Breathe

I am going to leave the house in a few minutes to do some shopping (grocery shopping - don't get excited) and I am hoping my short term memory is intact enough for me to remember to take the camera and take a photo of the trunk yarn stash. Because there was yarn in there before Mr. Honey did the great trunk clean up and he has it very nicely placed in there.

Which kinda ruins the fun of having a hidden yarn stash in the trunk of the car if the hidee straightens it up for you.

I have also taken a photo of the completed block afghan. It came out really nice and will be even better when it gets steamed. Sometimes it's a good idea to pull out a WIP and drop the IP.

The crochet strip afghan continues on and as I stated, it's going to be a big ass afghan and I will have to get some more white yarn - I am certain I don't have enough right now. But the first shopping expedition is going to be stash shopping. I know I pulled some white yarn before but I can't remember what for so maybe it's still up there somewhere just waiting to be fulfill its destiny - as are we all.

I take a glance around the living room and I see the bags of completed projects and the ones that are sitting on the love seat and I think about all the ones I've sold and I think about what a blessing it is to be able to create.

We can all create we just to find that thing we can make and share with the world. I never thought it would be knitting and now crocheting but there it is. And the connections that have come of it have been amazing and there's still more amazing things to be done. You can't ask for a better or more fun blessing than that.

Sugar, Sugar

Seriously, any cuter and we'd have to put a warning label to diabetics on it. I don't think the plan was to make one so small, but it was just so cute I let it go through. Sometimes you have to take the path in front of you not the one you made.

This would make such a cute bag for a little girl with the bracelet handles and the fun fur edge. I have the thought of a grown up version that would incorporate the fur and it can be a Mommy and Me purse set.


I will have to take it upstairs to do the glam shots for the shop but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

In the meantime, the scarf that must be made is coming along quite nicely. I was telling it I thought it would be nice as a neck warmer, small and cozy and it told me it was going to be a long scarf with fu-fu fur on both ends. Long....as in 80 inches total. Well, I guess it told me. It is well on the way to becoming 80 inches long. I suppose the silver lining is that it will use up the Caron by the Pound. It's always good to be able to show the hubby that not only can I buy yarn but I can actually use it up. Hard point to make when I still have some of the yarn from my very first yarn buy still in the house. Hey, I'll use it eventually.

Our Second Annual Sit and Knit is this Saturday and I will be putting together the goody bags and I have to design a brochure, get it to and from the printers by this weekend - but there's no pressure! We have about 40 folks who have RSVP'd and that will be about a 20% increase over the folks who came last year so I am feeling grateful and excited that we might actually have something started. I will post photos as I don't expect to be saddled behind a registration table this year. I'm looking forward to it!!

The Second Annual Sit and Knit

The moment you become a knitter, you become a more generous person. There really is very little choice in the matter. There are many reasons to knit, but the end result is something gets made. Almost every time you knit something is being made. In the end you will have something. And then something has to be done with the something you've made.

I suppose you could actually keep all 583 scarves you make, but space will become an issue. So when you knit (or crochet) somewhere during the knitting of scarf number 168 you say to yourself: "What am I going to do with all this stuff?"

That's when you create the 'knit list.' That is the group of people to whom you will give something you've created. Now mind you, they never asked to be placed on this list and it hardly matters if they don't because they will be receiving an item from you because you don't have room for any more in your own house which means others have to take the inventory.

And though most of them will graciously accept your treasure and some will actually request items (those are the ones who will have a special place in our wills) eventually, you will run out of people on the knit list. (No, Beverly, I really cannot use that computer cozy!)

Unfortunately, there are people in the world who can use your bounty. It is wonderful to have someone to knit for. It is a gift that catches us by surprise. It started out as (and continues to be) fun, but there is a mission out there and it never ends. The fortunate part is that there are so many of us who have felt the need and will pull out the needles to answer the call.

The Second Annual Sit and Knit will take place April 25 from 9am to 4pm again at Pleasant Home in Oak Park. Last year 30 knitters got together and made baby hats and squares which were donated to area hospitals. This year, we will make squares to be turned into lap blankets to be given to Compassionate Care Hospice - a new facility in Morton Grove. We were asked by Chaplain Elisse if we would consider donating items and I can't think of a better way to provide comfort to those who are there in this new facility.

