Knitting Passion

We are coming down to the wire, folks . . . have you made a bag - or contacted me about a bag - but haven’t sent it on, yet? Now is the time . . . we are getting ever closer to June and it’ll soon be time for these kiddos to go to camp. We want to make it an awesome summer.

And, if you’re just not a baggy type of gal or guy . . . well, then maybe you would like to personally help send a kid to camp. Check out this contest and get in on the i-Pod drawing. You know you wanna!!!!

Those are hubby’s socks . . . I’m getting there - I think I was way too impressed with my ability when I thought I could have them finished before we went to Homer last weekend. I finished the first sock a couple of nights ago - and am progressing on the second. The ribbing in this pattern is 8-12 inches long. I make it 8 inches. Hubby’s foot is a size 12!!! so the finished sock looks humongo, but, it should fit him just fine.

During the winter he wears polar fleece socks with his birks. It’s getting a little too warm now (okay, not really - at least not for him) for the fleece - so, he may be able to soon move on to lighter weight socks like these knitted ones.

The nice thing - as if you all didn’t know - about knitted socks is that they are lightweight, but still warm.

yuppers!

It’s update time for the Share a Square Bag Project, folks! We are on our way to completing Shelly’s dream of giving an afghan to each Camp Sanguinity camper this summer. To go along with the bags we’d like to send a bag to hold each tag - each square holds a tag telling the name of the crafter who made it - once the child has taken them off the afghan.

Yellow Rose and I are working to gather up 70 bags each. THANK YOU to those who have responded so far! You all are awesome.

The bags in the picture are some that Shelly sent me to decorate. Each is different - I bought some craft beads and sewed them to the bags with gold ribbon. Not bad for a gal whose real talent lies in talking - and knitting - and sometimes both at the same time. ha ha ha.

Meanwhile, our Alaska weather has toned down its attitude a bit. We are still in “almost” spring mode, but at least there has been no snow for a week. Yay! The temps are still a tad chilly, but I opened the bedroom window last night to get some fresh air in the room. Felt so good!

Hoping for a lovely weekend next week. Hubby and I are driving to Homer Saturday morning to see two of the grandkiddos swim in their last meet for the year. Then he and I are going to bunk out at an Inn to celebrate our 39th (!!!!) anniversary. The big plan for the night is a couple’s side by side massage.

**I** will love it. He’s not so sure as he’s never had one before, but I think he will approve as well.

So, I met Sherry from the Ravelry knitting group Alaskan Knitters this morning for coffee. We had no clue who the other was . . . so how in the world would we hook up?

Well, I am all about the obvious - so I wore my purple moose pin - my log in name at ravelry is Purple Moose, after all. AND - I had my knitting out on the table and was working on one of the baby socks.

Sherry came in and gravitated right to me and said - oooh, here’s another knitter! I grinned and said - are you Sherry? Yes - are you Barbara? Yes! And, we laughed.

Her hubby, bless his heart, grinned, bought their drinks, grabbed his book - and a kiss from Sherry - and left us to our conversation.

TWO HOURS later he called and told her he was in the parking lot - TWO HOURS!!! I guess it is true what my nephew told his mother back 20 years or so ago when we were stuck in SeaTac airport for 4 days (due to a volcanic eruption in Alaska which had grounded the planes - ALL of the planes - 4 days before Christmas!!!) . . . “Mom, Aunt Barb can talk to ANYONE about ANYTHING - ANYPLACE!!!” Yes, I embarrassed him greatly. Yes, I would do it again.

And, you know what? Deep down, I am secretly a shy person. No, really! Quit laughing at me! Why does everyone laugh when I say that?

heh

It was great fun, Sherry! I hope to join you again another Saturday.

Afterwards I did some book shopping for a grandson who lost his book on the school bus - called to make sure I had the right one - and, guess what! He told me the wrong number on the phone - and now I have to return it! (sigh!) What I won’t do for my grand-younguns.

