Milestone

Say hello to baby hat #250!

Sean turned seven earlier this month.  I started these little hats as a way to "give back" for the blessing that I received in him.  (I did something different for Will, I collected baby food for charity)  In the first year, I made fifty hats to commemorate his birth, and at the time I was sending them to Stitches from the Heart, a California-based charity that collected handcrafted baby hats and blankets and distributed them all over the country.  They closed their doors a few years ago, and someone told me about Project Nathaniel.  It is a local woman that collects baby items in honor of her grandson Nathaniel, that passed away soon after being born.  AND the items go to the hospital that my boys were born in, every July!  I'm honored and happy to help the hospital that was so good to us.

So that's 250 little heads that I've helped warm up.  These little hats knit up quickly, and really make you feel like you're accomplishing something, both knit-wise and life-wise.  Here's to the next 250!

Those Pink Hats

On January 20th, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president.  And on January 21st, there were Womens' Marches to protest Donald Trump being President.  It may have been a "women's march" but over 4 million men, women and children attended the main march in DC, and 600 sister marches all over the country.

Women and their pink hats....pink hats with cat-like ears everywhere!  This was thanks to the Pussyhat Project.   I'm proud to say that I knit two of these hats, and gave them to a friend who went to DC. She gave the hats to friends and then tagged me on Facebook so I could see who got them and they thanked me.  And I'm still making them for anyone who's asked....I've got one off the needles to mail to Rhode Island, and then two to go to Virginia and two more to local friends.  Hey, it's what I can do to help the cause.  I may not be able to go to marches, but I support those that do, and will knit my fingers off to help the cause!

Future Yarn Plans

Happy New Year!

I've already finished the first project of the year:  boot cuffs for my friend Lauren.  She was over with her son the other day (my oldest and her son are best friends) and I had finished the knitting.  So I seamed them while she was there, and she wore 'em home!  She loves them, almost as much as she loves wearing boots.

Now I am a bit obsessed with boot cuffs, and I've cast on a pair of gray ones for my hairdresser, as a little gift since she won't be back at the salon til June.  (college coursework)  AND THEN I have another pair for a friend, who's insisting on paying me for them.  My first for-profit knitting.  Not something I've ventured into before, and I don't think I want to make a thing out of it.

So many plans with my yarn and needles this year...I'm making hats, blankets and sweaters for babies at the hospital that the boys were born at for Project Nathaniel, and I've signed up to crank out mittens as part of the Secret Santa program that the local police does every year.  But first....time for some things for me!  I always cast on one or two things after the new year, to balance out all of the Christmas knitting.

200 and counting

I sent off another bunch of baby hats for charity a few weeks ago.  Sadly, Stitches from the Heart closed their doors earlier this year, but i was lucky to find a local baby charity!  I donated them to Project Nathaniel, which sends hats, blankets and booties every July to a hospital in Worcester, MA in memory of Nathaniel.  Nathaniel was a preemie that was born in 2007, and this is how his family honors his short, beautiful life.  I hope to be able to donate every year.

And with that, I've made and donated over two hundred hats!!  Wow, that is incredibly hard to believe.

Happy Heart

Last Friday was the annual Hook and Needler holiday get-together, which was held at my house.  It was a little different this year because not only did we have our ornament swap, we also had taken part in a group-wide charity project knitting winter items for the women and children of a local homeless shelter.  When I first announced the idea at the end of the summer, I never expected such an overwhelming response!  Between all of us there was:

75 hats
6 cowls
5 scarves
15 pairs of mittens
3 blankets
1 pair of socks

And one child will be the lucky recipient of a handmade stuffed elephant.

Thank you my knit and crochet friends.  This is one of my favorite reasons to be part of this group!

The Last Box

It's done.

7.  send a box of handmade baby items to Stitches from the Heart every six months (6/29/14)

The last box is packed.  

This time it's 24 hats, three blankets, and one little pants and hooded sweater set for a lucky preemie boy.

I shouldn't call this "the last box" because it isn't.  I'll still mail hats and blankets to Stitches from the Heart.  After all, I've made 169 hats total and I'm not sure how many blankets and have no intention of stopping.

However, after the frigid winter we had this past year, I want to make some things for older kids.  So, I'm attempting to organize a group effort from my knitting group to a homeless shelter in the city.  I sent an email to one of the bigger shelters on Friday afternoon to inquire about how many people approximately to knit for, to donate to this November.  My knitting friends that I meet up with on Wednesday nights are on board, and it's going to be fun!  I'm on a hat-making binge, having just started an adult pink hat at 11:59pm on Friday night and binding it off this afternoon.  And mittens!  Kids need warm hands.  So do their moms and dads.  Warmth=kindness, and that's what we're spreading.  Who doesn't need a little kindness!  