The event is absolutely free - we'll even provide the yarn and patterns but you are free to bring your own. There will be door prizes and we are allowing groups to have display tables so we can see what other knitting groups are doing. You can find more information here and on President Obama's service website, usaservice.org. We hope to double the number of knitters who participate and spend a few hours in each other's company feeling the good time vibe and that special gabfest knitters have with each other.

If you can't make it to the event, please pray for a great turnout so we can help the hospice provide care for their clients and families. Hope to see as many of you out there as can make it!

Sold!

During the year, StitchCraft has three sales. The spring and fall Pancake Breakfast and Bazaar and the Pleasant Home Holiday Sale. These are the fundraisers for our group. Monday was the last day for the Pleasant Home sale and I thought it would be fun to see what items I've made in 2008 that sold.

There's this friendly competition that goes on. We are curious to see what gets sold. We all have something we think people will punch each other out to get and we are anxious to see when it goes. For me, certain afghans are like children: I raise them to send them out in the world, and when they walk off in the arms of someone else, I want to cry. And when they hang around home too long, I wonder why they're still there.

The funny thing is: you never know what will sell. Last year, we ran out of prayer shawls, this year we've sold only a few. Hats and scarves went like pancakes in May and this winter, a bunch of them are sitting on the table lonely and waiting. At the Pleasant Home Sale, the first thing we sold was the doggy sweater and right after someone bought it, someone else came in asking for one.

We don't have rules about what to make in our group. People make whatever they feel like making. After all, the group was made for people to get together and knit. We didn't start out with the intent of selling anything. (That's also why we don't charge for labor.) I will put out a call when we've run low on things or when someone makes a request for the group to make hats for preemies, but other than that, the women of the group knit what they feel like knitting. I think that might be one of the reasons for our success (and we are successful) - our inventory changes with a planned randomness.

We've made some new connections! one of the things we look to do is connect with community organizations and use our craft as a way of helping locally. One of the other vendors at the sale is a Senior Citizen organization looking for knitters. It seems they have this over flowing stash of yarn ( you know I had to stop myself from drooling, right?) and they are looking for folks to come in and knit with their members and use it up. How could I possibly refuse such a need? It will provide the chance for the seniors to use their stash to either sell at one of our markets with the money going back to them and also to donate to the other connection we made.

The Infant Welfare Society was doing their annual meet with Santa. The Executive Director stopped by my table and mentioned they worked with a knit group in Michigan who gave all the kids hats last year. The group disbanded and the children were really disappointed not to get hats. I made an executive decision on my own and linked us to the group to get hats to the kids for the 2009 Christmas season. I seeing a bit of synergy..if we can get the seniors to make hats for the babies and children, I'm seeing a full circle.

I'm not quite sure how long this latest knitting craze thing will last, but I don't think we're a part of that anyway. It wasn't until we formed the group and I started looking into things that I found out knitting was so hot. My guess, is that it probably was also warm but more people know about it. It doesn't really matter - we do what we do because we love doing it and we've found a way to make that work for the transformation of the world. That's always hot!

The Great Yarn Debate

I picked up knitting again after decades of not thinking about it because a friend and I decided we 'needed' to have a knitting group at church. There was no mission component or selling component; we were just knitting.

Then we had all this stuff and had to decide what to do with it - so the selling and the mission parts came in. This, of course, required the need to purchase more yarn.

I cannot wrap my mind around paying $12 for a skein of yarn. I've seen it. I've even touched it. I have trouble getting my mind around $10 for a skein of yarn. It could be because most of the knitting I do is for sale or to give away and the more expensive the yarn, the more care it requires. The items we give away need to have a wash and wear care tag because a lot of them are given to the homeless, who don't carry Wool-Lite with them and may not be able to launder it for a while.

Or they are given to people who are shut in who also don't have the inclination to 'lay it flat to dry'.

We price our items according to the yarn we use. (I have the task of pricing items for our sales) and we do not charge for the labor because that's the fun part and the reason we come together. The gathering is the mission - the items we create are an extension and the fruits of the mission. So we don't charge for the coming together or knitting when we're alone because we are connected through the group. So, I charge by finding out what yarn people have used and calculating from there the cost to make another blanket, hat, etc. plus and additional cost to help pay it forward and donate items to others.