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New (to me) charity project you might want to check out:

Scarves from the Heart. Here is a little about the founder:

My name is Shirley (Shelly) Heikkinen, I am a wife, mother, and grandmother who in 2001 retired from my office job. I have a 43 year old daughter who is battling cancer, and recently lost my younger sister to cancer. At the time I began this venture, neither my daughter or sister lived close enough for me to be able to help them with physical needs, so my role was that of moral support. Their battles left me with a lot of negative emotions that were not conducive to my own physical health, worry was taking a toll on me and I knew I needed to do something about it. One night lying in bed I got the idea to knit scarves for cancer patients, I knew that neither my daughter nor sister would want it done in their names so I decided to do something locally. The next morning I called the St. Joseph’s Regional Cancer Center (formerly the Sister Mary Pia Cancer Center) and Scarves from the Heart began.

You may view her blog at The Yarn Tart.

I hope you will read more about this project and donate if you can. If you are interested in beginning such a project in your own area, there is information on the site to help you get started.

Soooooooooooooooooo - off you go now - have fun, be careful, and enjoy your weekend.

That’s me and the bear next to the Juneau Courthouse. Behind us is the State Capitol building.

I mentioned that I was going to check into the local yarn store while I was in Juneau. I tried, folks, I really tried. But, everytime I went by, the place was locked up and dark. I talked with a man in another storefront - some sort of computer geekery establishment - and he told me that “she should be back any minute.” Then he mentioned a sign on the door, but when he came out to prove to me it was there, he was surprised to find nothing there, either.

Instead, there were craft calendars for January and February.

This is March.

sigh.

So, I missed out on visiting with the Juneau yarn folks and am sad about that. Guess I will have to look for yarn stores in Columbus, Ohio when I visit there next week. Yeah, I’m sure to find one (hmmmm - it’s a bit far from where we’ll be staying, but you never know) or two - Columbus is a big town. (It is currently a big town with a BIG snow!)

It’s also my home town - I have only lived in two towns in my life - in two states. That either proves that my life is oh, so sad . . . or it proves that my life is very stable.

hahahahaha

you figure out which one - and then let me know, too.

In the meantime . . . still crocheting and edging away for Share A Square. I want to get one of these finished before we leave town Saturday morning. I have all of the squares edged and have begun stitching the rows together. Then, I can put the edging all around and one will be complete. Yay!

Since I have just come home from a trip (for work - in Juneau) and after this week will be heading out again for a trio (for fun - to Ohio - where it snowed 20 inches last weekend!!! meaning they have about 16 inches MORE than we do here in Kenai - ALASKA!) I thought it might be fun to talk about carry-ons.

Or maybe to talk about carrying on. Heh!

As per usual, I can talk about just about anything - at just about any time - AND - to just about anyone.

No, that isn’t an original sentiment of mine - it stems from a VERY long layover (4 days!!!) in Seattle one year right before Christmas - when one of our mountains decided to blow her top and caused many, many, MANY planes to be grounded. I was stuck there amid hundreds of people - back in the day before 9-11 - back when they still had lockers (thank God!) for you to store your luggage in so you wouldn’t have to lug it all around with you.

My nephew was coming home for a Christmas visit - from the Navy - and he and I found each other in the throngs of people. Three days later his mama showed up on HER way back to Alaska from a visit to Ohio and those were the first words he said to her - Mom, Aunt B can talk to ANYONE, ANYWHERE, about ANYTHING. Heh

I think there was some eye rolling and pleading going on there, too. Silly nephews!

These days - post 9-11 - there are no more airport lockers. You must lug your luggage (hmmmm - the name, the name!) with you wherever you go. (please notify security if you see unwatched luggage) And, somehow, traveling is a little less fun at times.

But, I can still talk to anyone about anything, just about anywhere. Including airports. In other words, I still carry on.

How about all of you - are you carrying on these days? And, if not, WHY NOT? Where’s the fun in that, I ask you?