Robots and Planes

What a busy Saturday!  First there was Sean's last soccer game of the season.  Then there was a Spring Fair Day at karate to benefit the American Cancer Society.  Each class had to count how many kicks they could do in 45 seconds and then people sponsored them.  Yours truly held a kicking pad and counted out a couple of kids, including Will.  He got 47 kicks in 45 seconds!  And that is the only acceptable time to kick your mother!  :)

Then, we still felt like going out.  So we headed over to the "Touch Tomorrow" event at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a free fun day showcasing the technology of tomorrow.  It was all about the robots, but had other stuff, too.  We listened to robotic music (drums and guitar strings) and visited a machine shop.  Saw robotic stuff in the medical field, such as surgical devices and a "smart" wheelchair.  It was a lot of fun.

And I finally got to cross off this Day Zero List Item:

21.  Fold a paper airplane (6/14/14)

That's my plane that Sean's holding.  They had a booth set up on engineering paper planes.  Mine didn't fly well, but IT's A PLANE!!

Now Shipping

These two beauties are being sent out to Webs as part of the  "Podcaster Throwdown."  They'll be counted in the tally for team Ready Set Knit!  who were losing badly the last time I checked the tallies.  But really, no one is technically "losing" when we're talking about hundreds of hats being donated for Hats for Halos of Hope.  All that will be lost is bragging rights!

Both of these hats are a cotton/nylon blend.  I wanted to make more, but it turns out that I don't have all that much non-wool yarn in my stash.  Except for acrylic which is really more suited for baby items.  I'm very much a wool-kind-of-girl.  Though I love me some alpaca, too.

The top hat is the "slouchy beehive hat" and man, it is super slouchy.  It's a dark pink, almost the color of beets. The second hat is called the "chrysanthemum hat" and knits up rather quickly!  The picture doesn't do it justice, it's a beautiful teal green, and the edges don't curl like that.  This hat just didn't want to behave for the photo, that's all.

Hats n Mittens

I picked up Sean at school the other day, and I told the teacher that I would like to get a gift for the school for Christmas instead of for each teacher, and asked what they need.  Besides the usual "everything,"  (i.e. art supplies, paper, etc, like most preschools they have a very small budget).  The teacher hesitated and said, "Well, I was thinking about the mittens that you made for Sean.  A lot of kids come in here every day that don't have hats or mittens, and we have to keep them inside at recess when it's cold out.  Do you think you could make some hats and mittens?"  Tug on the heartstrings.  Because that is my Kryptonite....I cannot tolerate the very idea that there are kids that don't have hats and mittens.  We live in Central MA, in the heart of New England, where we get a crapload of snow and ice in the winter.  The thought of these parents (for whatever reason, be it money/budgeting or neglect, I don't care) not using hats and mittens on their kids breaks this girl's heart.  I told the teacher that I may not be able to do it by Christmas, but I would certainly do some.  

And that night, I started right away.  Yeah, I have a Birthday Swap package to finish (with a really cool cross-stitch!) and an ornament swap that I haven't even DECIDED on for this coming Friday.  Not to mention the two Christmas gifts that I want to make, but they're both for immediate family who I think would understand.    But kids without cold weather accessories and me with a huge yarn stash?  "Im right on top of that, Rose!"*

One red wool hat finished already, and I used Sean's head as a guide.  I started  a sparkly white acrylic hat for a little girl and well....it fit me.  Serves me right for not doing a gauge swatch.  I won['t be making that mistake again.

Luckily, I found a little girl at our Philly Thanksgiving that it fit.  This is Brian's cousin's daughter, so I guess that makes Brian and Miss K. second cousins.  Pretty sweet, no?  She wore it the rest of the night, which of course makes me very happy.  :)

 

*  Fifty cool points to you, my nineties friends, if you knew that this movie quote was from "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead." 

Hats for Halos of Hope

If anyone knows me or reads this blog, you know that I like to knit for charity.  I still make baby hats and blankets for Stitches from the Heart, I send them a box every June and December.  (December's box is almost finished, there are four blankets and I'm three hats short of two dozen.  Luckily we have a Thanksgiving Road Trip coming up, and baby hats are a great car project!)  I've flirted with the idea of becoming a Massachusetts volunteer for Stitches, but I don't know.  I'd have to give up something....co-moderating Swap Groups on Ravelry, any time I spend blogging or reading....perhaps working or sleeping.  Oy.

