Stand Down Season is Here!

Published: July 29, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! August is right around the corner and there are multiple Stand Downs coming up! If you’d like to donate to support these Stand Down events that benefit our underprivileged military veterans and their dependents, please send in your donations as soon as possible (or make arrangements to schedule a pickup if you are in the DFW area). The sooner we receive your donated garments, the sooner we can thoroughly process them for the upcoming shipments to these Stand Downs. We still need hats, scarves, mittens, gaiters, and lap blankets for these Stand Downs as they are in the colder regions of the United States.

If you would like to donate a hat, scarf, lap blanket, 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.

If you have donations and are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we are still continuing our policy of curbside pickup. Please contact us to schedule a pickup. If you reside outside the DFW area and would like to make an in-kind donation, you can ship your donations to us here in Dallas. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Remember, even one lovingly handcrafted hat or scarf can make a huge difference in the life of an underprivileged veteran or their dependent(s)!

Upcoming Stand Downs!

Published: July 22, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family. We’ve got back-to-back Stand Down events fast approaching starting super soon! These long-time partner Stand Downs generally have bigger turnouts and are in some of the coldest climates in the United States. Please send in your lovingly hand-crafted goods as soon as possible if you’d like to contribute to these Stand Downs. We desperately need double brim hats, scarves, mittens, gaiters, and lap blankets for these events to support the underprivileged veterans and their dependents on their road to recovery.

We Need your Support!

Published: July 15, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! We need your support to continue our mission to provide a hand up to all of our underprivileged military veterans and their dependents. All monetary donations are tax deductible and directly help to cover the costs of materials, shipping, and overhead. Also, our much loved wristbands, stress footballs, and t-shirts are available on our web-shop! No donation is too little, as a single skein of inexpensive yarn can be lovingly hand crafted into multiple gifts for our veteran community to treasure for the warmth and support that they provide.

Garment Donations Needed!

Published: July 8, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! We hope that you all had a wonderful 4th of July. Many of our staff took the opportunity to enjoy a group picnic, listening to music, and crafting. There really is nothing quite like knitting a hat for our veteran community to “Stars and Stripes Forever!”

Although it is still Summer, we do have several Stand Downs right around the corner. These particular Stand Downs are in colder climates and the cooler temperatures come sooner there than they do here in our home state of Texas. With that, we need hats (preferably those with a brim that can be folded over in order to provide extra warmth), scarves, mittens, and lap blankets to meet the needs of the homeless veteran community and their dependents throughout the nation.

We are Thankful for Our Revolutionary Patriots

Published: July 1, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family. As we approach the upcoming anniversary of the birth of our great nation, we wanted to take this time to reflect on the veterans and their families that served in the Revolutionary War. These brave people fought for their rights and ideals; the right to live in a free nation and not under a monarch across an ocean, but under an elected government. It is because of their bravery, courage, and sacrifices that we as Americans enjoy the rights and ideals that we have today.

Basketball Team Color Chart

Published: June 24, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! As crafters, it is sometimes tempting to use flashy colored yarns/textiles, color work, and fancy stitches in our crafted goods. However, these qualities are by and large not desired by the veteran community that we serve. These proud individuals tend to prefer darker colors and straight-to-the-point garments. We want to provide them with what they need. The vast majority want garments made in either straight camouflage or solid blacks, blues, greens, grays, dark reds, and royal purples. However, if you have your heart set on practicing your color work, then sports team colors are always a veteran community favorite. This handy basketball team color chart will help make it even easier to find more color combinations that can appeal to our wonderful veterans and those whom they support.

Please remember that Stand Downs happen year-round across the country, so we always need your skills, help, and donations to provide the vital supplies and services that our vets and their dependents need at these events. Thank you for your continued support and happy crafting!

Father’s Day

Published: June 17, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! We’d like to give a belated shout out to all of the amazing fathers in our community! If you are still looking for just the right gift for the dad in your life, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our cause in your dad’s honor. Also, please check out our web shop for some awesome T.H.R.I.V.E. merch for dad. We have our ever popular stress footballs in stock!

Two Significant Holidays

Published: June 14, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Flag Day, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! We would like to take a moment today to reflect on our Nation’s flag and all that it stands for in the lives of every American.

Today also marks the 249th birthday of the United States Army, which was established this day in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress. We would like to give a special shout out to Army veterans today. Thank you for your courage and service.

Pro Tip: Understanding Yarn Weight

Published: June 10, 2024 ~ 0

Happy Monday, dear T.H.R.I.V.E. Association family! If yarn weight is not taken into consideration and inappropriate needles/hooks are used, the results of your work may come out looking and feeling either too tightly or loosely weaved. No crafter wants that! So, let’s take a moment to learn about the importance of yarn weight and how it directly affects our crafting projects.

So 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.

D-Day Anniversary

Published: June 6, 2024 ~ 0

Today marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the largest land, sea, and air invasion in history. Let us take a moment to give thanks to the brave men and women who served to ensure our freedom from tyranny. We are forever grateful for all of the sacrifices that our veterans made that day and beyond.

Photo: Courtesy of The National WWII Museum.