I also ask - have you made a bag lately? Have you read about the project over at Shelly’s? She no longer needs squares - she has more than enough to finish several afghans over the original number of 140. Thank you to everyone who helped by donating squares.

That includes a friend of mine on the other side of the country whose square I was recently edging in black: You know, I have never met this online friend, but I feel closer to her everytime I get to put one of her squares into an afghan.

These are well-traveled squares - too bad they don’t get mileage, huh?

SPEAKING OF BAGS . . . .

Bag Ladies and Gents still needed. Read about the project here and contact me at prplmoose AT kenaiwriter DOT net if you’d like more information or would like to contribute. THANKS!

Bag Ladies and Gents still needed. Read about the project here and contact me at prplmoose AT kenaiwriter DOT net if you’d like more information or would like to contribute. THANKS!

On Monday when I came home I found another box from Shelly . . . as we say in our family - “oooohhhhh, a box!!!” Yup, big smiles because I knew I would find more lovely squares to put together for the Share a Square project.

It seems that we have reached our goal as far as squares are concerned and Shelly thinks that she has gotten all of the afghan kits out to folks to put together now. Yay!!! That is quite an accomplishment. See how far we can go when we dream just a little?

So, I have finished edging the first group of squares with black and am working on the second set now. After all are edged, I will lay them out and find an appealing (to me, at least) pattern to place them, then begin to stitch them together. I think I may need to buy ONE more skein of black to finish them off. I have enough to edge and, maybe, stitch both afghans together. But, I will need more to do the outer edging.

I know - twist my arm - I have to go yarn shopping. LOL.

After I get the two afghans finished I will start on decorating the bags Shelly sent to me. I have several if there is anyone out there who would like to take one or two to decorate and then return. They would fit into an envelope so it is no biggie to send. Drop me a line and let me know if you want to help out.

In other news, Lucy bag is finished and felted. It’s drying now and then I can put a pin on it to call it complete. I plan to carry it to Juneau with me next week. (No, not Juno the film, Juneau the city in Alaska, sillies). I’d carry some of the squares, but I don’t want to even think about possibly losing them on the flights.

Soooooooooooooo I will probably pull out some of that sock yarn - or maybe the purplish wool I bought on a trip to anchortown and start on a larger lucy bag. Hmmmmm, yeah, THAT’s the ticket!

Have a great day, everyone!

Bag Ladies and Gents still needed. Read about the project here and contact me at prplmoose AT kenaiwriter DOT net if you’d like more information or would like to contribute. THANKS!

At my daytime job part of my duties is to arrange for - or give - various trainings. Some are required trainings, while others are educational, entertaining, or plain fun. Some are a delightful mix of all of the above.

One of the latter occurred this week when I invited some of Kenai’s finest firefighters to come and teach us how to utilize fire extinguishers properly.

First, they started a fire in a burn barrel. They used plastic bags filled with newspapers and poured gasoline (!!) onto them, then ignited the lot with a barbecue fire starter. Oh, pyromania!

One by one, our staff members extinguished the fire (which was started over and over again) with the firefighters watching and coaching closely. Much fun ensued!

And, they, of course, made sure the fire was fully extinguished before heading back to the station.

Then, my brain tried to figure out a way to tie together knitting AND firefighting, and you know what? I can do that!!

Here is a blog written by someone who both knits and is a firefighter - for two different companies! Whoot! She also apparently is fond of breaking double point needles.

And, for my British friends - here’s a group of firefighters who helped make a calendar to raise money for some seniors. I love this comment: “We have such unlikely situations as a firefighter sitting in the garden being taught to knit by three older ladies and a polar bear being rescued from a tree (scared by fireworks!)” Yup, the story has a picture of the unlikely firefighter in the garden. Cute!

And, last, but never least . . . a pattern for firefighter’s socks - well, socks that reminded the crafter of ladders . . . thus of fires and firefighters.

I’m off to the big city tomorrow - driving up with a friend after swimming and a dental appointment. We will stop by the mall to see my pictures (hopefully) hanging in the Fur Rendezvouz Photo Contest, and have some lunch before we head back home. Oh, we’ll hit a couple of stores, I’m sure - a yarn store for absolute sure.

