Kits for Kids 2026

Last winter when I dropped off the Aztec Wishes donations there was talk of a new service project for kids moving into foster care. The plan was just being discussed and I reached out in March to find out the collection was being closed in April. My focus is clearly going to be for 2027 but I decided I would see if I could complete some small play sets to provide some comfort to kids who could use it.

March 2026

Lots to Love 8 Inch Baby Doll:

Chelsea

Finger Puppets:

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

I've always enjoyed gifting book and ami's together so next up was If You Give a Pig a Pancake for Kits for Kids Donation.

I mentioned previously that it's been a long time since I've made ami's and I smartly read the project notes I made about the mouse and foolishly didn't read the notes I made regarding the pig.

I've never had trouble making the sweater fit for the pig but this time it was a nightmare. After rereading my notes I realized I'd previously used a g hook for the pig not an e thus the various weights and sizes of yarn I was using didn't work. I resorted to size 3 thread but still the fit wasn't all I wanted.

Notes:

You can find the free pattern here.

I used an e for the pig, use a g hook.

This project I used size 3 thread to get the sweater to fit I'd go to some of the light sport cotton I have with a c hook to see if I can get it to fit as written for the one I need for next April.

I have always sewn the sweater on so this I sewed the tail on and as I was making the sweater left pins to indicate the space needed to leave for the tail to come through.

Cuddly Caterpillar

It is time to start prepping summer and fall birthday gifts. This is for a fall birthday present so it probably could have waited, but while I was looking at doll clothes I saw this guy and he made it to the fall birthday list and then to the top of the must make list. He will be accompanied by a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar as I like to match books and toys when I can.

As I mentioned before I was looking through Crochet World's Best Animals, Toys, and Dolls for 18" doll patterns. While I have a print copy of the magazine I picked up a digital copy at e-pattern central recently so I could easily print the patterns I wanted and store them in my pattern binders. They have a variety of sales, some better than others. I had held off buying this until I got it for $1.99. At that point the ease of printing was too hard to resist. Sadly, I often misplace my magazines so that was also an incentive. I know where to find it when I want it. For those of you interested in the pattern you can find the e magazine here. Patience is a virtue when it comes to getting the best price on their patterns. They almost always hit that $1.99 spot if you can hold out long enough.

While this pattern does call for cotton yarn and an f hook I am still trying to use up yarn on hand. I had cotton for the head and the first body section. The grey is the AC Moore sport yarn I've been using up. The Red is Red Heart Sport. The blue was the most challenging because I only had light weight darker blues on hand. So I used a Bernat worsted turquoise with a D hook to make the circle.

Note for myself if I make this again I would seriously consider not closing the circles for the body and instead changing colors and continuing the increases and decreases as one joined piece to avoid sewing the caterpillar's body together. There is no way to avoid sewing the head, but decreasing the need to sew the body together would be a plus.