Want to take up embroidery/crochet again but who will want the results? Recommendations please

well done mamacaz.
I have crochet many toys for my grandchildren during the lockdown and leave them on their doorstep after my window visits, they love them! The octopus is a great favourite, they sit and twiddle with them while watching programs. The dogs, they take for walks with them and the owls are in progress! I'm thinking of doing them for dementia patients after the lockdown.

Unable to get out to buy birthday cards, I have recently been making my own, and am managing to use all manner of crafts to make them.

My latest creations have incorporated string art and embroidery on card.
I have also stitched some little blackwork (though not actually in black) motifs that I can use on cards.
Paper quilling.
Paper cutting
Cards with applique pictures machine-stitched onto them.
Glass painting.
I've used all these and more ?

While I haven't done it yet, I have also thought of crocheting fine motifs to decorate cards.

As yet, I haven't thought of a way to use knitting on them, but luckily one DiL actively encourages me to knit clothes for dgd, so I can knit whenever I feel like it. Knitted soft toys have always been appreciated by all my DgC too.

I know one Gransnetter was very disparaging on another thread about handmade cards, making it clear that she doesn't like to receive them, but luckily most people don't seem to feel that way.
I enjoy making them, and while it's a bonus if a recipient genuinely appreciates their card, I don't expect them to keep them for ever. Like someone up-thread, I have had my pleasure in the making - any more than that is a bonus.

Notspagetti, like you I have been making premature baby hats, but when I contacted my local maternity hospital they said they were not taking any due to infection spreading.
I have made quite a few, they are so easy and love the feeling of doing something useful. If anyone knows of anywhere that is taking them can you please let me know.
My twins were premature and its lovely to give something back for the joy they have given me over the last 28 years.

Crocheted clothing is very much in fashion!

Try Pinterest for ideas also website Yarnspiration has lots of knitting/crochet patterns plus Ravelry site. Lots of different groups on Facebook as well. What about a scarf or shawl for yourself. When I had Covid, I lived with my shawl wrapped round me, cosy but not as dull as a cardigan. That shawl pattern was actually called the Virus shawl. I made it years ago and suddenly it came into it's own.

And here’s some patterns that are useful to hospitals as gathered by students in Nottingham.

They include a “ventilator hat” pattern and the octopus toy that was quite a breakthrough because of its tentacles which seemed to calm tiny babies more than other designs.

www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/societies/society/knitsoc/patterns/

www.bliss.org.uk/support-bliss/volunteer/knit-for-premature-babies

Patterns on this site.

Need to check with local maternity hospitals/wards that they will take garments for the babies.

Giulia,
I am full of admiration for people who can crochet and knit.

I have 'made things' all my life from four years' of age when I watched my grandmother magically make me some ballet 'slippers' from shoe inner-soles and scraps of gold coloured satin fabric left over from upholstering a child's armchair.

No matter what I've made I've never been able to crochet. (My knitting although even after trying my best had the tension of a fishing net - true).

I want you to know, many buyers and friends and other recipients of your lovely products would still be very keen on crocheted milk jug covers and the beaded, embroidered decorative tops for jars of preserves.

I can tell you also many quilters are looking for embroidered pieces (shaped like handkerchiefs). Being a quilt fanatic I can tell you it's great to find these pieces of embroidery to use as motif pieces in quilt making.

I am not suggesting you don't make the lovely garments for little ones in need at maternity hospitals for example. I just want to encourage you in what you like to make, especially as crafting of many sorts is becoming a life-saver at these times.
Xxx

I am part of a crochet group but our projects are just about learning techniques and our teacher has given up attending craft sales as it is not worth while. What I did like when I went to the Stitching show in London last year was a lovely crochet and stitched hoop on display, A lady had stitched wavy lines to make waves and then had added a crocheted fish. Looked better than it sounds. I would have bought it had it been for sale. What I am hoping to make are some 6 inch red hearts as our local hospital are going to give them to families whose babies have died. I am making a small star stitched purse in red which looks different from your usual doubles and trebles and is really simple.

I love to make things but try not to get too hung up on where they will end up. I consider them to be jigsaws and puzzles that keep me entertained and eventually they go to charity shops or are given to friends. I'm about to embark on yet another quilt and it will give me a lot of pleasure. Eventually someone else (or someone's pet) will enjoy it too. I could spend as much money on other pastimes with no end results...and my bedcovers always looks fabulous! (I have also made some scrubs bags for the NHS.)

Like others, can I just repeat the need for hats for the Neonatal Intensive Care Units?

Not only are they useful but they are the only little bit of “ordinaryness” in that scary world.
My little granddaughter, with all her tubes and lights had this one human touch, made by someone who would never know her. Someone who had reached out to provide a tiny gift of love to a frightened and desperate family.
I know that little hat will always be precious to my daughter.
Thankfully, our little darling survived and is well and happy but for some families those little hats may have been the only non-medical item their baby has ever had.