You all enjoy!

Bag Ladies and Gents still needed. Drop me a line at prplmoose AT kenaiwriter DOT net if you are interested in helping out for a great cause.
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Hearts and Flowers

Well, if you watched The Apprentice tonight you no doubt noticed that there were NO hearts and flowers on Piers’ team. Oy! And, I must hand it to Donald Trump for doing the right thing in NOT firing anyone from Trace Adkins’ team. That would have been so tough to do - and a completely WRONG move on his part. Kudos to him!

So, what did you and your honey do for Valentine’s Day? Go out to eat? Buy candy - cards - flowers - write special words - buy/give a ring - pop the question - survive the night? or did your love go wrong?

Hubby and I had an early dinner out - a bit disappointed that our favorite Mexican restaurant didn’t have the special dessert - Tres Leches - yummy when they have it. Sigh! I was disappointed - but probably better off not to have had it. Right? Right.

After dinner hubby went home and I went back to work - it is group night and I am one of the facilitators . . . soooooo . . . and it was a good group tonight. Lots of insight from a couple of the participants and that is refreshing!

Anyway - I looked around for some more hearts and flower-type stuff for you all.

I just love this little hearts and flowers scarf! And, she also is selling this little kiss on your neck scarf.

My sister is the one who always did such lovely filet crochet. Here’s a beautiful doily - just fine work.

And, how about the little dolls in your household - both living and plastic? Here’s a sweet little outfit. (Oh, I am SUCH a Gramma, aren’t I?)

How about this slightly naughty valentine candy pillow?

And, oh, by the way . . . . I wanna be a domiknitrix!!! Wearing that I could LOOK the part and reading this I could knit the part. Heh!

Hope your Valentine’s Day was full of Hearts and Flowers!

Have you made your bag yet?

We’re looking for a few good baggers, you see. Men and women who have kids at heart, a sewing machine nearby, and more cloth than they know what to do with - you are needed. Drop me an email to let me know you’d like to help out and I will send you my mailing address. It’s as easy-peasy as that. Thank you!!!

In other news . . .

So, are you thinking to yourself that you just canNOT get enough knitting news and information? Are there truly not enough magazines in the stores - or enough knitting books on your shelves?

Yes, friends, of COURSE I am being facetious. Because we ALL know that there are NEVER enough of those things, right? Right!!!

So, can you hold your excitement until July for something totally new?

Knitting Daily TV is coming to a pbs station near you - and, there will be a blog to go along with the tv show.

Now, I ask you . . . just how cool is that? Of course, I’m not sure I’ll be able to see the show - will have to wait and see. We ARE in Alaska, after all. Sometimes we don’t get all of the shows that you all do down there in the Lower 48 states.

I have just about finished off one skein for the HAP project and am working my way through a second skein also. I am thinking I might get these mailed out by next weekend. We’ll see how far I get.

Then I think I might start on a pair of socks - or maybe a bag - or . . . or . . . or . . .

we’ll see - but for now, the macaroni and cheese casserole has just come out of the oven and I have a hungry man to feed. See you soon.

So, I’m here in Anchorage – the first day of the conference is in the bag. I’m in my room with the American Gladiators playing in the background. Trying to decide if I want to pay the $9.95 the hotel wants for me to hook up to the ether to post this. Yeah, I likely will. Haha

There are about 50 people here in Anchorage for the conference – we’re from all over the state and at least one of the speakers is from Outside Alaska. (Yes, we say Outside with a capital O – it’s an Alaskan thing.)

I brought some knitting with me and took it down today to work on in between speakers. This morning I looked across the room to see another conferee knitting away. So, I stealthily took a shot of her – first I took a picture of that section’s speakers. It didn’t turn out well, but at least I got this shot for you all.

