A Shawl from Vogue

Information and registration for the Sit & Knit can be found here.

Knitting on the Go is a great little book from Vogue for making shawls - that's all it has (it even has a crocheted shawl)

This shawl, (sun splattered in the photo) is one of the shawls in the book. It's made with size 8 needles, worsted weight yarn (Caron by the Pound, of course) and it took a few days to make.

It will get softer and somewhat bigger when i block it and it will probably be donated to a church member who is house bound or in the hospital. This is a very easy pattern for beginners because it's stockinette stitch with two yarn overs on the right side row. Not a decrease in sight.

Sit & Knit - Pattern 4 - Adult/Child Hat

Information and registration for the Sit & Knit is here.

The knitted hat we recommend for adult/children can be found on the Lion Brand website.
This hat is easy (all garter stitch) and it can be unisex and made with or without the pom-pom on top. Adjust the stitches to below 70 for a child's head, keeping the gauge in mind.

Also, if you are interested in knitting for charity and want to find groups where you can knit with others, or want to find a group that could help out folks in need, check out their Charity Connection.
It's a great place to source for groups doing good work in the world!

For the Love of Yarn Baby Blanket

Information and registration forms for the Sit & Knit are here.

So, I guess it took me a little less than a week to make the little blankie. Considering it has all those cables, I guess that's not such a bad time.
This little cutie came from the For The Love of Yarn website. It's not yet blocked and the yarn, Caron By The Pound in jonquil, says that no blocking is needed.
While I'm famous for not blocking, this item could actually benefit from it because the ribs between the cables are a little poofy and can stand to be flattened a little.

It took about half (or 8 oz.) to make it using size seven circulars. It's incredibly soft and the color is very intense. Put this in the stroller and you'll be able to spot the baby from down the block!

Sit & Knit - Pattern 3 - Squares

Information and registration for the Sit & Knit can be found here.

Make squares to be sewn together
You may use whatever stitch pattern you like (I do caution against doing an open weave kind of pattern however, these afghans will get plenty of use and need to be practical.)

The squares should be about 10 inches, eh, square of course. Do not leave a tail, please knit or weave them in. We will have folks doing nothing but sewing them together to make afghans and blankets. You may bring some already done as long as they are the required size. Most of these in the photo will be going over to the Sit & Knit to get the seamers started.

It would be nice if we can get a few hundred squares done (is that a lot?!) each blanket will be about 60" square so will need 60 squares for each one.

It is ambitious - but what's a Heaven for?

Triple Wave Afghan

Information and registration for the Sit & Knit is here.


The Triple Wave Afghan

I think it was size 13 needles. I know it was made with Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick. I was afraid to drop it on a child - it's so heavy! It will certainly keep someone warm and it's large enough to go on a bed and will certainly keep someone cozy while watching the t and v.

The "recipe" came from The Little Box of Knitted Throws.

It requires about 11 skeins of yarn, though you will need to buy 12 to make it. They don't give you a warning of how cumbersome and heavy the afghan will become so let me warn you: it's gonna get cumbersome and heavy. It is worth every minute of the nine days it took to make it - maybe I should call this one the nine day afghan.

This particular afghan will be on sale at the May 3rd Pancake Breakfast, Bake Sale and Bazaar at First United Methodist of Oak Park.

Sit & Knit Pattern 2: Crochet Hats

These patterns came from Bev's County Cottage (no relation!) Her site is full of patterns intended to be used for mission knitting and since we are doing a Sit & Knit, we qualify.

We will use the patterns for the adult/teen hat and bev's scrap hat. Visit the website for the actual patterns and pictures. I don't crochet (I know how, I just don't) and these seem easy enough for beginners on up.

Information about the Sit & Knit and the registration form can be found here.

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Sit & Knit - Pattern 1 - The Preemie Hat

Information and registration for Pleasant Home/UMW Sit & Knit are here.

Thanks to Stitches From the Heart for this pattern that I saw on Knitty Gritty. This is the pattern we will use to create the preemie hats to be donated to hospitals with neo-natal centers.

You will need size 6 needles and worsted weight yarn. Visit the website for the actual pattern. These hats work up fairly quickly. (I did one while sitting in a meeting - don't tell anyone!) You can also do them on dpn's and avoid the seaming.

The Soho Scarf - Exquisite Little Knits

So I've made another scarf. That's ok. Scarves are good for the craft sale and they are good for donations. Scarves serve many purposes.

