Wool Week 2016: knitting for charity

These are the first two hats I ever knitted, and they're now on their way to an unknown recipient.
I made them for my OH and he was kind enough to wear them a couple of times (sizing is a bit of an issue!), but we're having a bit of a clear-out and I agreed – eventually – that he needn't hold on to them.
Obviously, I wanted them to go to a good home, and I knew just where that was, having had previous positive dealings: Knit for Peace UK.
This charity receives knitted items and distributes them to hospitals, refuges, drop-in centres, and to developing countries. They'll also take gifts of unwanted yarn and needles (great way of getting rid of an out-of-control yarn stash).
Knit for Peace also came up with the idea of the Good Gifts Catalogue, where you 'give a goat' (or seeds for crops, bikes for midwives and so on) as a present, and someone who needs it is the actual recipient of the gift.
If you want to knit for charity, there are free patterns available on the Knit for Peace website. At the moment, they're looking for knits for adults, like hats. I like the idea of my two helping to keep someone warm, wherever and whoever they may be.

Making chocolate cake for charity

We decided to have a Macmillan Coffee Morning at work. I left it to the last minute to come up with a cake, but thanks to Nigella Lawson I found a quick and easy chocolate cake recipe.

Store Cupboard Chocolate Orange Cake appears in How to be a Domestic Goddess and widely online. Basically you melt butter and chocolate, then stir in a jar of marmalade, eggs and sugar, then fold in flour and bake. I decorated mine with grated orange zest and a nasturtium, which is edible.

And it was very popular with my colleagues at the coffee morning, raising money for Macmillan, which was the whole point.