I did knit things in the latest fashion for DGC but, after hugs and thanks I never saw them worn! Now I could do with them back to unravel to make a blanket; knitted or crocheted blankets seem to be 'in'.

Ginny42 the Deramores site has a free download pattern for making a crochet rainbow.

I'm smiling at your post supergabs about the cost of making blankets - even using up a yarn stash and charging for time would be cost- prohibitive!

FindingNemo I have only knitted for charity for a while now as I realised that children here don't want to wear knitted garments after they reach a certain age.
Children freezing in refugee camps are very glad of warm hand knits and blankets though.

There was a thread earlier this week from PurplePixie about baby sleeves , these are worn by babies who have a cannula in their arms, to stop them trying to pull them out , , I have made a few to keep me busy and it uses oddments of dk wool and you can knit a few in an evening. 26sts and 30 rows of garter stitch .
I used to knit for my Granddaughters. But they want bought jumpers and cardis now, I have crocheted baby blankets as gifts and they seem to be appreciated as I have seen them used,
It’s all about keeping busy in these unknown worrying times ,

This is part of the reason I do not have knitting etc., as a hobby. The youngsters seem to want designer labels, some charities have strict criteria and materials can work out expensive.

I love going to craft fairs, but often wonder if the sellers actually recoup their efforts and outlay.

In the group I belong to the people who crochet make little octopus with tentacles which are put in incubators for the babies to hold rather than pull on the tubes. If you google Octopus for preemies all the details are there. Hospitals never seem to have enough. A word of warning, there are strict criteria which have to be followed to ensure the items are safe to go in with the babies.

I want to take up crochet again to stay busy. A friend has made a lovely rainbow to hang in her window. I want to make one too.

There's a pattern and the materials on the website in Doodledog's post upthread, although I think the colours rather dark. I'm trying to order wool on line.

It's basically a circle folded in half I think.

I love crocheting and I find that amigurumi decorations/figures/toys are very popular. Also bunting. I do baby blankets for work buddies' new babies that are always well received and have made special blankets for each member of my family.
My daughter made me smile when I gave her a much admired rainbow ripple blanket. "Mum!" she said, "This is amazing! You could sell these for at least £30 each". £30 wouldn't even cover the yarn, let alone the hours of work involved. Hence large blankets for loved ones only
I also crochet blanket squares for Brighter Futures Blanketeers. These get made into blankets for 'end of life' patients at our local hospital. The blanket goes on their bed and when, sadly, they pass it is offered to the family to keep. Obviously at the moment this is on hold but as soon as things get back to normal there will be a supply of squares winging their way to the Great western Hospital.
My latest fun things to crochet are little plants/succulents. I made one for a work buddy whose houseplant died. She loved it.

Has anyone mentioned lap blankets and shawls for the elderly? Individuals or care homes or geriatric wards?

Crocheted scrunchies are a thing again, I sold the ones I made long ago at local boutiques and antique shops- They're small and don't involve too much investment -

Giulia are you wanting to sell your items or give them away? Many good ideas on these posts but if you're selling, perhaps take a look at the Etsy website to see what is current. If you simply want to keep your hands busy, maybe donate to a local baby bank?

Some hospitals have a "friends of the hospital" organization, and sometimes one of the things they do is to provide knitted or crocheted hats for the new babies. You might check with your local hospital to see if that's something they would like.

IME, many cross stitch magazines have a number of wonderful ideas for what you can do with embroidered or cross-stitched items. You can make cards, pillows, needle cases, scissors cases, and even embroidered boxes. I have a book at home that details a number of different projects. One of them is even a desk set made out of plastic canvas.

There is a charity for the "fish and chip babies"
It is for babies in Africa born with Aids or other issues.
I have a friend who belongs to a group that knit for them.
In that case the group provide the yarn
There are patterns on the net of what to knit. It is a lovely thing to do.
She knits jumpers, very small. blankets and little hats.

"The term ‘chip shop babies’ began when it was discovered that often new born babies mostly in developing countries arrived into this world and had no clothes to put on. As a result the newborns were wrapped in newspaper, just like a fish supper, to keep them warm. News of this reached knitters up and down the UK who developed a simple vest pattern, with additional hat sometimes, which even a novice knitter could cope with. As a result tens of thousands of vests have been knitted and sent out to needy babies around the world."

lavenderzen Have never tried to sell anything on Ebay as don't know how.

I have a recipe against moths, which includes Citrus rinds, cloves, grated marseilles soap, which I could put into embroidered sachets. Everyone says the smell is wonderful. That might be the most practical thing to make in bulk.

Again, thanks for the encouragement.

Grannytomany You are so right about yarn being expensive. Have always used Swiss 100% cotton yarn.

I too aim to keep my fingers busy rather than make money.

Goodness! What a lot of suggestions - thank you everybody.