Anyway, I'm always looking for new charity knitting ventures, and Webs has posted on on their site: Hats for Halos of Hope.  Plus, those babies that I knit for turn into grown-ups, and it's fun to break into knitting for grown-ups from time to time.  It sounds fiercely competitive, trying to collect 10,000 hats.  Webs is wonderful and I want to support their efforts.

The deadline to ship hats to Webs is February 1st, so it won't interrupt any knitting for the holidays time.  (What's kind of funny is that I have three hats that I want to make between now and 12/25.  Do-able?  I want to say yes!!)  

The Amazing Yarn and Charity Adventures

My friend Maureen is in town, so we of course went yarn shopping.  That is just what you do when you get two fervent knitters together, you hunt down fine yarns.  We headed to two stores in Central MA and came home with lots of great stuff.

The first one was a little shop that I had never been too.  It was nice, but there was nothing that screamed WOW! to either of us.  They did have some baby yarn that I love to work with though, and I'm always looking for ways to make baby hat knitting fun.  Making baby hats for charity is fun and a good cause, but making the same one or two pattern with one skein of the same-color yarn gets boring after a while.  Then....I saw a pattern that I've been looking for since last summer on vacation in Williamsburg, called "Babies and Bears."  I was so sorry that I didn't buy it last summer when I saw it so you can be sure I snapped it up at $6.00 this year!  I also found a book of 99 different stitch patterns, and there's a decorating idea on Pinterest that I want to try in my craft room.

When we got to the register, the cashier was having difficulty with debit and credit cards.  Apparently since it's a tax free shopping weekend in Massachusetts, a lot of people were shopping yesterday, bogging down the system.  Luckily the yarn shop is in a bank building so an ATM was nearby.  So while Maureen went to get some cash to purchase her finds, the woman started to ring me up.  The stitch book didn't have a price on it, and I was surprised when she asked how much I would pay for it.  I said "I don't know, twelve dollars?"  She gave it to me for ten.  While pretty cool, that wasn't the coolest thing that happened there.

She started to go through my yarn, which was five different skeins of baby yarn.  "That's an odd lot you've got there."  And I answered "Yeah...I knit baby hats for charity and this is how I keep it interesting."  She had a couple of questions, such as where I send them.  I told her about Stitches from the Heart, and how I knit 50 baby hats to commemorate my younger son's first birthday.  (I can't help bragging a little, I'm still  pretty proud of myself) And that I send Stitches from the Heart a box every six months.

She slides the yarn across the counter, and says "take it."  You could've knocked me over with a feather!  I said "What? Are you sure??"  She said yes, absolutely.  Then she went on to explain that the yarn shop owner's husband passed away from cancer last year and that the shop owner often donates yarn to charity causes to honor him.  And that they're a drop-off location for knit/crochet items, as she indicates over to a shelving unit brimming full with baby sweaters and hats of all sizes.  I had seen the pile when I had walked in but had assumed it was samples for the store.  She then told me that they have a hard time getting stuff out to the places that they donate items to, and half-jokingly asked if I would like to deliver some of it.  I said "You know what?  You've given me the yarn to make more hats.  If they're going somewhere local, I will give you guys a call and I'd be happy to drop off some things for you!"  I still can't believe this exchange happened.  I'm always thrilled to help out in a case like this.

The second shop was a small shop that just opened.   It was my second time there, and the owner is just so nice and personable.  Maureen and I left with out favorite sock yarn, as well as a few other things.  We're starting a knit-a-long today on a shawlette called "Hitchhiker."  Each of us chose our favorite colors, mine is different shades of purple and gray called "Lotus" and her's is a deep green and some blue.  I really like that place, it's small but the personality and coziness of it is what makes it great.

So another great day on the books for me and Moe!  I love getting together with my old friend and fellow yarnie.  And fun stuff always happens when we get going!

Caring is Contagious

Another six months...another package of baby items to send to Stitches from the Heart!  This time I have 21 baby hats in all different sizes, and two little blankets good for a stroller or baby seat.

I talk about knitting a lot.  A LOT.  And I mention my baby hats and Stitches from the Heart occasionally too...it's a worthy cause that just passed the one-million-mark of baby items donated!  Upon hearing about it, my friend Linda gave me some hats that she knitted, and one of my residents gave me 25 (!) hats that she and a friend crocheted.  I'm happily sending them out with mine.