This scarf was done in my favorite yarn, Caron By The Pound, knit on size eight circular needles. I think it took two days to knit. What makes this scarf so much fun is that it is made of three panels; two are vertical and the one in middle is horizontal and it is knit all in one piece. The technique involves adding on stitches, binding off, and picking up stitches. The reason it's on circular needles is because it requires two hundred stitches. It is a reversible scarf though one side has a little more texture than the other.

You can find the complete pattern in Exquisite Little Knits by Iris Schreier & Laurie J. Kimmelstiel.

I would love to see this yarn done with self striping yarn, as opposed to variegated yarn. I would love to see what the yarn does when it moves the horizontal to the vertical strip and back again.

UMW & Pleasant Home First Sit & Knit May 31, 2008

The StitchCraft Circle of First United Methodist Church of Oak Park and Pleasant Home announces their first Sit & Kit to take place May 31, 2008 at Pleasant Home (on the corners of Pleasant and Home in Oak Park)

The all day event is the launch of the circle's Head2Toe Project.
Registration form and information are here.

The Head2Toe Project is an intiative to give assistance to area hospitals and agencies by providing handcrafted items.

At first, the idea was for people to donate a new pair of socks for a child or adult and StitchCraft would create a hat and scarf to go with and then donate them to ChildServ. Well, ChildServ never answered our phone calls or emails, but we were enthusiastic about the idea so we revampled it and here we are at the Sit & Knit.

More information will be coming in other posts including the patterns we will be using, information on Pleasant Home (it's beautiful!) and the organizations we hope to help!

Stay Tuned!

The Cubs Fan's Lament

It's just the spring season and already we see things have got to change.

First - sorry Neal Cotts, but I don't see you making the roster. I don't know what it is that makes you so hittable, but the north side of town doesn't seem to be doing you any good. I don't know how you did when you were on the south side - cuz I don't like the White Sox so I don't know if your performance is supposed to be why you were traded or why you were picked up and you don't seem to be made for the National League. You are still a much better player than I'll ever be, but I've never aspired to be a major league pitcher or someone would be writing the same things about me.

Second-The Giants seemed to be stealing bases at will against Cubs pitching. Two things that will throw a team off their rhythm: walks and steals. We need to improve on both. Throw a ball over to first base every once in a whiel. Look over at a runner so his rhythm is thrown off. Geez!

Third-Derek Lee can do no wrong, and you're sexy even with the beard - but lose it, please. The closest I will ever get to you is in my dreams and I can't even dream of rubbing up against that. Well, I can, but it's uncomfortable. So, sorry, I don't care how cold it gets here in April, you need to shave it off. I'll help.

Fourth-Naming rights to Wrigley Field? I'm almost certain there's something in the Bible saying it's a sin. It's got a name: Wrigley Field. And it's a darned good one.

The Cubs are 1-3 and they've shown they have some 'fight back' in 'em, but they should have never been as far behind as they were. Hopefully, they will get the losses out of their system and bring all the wins with them when they come north in about a month.

I feel so much better now.

The Debbie Macomber Scarf - almost

So, after the nine day afghan (that took 20 days) I needed to do something simple. The next book on the shelf was Knit With Debbie Macomber. The first pattern in the book is a pattern for making seven variations of a scarf. A scarf! Now that is simple, indeed. So, I thought I would make her scarf - only different. This scarf is headed for the Head2Toe Project. We're planning a Sit & Knit in May! Watch for more info.

The pattern called for chunky weight yarn - so far so good. I now have a bunch of chunky weight yarn in the stash. But I didn't have the speckled kind the first pattern called for, but the second one was a solid color.

I had a solid color!! It's Lion Brand Jiffy. I used it to make my brother in law's scarf for Christmas as well as the Nomad Hat/Scarf I made for myself. I still had a lot of it left over; certainly enough to make a scarf.

The pattern called for size 13 needles. Well, I used size 10 because that's the one the yarn suggested. I have nothing against size 13 needles - it just didn't feel right for the yarn- and since it's a scarf, gauge doesn't really matter much.

The pattern called for 17 stitches - that was a little narrow for me (probably because I used smaller needles) so I cast on 21 and that seemed just right.

The pattern said to make it 62 inches or the desired length. I chose the desired length. There was no fringe in the pattern - I felt like adding fringe.

Other than that, I followed the pattern to the letter!