Today I’m launching Crochet For Kidneys Part 5!

Crochet For Kidneys has grown from seven blankets in Part 1, to 14 blankets in Part 2, 17 blankets in Part 3 and last year we made 27 blanket for Part 4. We had purple squares with a white border in Part 1, hexagons with a white border in Part 2, and for Part 3 I asked you send me strips of six squares with white borders. The beautiful, lovingly made blankets were given to dialysis patients at the Royal London Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital.

In Part 4 we made blankets of any design and any colour. You guys loved this approach to CFK so much! Some of you even made two blankets, so we’re sticking to this format for Part 5. No colour rules, no design rules – you are in charge of the look of your blanket for the dialysis patients! Squares, hexagons, stripes, chevrons – go wild!

Like always, I only ask that the blankets be roughly 90 cm x 135 cm (35″ x 53″) – that’s about a lap afghan size. If you are making 15 cm squares like we did for Parts 1 and 3, that would be 54 squares arranged in 9 rows of 6 squares. If you are making 13 cm squares for instance, that would be 70 squares arranged in 10 rows of 7 squares. Use your judgement, but as long as the blanket comes out to roughly (but no smaller) than 90 cm x 135 cm (35″ x 53″) it will be perfect.

Please do not use wool for your blankets as it may shrink or felt when the recipients wash their blankets on a too warm wash. Acrylics or cotton only please.

I would like to have all the blankets by Sunday 31 October 2016 please. When John goes for his annual Living Donor check-up at the Royal London Hospital mid-November, we will take the blankets with us so that the Renal Unit nurses can distribute it amongst the dialysis patients at Royal London and their satellite units.

If you’re new to Crochet For Kidneys (maybe you read about it in Inside Crochet magazine) or have been with me from Part 1 but need a reminder of why I started Crochet For Kidneys, you can read about it in this blogpost.

Please post photos of your blankets-in-the-making on the Facebook Group . If you’re not a member of the group, just ask to join and I’ll add you immediately.

I would really love it if we we can break the 50-blanket mark this year. Wouldn’t that be great?! Will you help me?  I know 50 blankets is almost double what we had for Part 4, but I really think it can be done. Just crochet a blanket, or two, or three and tell all your crochet buddies about CFK so that we can bring comfort to 50 dialysis patients this year.

If you use Twitter or Instagram tag your tweets and photos with #crochet4kidneys. You can also invite others to join our Facebook group. But most importantly, start crocheting those lovely, comforting blankets.

We are back from dropping off the 27 blankets (one more is on its way from the USA) to the Renal unit of the Royal London Hospital.

At the hospital John had his blood & urine samples taken and blood pressure measured as part of his living donor check-up. We will get the results of his creatinine (the chemical waste product in the blood that passes through the kidneys to be filtered and eliminated in urine) and GFR (a measurement of how much liquid and waste is passing from the blood through the tiny filters in the kidney and out into the urine per minute) by post but we already know that he is in peak health – and we are very grateful too!

Nurse Lillibeth didn’t have time to immediately look at the blankets, but as we were on our way back home on the train she called John to say how beautiful the blankets are and to thank us again.

These 27 blankets will be distributed between the hemodialysis patients, the peritoneal dialysis patients and also the failing kidney transplant patients, many of whom are elderly and also have cancer.

It’s very sad for me to think that there are people who have gone through a kidney transplant operation only to have the organ fail. I think I always thought of our blankets giving hope and comfort to someone in the same position as the recipient of John’s kidney – someone who is going through dialysis but who will receive a donor kidney and be well again. It never occurred to me that there is not always a happy ending.

The blankets of Crochet For Kidneys, and the message behind it – one of comfort and hope – has taken on a new meaning for me today and I will do my best to make Crochet For Kidneys grow so that we can reach more people.

xxxxx

Crochet For Kidneys Part 5 will officially launch at the beginning of June 2016 but you can start making and sending blankets from now. Blankets should measure at least 90 cm x 135 cm. Any colour, any design as long as you use acrylic yarn.