A couple of things happen: some really labor intensive item can sell for a really inexpensive price because though the pattern was complicated, the knitter used yarn that was only $2.50 a skein. (Believe me, I've had this discussion with knitters who've said: "But it was a complicated pattern!" to which I have responded: "And that's your reward!")

We also get some rather expensive items. Use 12 skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick and the lowest price charged for an afghan is $110. We have items like that and they are beautiful and we can display them as high end items. Whether they will sell at the last show of the year remains to be seen. If they do not sell, we will have to reduce the price, of course, so someone will want to walk away with it by the end of the week. You can see the $110 afghan here.

I was in Hobby Lobby the other day and was looking for a yarn that had slubs and bumps and I found one. It was so soft and so pretty and had about 90 yarns to the skein and I figured I would need maybe 8 or so to do a shawl. I looked at the price -$11.95. Put it back. Sigh.

Is there something wrong with me? I just can't see it.

When Is An Afghan Not An Afghan - con't

Remember a while back I knit all these squares to make an afghan and when I started to pull it together, it didn't work? I made two of those squares into a pillow, but I still have plenty of squares left and now some of them have become this kiddie scarf! There are still enough squares to make a matching hat and possibly mittens.

But here is the Take A Ribbing scarf from "Getting Started Knitting" I couldn't tell you how many colors are in it, but it's made from the Herschnerr's Chunky weight yarn which is really yummy to me. (I wouldn't know what to do with yarn that actually cost more than $7 a skein!) It's a nice yarn with lots of colors (obviously) and very lush. It's the shipping charges that kills the buzz for me. I wait until they have free shipping which they do a couple of times a year and then I buy a bunch of it.

If I get the chance, I will try and whip up a hat or mittens to go with it but the scarf will go on sale at the bazaar next month.

For Phillip, with Love

We make prayer shawls and give them to people who are grieving. We send them to members of our congregation, to the next of kin of soldiers lost in war, to friends who lose their sons all too soon and in tragic, senseless ways.

We never quite know if what we do is something useful. We don't ask people if they want a shawl, we just send them one. For all we know, we could be intruding on someone's private pain and giving them something we think will make it just a little better.

Corp. Phillip Brodnick was killed in Iraq in a Blackhawk crash. We sent a prayer shawl to his mother and one to his father. Last week, we received a check for $100 from his mother for our ministry. She told me in a phone call she wanted to make a donation and we expected to receive maybe $25. $100 for our ministry is enough for 5 prayer shawls, but the way we will do it, we will get 15-20 prayer shawls from this donation.

This gracious and wonderful donation has inspired us to create a program called "For Phillip, with love." Each prayer shawl we make that includes a skein of yarn purchased with this donation will include a note that says: "This prayer shawl made possible through the donation of a soldier's family." in the corner will be the letters FPWL. The yarn we purchase will be placed on the altar during a worship service and blessed.

In the future, anyone who makes a donation of cash or yarn will be able to designate who the items will go to: children, women's shelters, wounded soldiers, even animals and there will be a note commemorating the donation and in the corner will be the FPWL - "For Phillip, with love" because this program started with a mother's love and her desire to pay it forward.

Progress - Whether We Like it Or Not

I went back and re-read my very first post made on December 20 of last yeat. At that time, I had three projects going and I think I finished only one. The scarf was a gift for my brother-in-law, and I've never seen him where it. I made one for his wife and I've never seen her wear hers either; but I suppose that's beside the point.

The two things that didn't get made were kinda made. I made seven of the twelve Aran squares needed to complete the Aran Square afghan. Don't know why I stopped, but two of those squares have been turned into a pillow (I will upload the photo one day) and the rest are now part of an in progress project called 'Cai" for Ravelmpics. The garden gate afghan was about a foot away from being complete when I decided I didn't like it and that became the Cable Comfort Afghan. I will do the garden gate again, but I probably won't use that Thick & Quick yarn. Don't get me wrong - LOVE the yarn, but it does make for heavy afghans and....I digress.

The point on progress comes from learning how to knit in grade school (on pencils cuz we didn't have needles) and not picking it up again until a few years ago. I started keeping track of all my projects in a spreadsheet (and in this blog) and as of today since Dec 07, I have completed 38 different projects. That's about 1 project a week. So I'm making up for not knitting for all those decades. It's amazing the needles are out of my hands long enough to write a blog and to write for a living. .

