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.

A Prayer Shawl Gathering

Our group, StitchCraft, was invited to attend a Prayer Shawl gathering in Naperville. It was hosted by the Prayer Shawl ministry of Grace United Methodist Church. There were maybe 30 -40 women who attended for a day of prayer, sharing stories, patterns, books, etc. There was even a little bit of knitting.

It wasn't what I expected, I thought we would have a few hours of knitting and taking together but this was a complete program and it was a fun and interesting time sharing something we all had in common and seeing the different ways we did things.

I brought my camera with me and didn't have time to take a single picture. They did have a photographer there so I am certain I can find some pictures if I really put my mind to it.

What I discovered about our group is that we are somewhat unique and expansive. What I found out about other groups is that they have way more people in their knitting group than we do. It all works because it's all for a greater cause to serve and for the lesser but important cause, to spend time building a fellowship of women. It's amazing how much you give when you give as much as you can.

I look forward to the next one. And I should tell you to mark your calendar: the 2009 Sit & Knit will be April 25 from 10am to 2:00pm.

I finished You Know Better by Tina McElroy Ansa (I give it 2.5 of 4 bookmarks) and I've begun a new read: Evelina by Frances Burney. Eclectic, I know.

The Knitter's Restaurant - Sit & Knit Info

The registration and information for Sit & Knit is here.

OK. So, here's the deal.

Here's the link for the pattern for the child/adult hat.
Here's the link for crochet hats.
Here's the link for the knitted preemie hat.
Here's the link for the crocheted preemie hat.

You may create your squares in any pattern you like as long as it is 10 inches before blocking. Please weave in your ends.

We will have a class for novices/beginners and a class to learn cables. Class size will be restricted to the first 15 to sign up at the registration desk on Saturday.

We will have copies of the patterns at Pleasant Home. You can register in person if you haven't turned in your form.

The weather outlook is good, so if you want to bring a blanket to sit outside, please feel free to do so.

Thank you for all who have sent in their registration forms. I look forward to meeting and seeing you all this weekend!

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!

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?

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.

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!

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.

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.