  I'm so proud to be a part of this, helping out babies all over the nation.

Rolling Outta the Rut

Yes!!!  I finally finished some knitting projects!  I can now feel good about starting something new.  And I can feel like I accomplished something.

A pretty shawlette for a friend.  Best kind of gift, a "Just because."  Not sure when I'm going to get it in the mail, but that's OK.

 Seed stitch baby blanket for Stitches from the Heart.  It's on my DZ List to ship them a box every six months, so I'll be holding onto this til June.  This was actually a lot of fun to make, and knit up quickly.

Lastly, these are squares that I am sending to Three Irish Girls in Minnesota.  She is collecting them from all over the country to turn them into blankets for the families affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

I also have a finished scarf, but it has a million ends to be woven in, and that's almost not an exaggeration.  And I just don't feel like it today!  Instead, I've re-cast on the socks for myself, and I'm starting a knit-a-long with my old friend Maureen this week.

Rut OVER!  And it comes at a good time, now that I'm going to be stuck in this weekend with Snowstorm Nemo and my trip to Florida is cancelled.  At least with the flight getting cancelled, I won't have to eat the cost of the ticket.

Warm Hands, Warm Heart

Last year I took a good look at my yarn stash.  I have quite a bit of yarn.  Ok, all jokes and sarcasm aside, I have a lot of yarn.  So why not do something with it to help people?  There are people, kids especially out there in New England that go cold in the winter, because there's no hats, mittens or scarves.  I can't stand seeing  a kid in the dead of a Massachusetts winter, with no mittens or hat, it makes me sad on a level that's tough to describe.  You can always tell the kids that don't have mittens from the ones that refuse to wear them, too.

I love a good challenge.  So I made up my own charity challenge:  To see how many pairs of mittens I could knit in a year's time.  One Rule:  I could not buy yarn to make any of these mittens.  Every single pair is made from scraps from another project, single skeins of wool that I already had, or yarn that was given to me in a "de-stashing" event.  My knitting group has a "destash night" every year in May, where we bring in stuff we no longer want or need.  I came home with a nice little bag of wools and acrylics, with the intention of making mittens, a scarf and perhaps a hat or two for charity.

This was fun, and mittens don't take a lot of time.  I can whip out a pair in about two hours, which is actually kind of slow.  They fit nicely in between projects, too.  And here's thirty-six kids that will have warm hands this winter!

A Hundred Warm Babies

Last night I finished my 100th baby hat for Stitches from the Heart.

I can't believe I've made a hundred of anything!  The first fifty were knit to commemorate Sean's first birthday.  And now that he is 2.5 years old, I have gone on to warm up another fifty babies.  These are just little hats that I worked on in between projects or when I was frustrated with something else that I was knitting or needed a little project to make my hands busy while doing something else.  They didn't cost much to make, and I had fun doing it. 

Who knew that inexpensive and fun could make a difference in the world of a little baby.  Let alone a hundred of them.  Here's to the next hundred!

Charity Knitting Update

Tally:  26 pairs of mittens for Knit for Boston.  How many more can I make by November 1st? Only time will tell.

And I'm shipping a box in the next week to Stitches from the Heart, as per my Day Zero List.
Three small blankets and twenty-five cute lil' baby hats!  I love keeping babies warm.

Thanks to a friend of a friend, I think that I just found my charity project for next year:  The Pine Street Inn Knit-A-Thon.  Sounds like a really cool project, you make as many 9 x 9 squares and then bring them to Boston in November to join them together for blankets for the homeless.  (Or really, gifts for the newly former homeless)  The Property Manager in me loves the idea, and it's something different.

Pretty Flower

Throughout the year I knit things for charity and store them in a big Rubbermaid box.  Let's face it, I have more yarn than I could possibly use in a lifetime.  (Insert your joke at my expense here.)  So why not share my love of yarn with others!

This is a little improvised hat that I put together quickly over the weekend.  I love the gray and magenta together, but it needed a little.....something.  A quick perusal of Ravelry patterns for knitted flowers and I found what I was looking for.  Add a few beads and VOILA!  Haute couture toddler-wear.  The best part:  I didn't spend a dime on the materials for this hat.  (Well, not this weekend, anyway.)  The yarns and the beads were all stuff that I had on-hand.  The flower is meant to be worn more on the side than at the front of the hat.

Being the mom of two boys, I adore making girly stuff when I get the chance.  Some little girl is really going to like this.

This is why I do it.