Like many other things in life, I didn't think knitting would have a place of importance. (Kinda like algebra) But I find knitting is a connective fabric. I am connected to my church through the knit group I started, the community who receives those goods and who partner with us to create more and give more, to those friends seen and unseen who also knit, and to God from whom all good gifts are sent.

Whether I like it or not, knowing how to knit is a talent. Sharing what I knit is a gift. Wanting to use it in service to others is an offering. And knowing the difference is progress.

As Medea would say: "Hallelujer!"

Quick Knit Scarf

Well, I'm just a knitting fool since the Ravelympics started. I still have the olympic scarf and the cai afghan to go, but this was almost done so i thought it would be best to go ahead and finish it up.

This scarf goes with the hat (that's Marilyn modeling it). They're both made with Red Heart yarn on size 9 needles. The hat was modified from a pattern found in Quick Knit - Cool Accessories and the scarf was made up from a stitch I found in a stitch dictionary and thought it would make a great scarf. and so it does.

this cute little set will be sold at the November Bazaar - come on by and buy it!

Our Third Sit & Knit Sponsor - Yet Unknown

Information for the Sit & Knit is here.


So, I received an email from the administrative assistant saying we received several boxes of yarn to be used for StitchCraft. Now, I was expecting donations from Chix with Stix and maybe some more from the Economy Shop so since Marilyn was going to the church, I asked her to check it out.

Seven boxes. SEVEN BOXES stuffed full of good yarn. Marilyn also said there are some granny squares - lots of granny squares.

We don't know who sent them - it certainly doesn't seem to have come from any expected source. So we offer our sincere thanks to whomever sent the yarn to the attention of StitchCraft. The AA said there was no note saying who sent it but only that it was just for us.

We are going to use it at the Sit & Knit on May 31 and should we have any left over (and we hope we don't) we will use it for our projects.

Thank you for giving us the yarn - we appreciate your kindness.

So, You Can't Make it to the Sit & Knit

Information and registration for the Sit & Knit is here.

Ahhhh, you can't make it to the Sit & Knit. I'm so sorry, I wanted to see everyone there. We would like to see every inch of Pleasant Home filled with knitters and crafters. (That's a photo of the foyer.)

But if you cannot make it to the event and you would still like to participate, there's nothing stopping you from knitting or crocheting a square or preemie hat and sending it to us if you don't live close enough to drop it off.

Just send the completed item to the address on the registration form and we will add it to the rest of the items to be blessed and distributed. Don't forget to send us your contact info so we can confirm receipt of it. (An email would be great!)

But if you can come, then by all means join us. It promises to be a lot of fun.

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?

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.

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!

Nine Day Afghan - Day 5

OK, so two strips are done and they are sewn together! The third strip has yet to be started. I do not believe I will have this afghan done in 9 days.
But I must admit, I do like it better than the first one I made. Those original strips are slowly making their way into the new strips. I am using a combination of Caron By the Pound and Herrschner's worsted weight yarn (which I am beginning to like quite well!)

Hey, if you're in the Oak Park area in May, keep a watch for the Sit-N-Knit at Pleasant Home. Right now, it's in the planning stages but it appears as if it will be a great time. The idea is to have as many knitters as we can safely get in the building and on the grounds to knit preemie hats and booties, simple baby blankets, and scarves and hat for children to adults. We want to distribute them to area hospitals, and organizations helping teen mothers and the homeless.

As I said, we've just started planning it - but we hope to be able to pull it off, and if we can, you'll here about it right here!

I have to go start that third strip now.

The Preemie Hat

It's pretty easy to tell how long it takes me to make something. I start a new project the same or the next day after I finish the last one and I post the project here on the same or the next day after it's finished.

That's how it usually works.

These preemie hats were knit within hours of each other. The green one was started at about 10pm last night and finished in the wee hours of this morning and the purple one was started at about 8 this morning - before I went to walk dogs and was finished about a half hour ago. I have put aside working on an afghan (which will take a while to finish) because we have a task to complete for Loyola Hospital in Maywood. They have a preemie unit with almost 30 babies and they need hats. StitchCraft's most prolific knitter has made about twenty of them but she lives in California. So, I am stitching some of these cuties to give to the hospital next week so they have some on hand until the shipment arrives from the left coast.