I’ve finished 2 of the 6×9s for the HAP project while here. I think I have 4 or 5 back home - should be able to finish another couple tonight and then some more tomorrow. When I finish off these two skeins of yarn I’ll pop these into the mail.

After the conference closes tomorrow I will be taking my car in for its 100,000 mile service and a recall service. They’ll drop me off at my friend’s house and she and I will go to dinner. I’ll be heading back to Kenai sometime Wednesday afternoon – after the car is finished.

Well. I guess I will go on and connect up to the hotel’s ether and get this posted and check emails and such. You all have a great Tuesday!!

Bag Gents, also needed. Wrote in my last post about the need for bags for the Share A Square tags . . . I mentioned a 3×5 bag I had - the beautiful Chinese silk bag shown in the last post - but on reading Yellow Rose’s entry about it, it looks like bigger ones are needed.

We are also trying to limit how many bags each person donates - so as to not wear out any one person - AND - to allow more people to become part of the project. Sound fair enough? Yep, I thought so, too.

So, on reading Yellow Rose’s post about this - and, thanks, btw, for the cool button!!! - I see that my thoughts of a 3×5 inch bag might be a tad off the mark. I had forgotten just how much space 48 tags might take up. So, you might want to play with it for a bit to come up with a good size. If you happen to have 48 business cards lying around, stack them up and see how much space they take. I’ve noticed that most of the tags on the squares I’ve put together are about business card sized. So, that should work.

So, I have one person up for the project so far - daughter Ladybug is dusting off her sewing machine even as I type this - well, maybe later. She is taking the wee gorlie to her swimming lessons right about now.

I’ve finished two of the 6×9 pieces for the HAP project also highlighted in the last post.

I really like how this pattern is turning out. It’s called a mini cable, but it’s not really a cable - it still looks very cool. I’ve found that fourteen repeats of the 4 row pattern makes up the 9 inches called for - and once you get three or four repeats done, you have the pattern pretty well in hand. I have had to frog a couple of times, because I messed up on one of the wrap rows, but that’s not too bad, eh?

And, just for the sheer joy of changing the subject just one more time . . . whatever happened to JANUARY, friends???? Good grief! That’s one twelfth of the year gone already. I know I must be getting older - these days just seem to RACE past me.

Shelly has done such a great job with, first, having the idea, and second, following through on the idea to gift 140 campers with afghans . . . Share a Square was born on a whim and took off on a wing and a prayer.

A lot of people have written and said they could neither knit or crochet, that they could sew. So, it is THOSE people on whom we call now. All of the squares needed to complete the afghans have been collected. They are being joined together. That part of the project is complete.

The first youngster to receive an afghan loved it - he would not take the tags off it (each square in each afghan is made by different people who place a tag on it with their good wishes) for two weeks she was told. Then he would shuffle the tags like cards, looking through them again and again.

So, Shelly had another great idea - wouldn’t it be fun if each child had a bag in which to hold their tags once they were taken off the afghans?

Yeah, I thought so, too. So, I agreed to put out a plea to you all requesting your help in this. We are putting together 140 afghans, so we need 140 bags. They can be as simple or as fancy as you choose. I will be collecting 70 bags and Sherry at Yellow Rose Garden is collecting 70 bags.

The bags pictured above are just to give you an idea. The white bag is probably too big for the project, but the dark red one is just about the right size at 3 1/2 by 5 inches. I received it at a welcome home shower for a Chinese orphan who was adopted by people at church. It is made of Chinese silk and held candy as I recall - from China.

But it looks to be a perfect size to hold all of the tags from an afghan.

If you are interested in helping with this part of the project, drop a comment here - make sure to leave your email address. I’ll get in touch with you and we can exchange address information at that time.

Thanks, everyone. These kids are survivors!
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And . . . if you like the tv show Survivors, be sure to stop by Lessa’s and jump in the pool!

Time for a Share a Square update, I’m thinking. Shelly tells us that she now has all the squares she needs. She could use a few people to put black edging onto the squares and/or sewing an afghan or two together.

