are not a crafter, but would like to help, there are still many ways to support our cause! Please consider donating materials and/or making a monetary donation to help us cover the costs of materials, shipping, and overhead. Please remember you can support our cause by shopping on AmazonSmile. See the “Shop for Our Cause” blog post for additional information.
If you need yarn, or other supplies, please contact us through email at thriveassociation@thrivevets.org or by phone at (469) 427-9654. Please be aware that any communications are recorded. If you have donations and cannot make it to one of our in-person knitting groups, we are still continuing our policy of curbside pickup. Please contact us to schedule a pickup if you are in the DFW area. If you reside outside the DFW area and would like to make an in-kind donation, please contact us to make arrangements. Remember, even one lovingly handcrafted hat or scarf can make a huge difference in the life of an underprivileged veteran or their dependent(s).
Happy Friday to our lovely T.H.R.I.V.E. family! We would like to take a moment and reflect on all that we are thankful for this year. First and foremost, we are so grateful for our amazing veterans and their families who sacrifice so much of themselves. Thank you all so much for your service to our great Nation! You all will always have our deepest respect and love. Secondly, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of those who are currently serving- including the families of those service members. We are truly thankful for your service. And, last, but certainly never least, we are so incredibly grateful to our community partners, donors, crafters, volunteers, and our incredible staff who all help to ensure that we are able to fulfill our noble mission. Thank you all!
Together we will end homelessness among our Nation’s brave heroes and their dependents.
Happy Friday, T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! To ensure the safety of our partners and the larger community that we serve, members of T.H.R.I.V.E. Association staff/Board Members received their Covid-19 booster shots. We are dedicated to stopping the spread and keeping our stakeholders as safe as we can.
As November is quickly drawing to a close, the needs of our underprivileged veterans remain. We here at T.H.R.I.V.E Association are diligently working on donations package preparations, so if you have any lovingly hand crafted goods for our veterans and their dependents that you have yet to turn in, please make sure to do so. Please keep in mind that there are many necessary preparation steps between when we at T.H.R.I.V.E. Association receive the wonderful hand made garments from our volunteers, to when we can get them “Veteran ready!”
Today, we honor and celebrate all veterans for their selfless service for our great nation. The staff at T.H.R.I.V.E. Association would like to express our sincere thanks to all of those who have served.
Happy Friday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! Some of our recent blog posts touched on demystifying yarn labels and explaining the Craft Yarn Council’s Standard Yarn Weight system. However, we’ve had many questions from several volunteers about yarn substitution and we’d like to answer some of those questions!
Yarn substitution is when you want to substitute a different yarn than the one recommended by the pattern that you are using. There could be many reasons why you might want to: you may want to avoid a certain type of yarn because of allergies or preference of fibers, you may want to use out yarns that are already available in your stash, or you may want to use a more economical option than the yarn suggested, etc. Either way, there are certain considerations that you must keep in mind when substituting different yarn(s).
One of the first things to check, is whether the yarn company (e.g. Red Heart, Lion Brand) providing your pattern has a dedicated page on their website concerning suggested yarn substitutions. This may save you the time of trying to find a suitable yarn that will work with your chosen pattern.
The next consideration when choosing a proper yarn substitute is choosing a yarn that falls within the same weight (thickness) category in the Craft Yarn Council’s Standard Yarn Weight system. For example, if the yarn suggested in your pattern calls for a Worsted Medium (4) weight yarn, a good rule of thumb would be to use another Worsted Medium (4) weight yarn to substitute and not a different weight class of yarn, such as a DK Light (3) weight yarn or a Bulky (5) weight yarn. Any big differences might lead to a garment looking, fitting, and/or draping drastically differently than you might otherwise want. Note: the classifications in the Standard Yarn Weight system contain variance in thickness within each individual number. A common example of this would be choosing a pattern that calls for a certain Medium (4) weight yarn. A Medium (4) weight yarn could range from a true Worsted weight yarn all the way to a thicker Aran weight yarn. This could result in, for example, one brand’s Medium (4) weight yarn to be thicker or thinner than their own or another brand’s Medium (4) weight yarn.
Another important thing to consider when substituting is the length/weight, such as yards/grams, of the yarn. So if your pattern calls for a yarn that is 180 yards long and weighs 100 grams, you should endeavor to use a yarn that is similar enough to that ratio in both length/weight. In our experience, changing this too much does have a big effect on the finished garment.
The next things to consider when substituting are the fiber content and texture of the yarn. A 100% Acrylic smooth and shiny yarn will most likely look, feel, stretch, and drape differently than a 50/50% rough and fuzzy Alpaca Wool/Cotton blended yarn. Make sure to keep this in mind when substituting and, if you want to keep it simple, use similar enough substitutes to avoid unwanted impacts to the completed pattern.
Finally, it is always a good idea to make a swatch with your substitute before you dive into the pattern in order to test out if your substitute is going to work the way you and the pattern intend. You may find that you need to move up or down a needle or hook size, or you might even find that your yarn substitute isn’t suitable at all!
Whatever the case, whenever you choose to substitute a different yarn than what the pattern calls for, taking these considerations into account and testing them out in a swatch before you begin will help to ensure that your finished garment will much more closely resemble what the pattern details and you’ll assuredly be glad you took the time to plan/test it out!
This past Sunday, October 24, T.H.R.I.V.E. Association was thrilled to be able to participate in the Trunk or Treat event held by our wonderful partners at the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Metrocare. We had a great time giving out word searches, sweets, fun, and good vibes! Thanks for having us; we had a ball!
Happy Friday, T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! Our last post demystified yarn labels and detailed what each section and symbol meant. We will now go into more detail on what the 8 yarn weight symbols mean, as well as how this knowledge can help with things such as needle/hook choice for any particular yarn.
What is yarn weight? Yarn weight in this case concerns the thickness of the yarn fiber and not the actual weight (heaviness) of it. When working with any particular yarn on a project, its yarn weight directly affects how the weave looks and feels. When paired with different needles/hooks, it can also affect how long a project can take to complete.
The Craft Yarn Council of America created a standard system of symbols and numbers to help identify yarn weights and included recommended needle/hook sizes and expected ranges for gauges. It is important to remember that these are merely suggestions. As such, it is important to create a swatch when working with yarn in a project to properly measure the combination of the expected number of stitches per inch (or cm) and your individual tension plus other variables. That being said, the Craft Yarn Council of America’s numbered system of yarn weights is generally quite useful when knowing what to expect with any particular yarn.
The included chart shows all of the yarn weights and their corresponding categories, recommendations of needle/hook choice, and expected gauge ranges. Here are some small notes concerning the chart:
** The lace weight yarns are usually crafted using larger needles and hooks to create more airy and lacy projects. Because of this, the gauge range expectations are more difficult to determine and you should always follow what gauge your pattern calls for.
*** Please be aware that steel crochet hook numbers are differently sized when compared to regular hook sizing. This means that higher numbers results in smaller hooks, which is the reverse of regular hook sizing.