The pattern for the hat came from Knitty Gritty and Stitches From the Heart. They are super cute and super fast to make with size 6 needles and a little worsted weight yarn. Now, I admit that, as usual, I have made some changes to the pattern,

For the most part, I knit it as is - except I gave away my straight size 6 needles, so if I'm knitting flat, I use size 7. Then, I'm always concerned about the softness of a preemie's head, and how irritating the seam could be. So, I knit it in round and don't have to worry about the seam at all.

This is a great way to use up remnant yarn because it hardly takes any and it serves a purpose to bring comfort to those little darlings who enter the world a bit earlier than they should. It also provides a keepsake for their parents. This little hat does so much.

The Prayer Shawl

This is the standard prayer shawl we use to in the Prayer Shawls 4 Fallen Soldiers project and those we sell at our United Methodist Women Bazaar. They are soft, easy to make and care for and they are very popular.

My sister was reading the blog and wanted to see a photo of the prayer shawl because I talked about it in an earlier post. But here's the thing: I've never made one. We have a knit goddess who makes the bulk of our shawls and she lives in California. She sends them to us a dozen or more a pop so we haven't had much need to make them in Chicago. However, after I finished my last project the next project up was from The Prayer Shawl Ministry (eerie how that works) and so I got out 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun yarn, my size 13 circular needles and started making my first prayer shawl. And here is it.
It didn't take all three skeins, more like 2.5 but an easier pattern you will not find.

If you are interested in making prayer shawls for soldiers' families, please follow the link to get more information. We need as much assistance as we can get. There are over 3000 names and we have only gone over the 300 mark. We have a long way to go and many more shawls to send.

Prayer Shawls 4 Fallen Soldier's Families

In an earlier post, I shared with you the national program Prayer Shawls 4 Fallen Soldier's Families. In short, we are sending a prayer shawl or afghan to the next of kin of every soldier lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a painstaking endeavor. We have sent out over 300 items already, but there are more than 3400 on the list. We have a long way to go.

And though we try to make sure we send the shawls to the right address, we don't know that it always makes it to the right place or the right person. And we never do it for the thank yous that may never come - but every once in a while, you get a blessing back for a blessing offered. I received this letter yesterday:

Beverly;
Thank you and the United Methodist Women for my prayer shawl. I received the shawl on Jan. 15, on my birthday. What a gift to receive. I put the shawl on as soon as I opened the box. I felt the love that went into this shawl. Later that night, I was taken out to dinner for my birthday and to my surprise, I got engaged. Truly when your congregation blessed this shawl, they really blessed it! I am writing this letter with the prayer shawl wrapped around me. Thank you and your church for such a priceless gift. Also my son, Torry, would thank you for the love you, and your church has shown his family. Please share these words with your congregation.

Respectfully,
Linda C.

Wow, we really can do some good in this world.

StitchCraft - United Methodist Women

We're packing up prayer shawls to send to the next of kin of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's part of a national mission called Prayer Shawls 4 Fallen Soldier's Families.

StitchCraft is a group I co-founded two years ago as part of the local United Methodist Women's organization at First United Methodist Church of Oak Park. It's interesting how a group that was started with one intention evolved into another group that serves more of a purpose than originally thought of.

StitchCraft was supposed to a knitting group that made items to be donated to community organizations. We've done that: we've donated baby hats to Children's Memorial Hospital and we have plans to do other things, but this has turned into quite a social group as well. We have knitters and crocheters, but also sewers, stampers, and even an artist! We also decided to sell our wares as a way to raise money and raised more than $1000 in 2007 with no sign of slowing down.

This knitting circle has become an important part of the organization and an important part of the church because we make afghans and prayer shawls for members who are ill, for members who get married, for children when they are baptized, and to our senior high schoolers as they go off to college.

We meet once a month and then plan some special get-togethers when we need to have extra sessions. We don't have a set structure on what we make: everybody makes what they feel like making and we always seem to have an abundance and variety of items to sell. We price our items to serve both the organization and the community. We set a price so that we can recreate the exact same item again and then put in a percentage more to go towards our mission work. We never charge for labor because that's part of the love and the mission. It has served us well as we have been a very successful group. Being a part of a knit group is a way to serve and have fun at the same time.
Contact me if you're interested in starting one. Contact me if you're in Chicago and interested in joining our group. We'd love to have you.