I went outside to get the mail today, and something was waiting for me:  A thank you note from Knit for Boston.
It said thank you for the adorable items, and how cute they were, and also included a Knit for Boston button for my knitting  bag.

This is why I knit items for charity....I know that I made a dozen kids in the Boston area have warm hands on a chilly day.  Three adults have warm heads, and two more have scarves, to keep them warm in the New England cold.  It makes me feel SO GOOD to do this, to take a skill that I possess and turn it into something that helps others.  It started as a fun little project, a "bet" to see how many things I could make with scrap yarn from other projects.  And the joy that it has given me has been overwhelming.  I already have three Ziploc gallon bags with scraps from this year's projects to start another personal mitten drive in 2012.  How many pairs will I make?  One can only wait and see.

Right now I'm back on baby hats for Stitches from the Heart.  I have about fourteen, and a couple little baby blankets too.  Those will be mailed out around Christmastime.

I get asked a lot, "Wow, how do you do it?"  It's simple, really.  In between every project listed on my Ravelry page, I did a pair of mittens, or a baby hat.  (Or two, or three.  They don't take very long.)  even the baby hats are from scraps for the most part.  Though my friend Patrick scored a big bag of yarn on Freecycle the other week and brought it in on a Wednesday night to share.  I came home with my own smaller bag, dropping it on the table.  Brian gawked at the big bag and I said "um....yeah.  Patrick said to tell you that he's sorry."  So I am all set for yarn for baby hats for....the next year!

So in closing, I do it because it makes me happy, to give back.

Full Stocks

In cleaning up a bit today, I had another pair of mittens to pin together and put away for charity.  I keep two plastic Rubbermaid bins in the closet in Sean's room for stuff that I knit for either charity or Christmas gifts.  Well, they're both full to the gills.   (Why store them in Sean's room?  His closet was the only one that had any room.  Storage space in this house is minimally ridiculous.)  I knit mittens from stash yarn, mostly leftovers from projects that I have already completed.  Once I get to a baker's dozen I'll ship these sweeties off to Knit for Boston, along with a couple of stash hats that I've made.  There are also a couple of baby blankets and some pink baby-girl hats for Stitches from the Heart put together, I plan on sending them after Christmas.

I have so, so many things I want to knit before the end of the year!  According to my little widget, I've knit about six and a half miles already since January first.  WOW!!  And I only add projects to that widget once they're finished, so with half a sweater and a few other things on the needles, I've done even more.  I still have at least two Christmas gifts to go, plus a couple of babies on the way.  And I know that I said that I would never make any animals or amigurimi, but Will fell in love with a stuffed snake toy at Webs, so I want to make him one for his birthday.

Hmm.  Think I need to plan on buying another box.  :)

"It Spoke to Me"

Lately, I've been in a wee bit of a rut, knitting-wise. 

Sure, I've worked on some stuff. 

I finished my silver lace shawl for Tracy and Michael's wedding on 4/30. 

I made a baby blanket for Stitches from the Heart, the same charity that I donated all of the baby hats to.  It ended up being a bigger project than I was looking for at the time....but I think it came out quite nicely.

I knit and sewed up (mostly, almost there!) a cardigan sweater for Sean.  I've got one seam left, and then just getting some buttons and knitting the hood.  Though I'm not completely sold on the hood just yet.  (This sweater is going to be a whole 'nother blog post when it's done. )

And I've got another charity project in the works, I'm calling it "Mitten Mayhem,"  and they'll likely be donated to Knit for Boston.   I started back in January, and I've got four pairs already.  Every single pair is so far crafted from bits and pieces of other projects that I've completed.  I'm trying to bust down the stash a bit before the big trip to Webs next month!

Anyway...so yes, I've knitted.  But I haven't had that all-emcompassing, "Oh My God....I have GOT to make that!  I can't wait to see what this looks like!  And wow, this yarn is so soft!"  feeling.

Until the other day, I was browsing The Yarnista, and she featured a shawl that she had made with her yarn that she hand-dyes, Three Irish Girls Yarn.   The name of the shawl is  The Virginia.  Yes!!!  It is the prettiest lace shawl, not too foufy and simply gorgeous.  And with a name like that.....I feel that I am destined to make it.  For myself!  A Virginia wearing "The Virginia."   

So I guess the next question is...shop the stash, or check out Three Irish Girls!  Ok, ok, HUBBY, I'll shop the stash.  :)  Actually, I have something already in mind.  But I have Three Irish Girls on bookmark for sure.

Sometimes projects really do speak to you...instead of you finding them they find you.  This is certainly my next project.  I can't wait!