I’m finishing up one - one is completed and in the box to be returned - I should have this one finished by tomorrow and into the mail by the next day - Saturday at the latest.

I have the first row of black around the second afghan and will follow that with a colorful row and then another row of black. Then it is off to the Post Office.

Now, if you have not been able to help out the SAS (Share a Square) project, how about a HAP project? Even though Deborah has been busily collecting 6×9 inch squares for the HAP (Homemade Afghans Project) project, she has found time to also donate squares to Shelly’s SAS project. There are some very cool people out there in the great blue ether, aren’t there?

So - HAP - 6×9 inch squares can be knitted or crocheted (several patterns available at Deborah’s site), sent off to Deborah who finds volunteers to stitch them together. The finished - bed sized - afghans are packed up and sent to military hospitals where they are given to returning, wounded, troops.

It’s a worthwhile project if you have a mind to help out.

I’ll be headed to Anchorage next week for a two day conference for work. I have a skein of cream colored acryllic that will go along with me - to be made up into HAP squares. Won’t you join me?

5,723.49 miles is the distance one of the Share A Square squares has traveled to get to me - it came from Fredonia, New York, made a stop in Denton, TX, and then was sent here to Kenai, AK to be placed, along with 47 others, into an afghan to help fulfill one woman’s dream.

The most cool thing about this particular square, however, is that it was made by a friend of mine - a friend I haven’t met yet, but one whom I hope to meet someday. When I opened the box Shelly sent me and found two squares from this friend . . . well, it was just VERY cool.

AND - a square from one of hubby moose’s coworkers was also in the box - actually TWO squares from each of these ladies, as I received two “kits” to put together.

So, HER squares (the coworker’s squares) traveled from Kenai to Denton to Kenai - and will soon make it back to Denton - for a total of 8420.24 miles for those squares.

The ones from Fredonia will have travled a total of 9933.61 miles (give or take). And you know, there are squares that have traveled even further! I’ve placed squares into afghans from the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, and . . . now I’m drawing a blank - but these squares have come from ALL OVER!!! Way to go, internet folks!

Of course, the squares won’t stay in Denton, TX as Shelly is gathering up the afghans - 140 is her goal - to present to kids at Camp Sanguinity this summer. She had a dream, you see. And, unlike some of us who have a thought that doesn’t quite make it to dream stage . . . Shelly set out to make her dream come true.

She’s had a LOT of support and help from people in the great blue ether - people whose hearts were touched by her request and who set out to help make her dream become reality.

Shelly and I have been talking about another way to make these afghans more special. Stay tuned for information on that project. Maybe some of you who don’t knit or crochet - but who DO sew - might be able to help with this.

Stay tuned.

You’ve noticed over the past months that I have linked to Shelly’s Share a Square project several times. I’ve sent her a bunch of squares, pieced together 4 afthans, and have encouraged at least one person in Alaska to do the same. That is very cool.

But what is even more cool is the fact that Shelly is doing the project in the first place. Sometimes we get these ideas and then file them on the back burner for someone else to do it - to put forth the effort - to get things accomplished.

Not Shelly - she got the idea, put it out there for the great blue ether to digest and then started the hard work to get it accomplished. And it has snowballed and people from all over the US and around this great big blue ball of ours have contributed to the project.

Shelly is over half way to her goal of completed afghans for Camp Sanguinity. A lot of people are taking a bit of a break for the Christmas holidays - but will begin again after that. In the meantime, won’t you go over to All Tips and Tricks - see the link in the quote below - and put in YOUR vote for Shelly?

It can cost $20 or more to send off a box of squares to a volunteer to piece together. A lot of those boxes have been sent off on Shelly’s dime. She hasn’t complained, but I’m sure that the $100 prize for the most votes will be sure to help out. My vote goes to Shelly and I hope yours will as wel.

thanks, everyone!

Simonne at All Tips And Tricks is having a group writing project asking…’What is Your Best Blogging Achievement?’ You can see the entries here. I vote for Shelly to win.