Knitting Passion

Looking for a way to give back? - me, too. I will be sharing sites from time to time that you may like to help with also.

I receive newsletters from Bobby Matela who is the editor of Creative Knitting magazine. Today’s newsletter featured a way to help veterans:

The Museum reports that it received over 600 hand-knitted and crocheted scarves from 38 different states since October 2006. The scarves were distributed to V.A. Hospitals and other Veteran’s organizations. Since the scarves are still coming in at a good rate, the Museum has committed to continuing the distribution through 2007. Lauren Handley, the education programs coordinator, introduced this program to show WW ll veterans appreciation for their service.

This goes to my heart as my dad was a WWII vet - he died in 1966 in the Vet’s hospital in Dayton, Ohio. When I was small there were also a lot of WWI vets in my home town. You may not believe this, but there were even vets from before that war. (They were incredibly old to my young eyes, of course).

If you will check out the link to the National World War II Museum you will find a link to a free pattern (it’s a pdf) that you can download and use to make one (or several) scarves for veterans. There’s an address to send the completed scarf to.

There is also a map showing which states have contributed so far. I’m ashamed to see that Alaska is one of the ones that has NOT contributed. I am heading out to check my stash and take care of that problem tonight.

from the site:
How to Participate

Please include your mailing address, so we can recognize your generosity by sending you a certificate of participation and let the veterans know where the scarf has come from.

(there is also a link to a pattern for crochet)

I hope you will consider adding to the knitting circle of care as we warm up our vets.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Knit on!
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knitting, charity, wwii vets, warmth, love, free pattern, knitting circle, share the love people

Ah, yes . . . sock knitting - it can become a compulsion. In the past four weeks I have finished three pairs of socks - not too bad considering I also work full time and am a gramma who spends as much time as possible with her grands - that, and being a helpmeet to my hubby and being involved in church functions and also writing a weekly column for our local paper . . .

WHEW!

But seriously, socks are great fun. And, once you get into the rhythm of them quite easy. But, I’m not telling you anything you didn’t know, right?

The best thing about knitted wool socks in Alaska in winter? Your feet stay warm EVEN when you are showing off said socks in your summer sandals.

I wore these to work one Friday - even in our busy office we have a sort of dress down on Fridays if we so choose. I so chose that day.

On that day we had 3 inches of new, fluffy, white, COLD snow! I wore the sandals anyway. And, you know, my feet stayed nice and toasty warm all day long. Gotta love it.

Now, while I enjoy knitting socks and all that, I don’t think I am quite ready to try knitting two socks at the same time - one inside the other. Have any of you out there tried this method? Drop a comment and let us know how you found it - easy? hard? never again?

knitting, socks, two at one time socks, sandals and socks, warm feet, free sock pattern

My winter’s labor.

A friend from church asked me if I would like to be in a knit-along over the winter months. The idea was for a group of us (my friend, her sister-in-law and me) pick out a pattern, our yarn, and off we would go.

We chose a simple cardigan that each of us felt was within our talents to complete. (I have made plenty of pullovers, but this may have been my first cardigan) Two of us purchased yarn from online stores and the third from a local vendor. Surprisingly (or maybe not) none of us chose the same color.

We checked in with each other over the winter and encouraged each other when one of us became bogged down - not necessarily by the project, life has a way of interfering. We met at one point to show our progress and one of the ladies showed us a simple joining stitch. We used the mattress stitch shown on this page.

Going home from THAT meeting was interesting - two of us got stuck (very well stuck!) in the third’s driveway as we had to have chosen the most snowy day of the winter to meet.

About a month later my friend and I got together and went button shopping. Because, as you all know, buttons make the final piece. We also stopped at the Kenai Library to check out a new knitting group that was meeting there.

And, we learned something! Now that is just cool - to be able to learn something when you weren’t really expecting it, huh? The head of the group suggested placing a button behind the knit (back side) when placing the fancy button on the right side - an anchor button. Now, you may all have already known that and practice it faithfully, but it was news to us. Sure makes the buttons look nice, I must say.

This past Saturday the three of us got together for a sweater luncheon. We all brought or wore our sweaters and I took photos after lunch.

I cropped the other ladies because I don’t have their permission to show their faces. But here is my friend (left) and her sister-in-law (right) with their sweaters.

We have chosen our next projects - something new for two of us - felted bags. Watch here for updates.

Soooooo- what are all of YOU knitting?

sweaters, knitting, friends, knitting lunch, buttons, friendship, felted bags, felting, alaska, snow, knit along

We are having a gorgeous late winter day - the temps are nearing that glorious freezing mark. That might seem cold to some of you, but to those of us who have been going through below zero temps the past 6 weeks or so . . . well, 30s makes it shirt sleeve weather.

It’s nice to meet all of you - I’ve been blogging for awhile now, but this is my first entry in this forum. I hope that I will get to meet a lot of knitters and that we can all share our stories, patterns, and pictures as we go along. Feel free to drop a note via the comments or in my email box: barbara.waters@451press.net

I have just returned from a dental appointment and such appointments are really why I enjoy knitting.

I’m an inveterate reader - generally have at least one book in the car with me for such errands. But a busy dental office is not the best place to try to keep track of which character is doing what thing or who dunnit.

So, I’m fond of bringing my current project along - easy to sit and people-watch while knitting away. And, easy to put down when it is my turn for the chair.

Another good thing about it is that knitting is such an icebreaker: “Oooh, what are you making?” “How long have you knitted?” (and my personal favorite) “Is that crochet?”

Today a brown eyed little girl kept peeking around the corner of the playroom to check out my progress. I smiled and she ducked back into the room shyly. As a Gramma/Nana to seven beauties of my own, my heart was captured.

So - a shout out to all of you wherever you might be. Thanks to 451 Press for allowing me an outlet. I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you.

knitting, knitting passion, alaska, heart, crochet, knitting blog

This site is currently in need of a writer. If you have any interest in writing on the topic this site covers, feel free to submit an application at 451 Press. Thank you.

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So I received my package from Jana of the Colorswap.

In case you can’t tell, there’s a sock book (which ROCKS), a journal, a an accessory bag, a little tin, some nail polish, a cookie cutter and a card. (There was also a sheep tape measure but I forgot to put it in the picture since it was already in my knitting bag. I LOVE that thing!!!)

She is awesome! I of course have never done this kind of thing before, so I just threw everything that I bought in a box and sent it off. Jana on the other hand, had everything wrapped in tissue paper, in a pretty gold gift bag, and included a card! I feel like such a heel!

Well, seeing as how I’ve had 15 downloads of my podcast…

Apparently there are some readers out there, so here’s the update.

Between Kyle and Marie, all of February was taken up with antibiotics, refilling humidifiers, and doses of decongestant. Kyle ended up having pneumonia.

So my blog wasn’t exactly high on my list of priorities.

The big wigs want me to let them know when I’m not going to be blogging, so that they can have a staffer “fill in” but to be completely honest, the idea of someone else writing on *My Site* was terribly depressing. I didn’t do it. And I may have to pay consequences. Oh. Well.

I have SO much to say, right now. And if the baby permits me, I will be saying it over the next few days. It was a big leap for me to get back on the wagon today, and I hope I can continue. So we will have to see how it goes.

I am working on another podcast, but I really have no idea what it’s going to be about. So I guess we’ll just have to see.