Donations before the storm

My congregation's social justice committee decided to collect items for the South Park Inn and worked with Hands on Hartford for some programming.  This gave me incentive to finish a few items.  These hats were made from Red Heart's Heat Wave yarn, which is a manmade fiber that absorbs heat from sunlight or other UV light.  I picked three colours that I thought look happy together.  The first hat I made is the V-stitch one, and then I decided to try the Ugly Christmas Sweater Beanie.  It was more fun than I thought it would be to make.  These photos show the colours fairly reaslistically:

I had enough yarn left over to do a second hat, for which I reversed the Blue Skies and Beach Ball, leaving Radio in the same position.  Unfortunately, the light was different enough when I photographed the two together, so the colours look very different:

In addition to the hats, I had ten scarves I'd made and was waiting to donate someplace (often I would take them when I went on trips back to North Texas, sending them to the Samaritan Inn, but of course I haven't been there since last March).  I'd forgotten about some of these:

They also collected toiletries, so I gave them all the little things I'd collected over my travels in 2019 and early 2020, plus some bars of soap because when I organized the bathroom cabinets I discovered how much I've acquired.  Well, I love pretty soaps, and certain scents, and I tended to stock up, but with all the travel wasn't home to use it.  In the last year I've made definite inroads to my collection, but there's more than enough to keep me clean for quite some time.

The elder daughter of the social justice committee's leader hosted an educational program on Martin Luther King Day weekend, when our congregation does service activities, showing us how to arm-knit scarves and blankets, and how to make blankets of fleece.  I still had some fleece blanket kits from when I made them for a dialysis center (donations suspended due to the pandemic) so I made two of them.  Forgot to take a photo!

I packed everything up and dropped four large bags at their home, because the leader was willing to make a collection and drop them at South Park Inn.  We're supposed to get a big snowstorm this weekend and I wanted to be sure she has them; awaiting confirmation.

Mini-Resolution Update

I've knit a bit more on the Omega shawl but otherwise am not making much progress.  I still haven't made 7/7 on my tracker, in part thanks to work (when you have to stay up until midnight work work with somebody in Japan, it's hard to get the required hours of sleep) and in part just because.  But I have a year to do it, so I'm not yet discouraged.

I noticed that I am completing every month on Microsoft Games Solitaire, something I rarely did.  I realize that it's because I am home, because you have to finish all the days by the last day of the month, and while you can do catch-ups for missed days, it's the last day that I was often away.  Now I've been home and am racking up month after month of completion.  It feels good - and weird.

Challenge Issued

As last year wound and we continued to be in various degrees of isolation, a number of knitters and crocheters I know got into make-alongs, where a designer issued a pattern and people did it and reported progress.  Sometimes you could get a prize for completing, other times it was just the finished item.  Most of the time these are mysteries, where you work a step and then another and at the end hopefully have a finished object that looks as it should.  I don't like those because I worry that I will put much time into something that isn't to my liking.  Also, the immediate time commitment can be pretty daunting, and not always possible depending upon what work requires.

They do seem to be a way for people to strengthen a community, so with the isolation requirements stretching into this year I thought of trying a make-along for a (mostly) knitting group I founded online in 2005.  Given how I feel about make-alongs, what would I do?  Not everybody wants a shawl, or socks, and I didn't want to design a pattern that would intimidate people or have "I don't like that style" responses.

And given how the year is likely to go, I wanted to develop a series of make-alongs that people could do, but without requiring one in case somebody joined the group later or didn't have time for one, or was on medical time-out, or any other reason.

So today I announced the first make-along for 2021, with the theme of 

Make Something Using The Colour BLUE.

And that was it.

No restrictions on shade, except that it has to be clearly BLUE.  No restrictions on design, except that the BLUE must be evident and not just a row or a few stitches or a button added.  Something new, something in progress, doesn't matter as long as it contains BLUE.

None of my in-progress items contains a clear blue; the "We Knit In Texas Y'All" vest contains grey-blue but I want to use something definite.  So I cast on the Dots hat from Berroco using these supplies:

I've had the KFI yarns in my stash for a long time.  It's thinner than the yarn the pattern calls for, but I knit a bit loosely when in the round so hopefully it will be fine.  If not, I'll frog and try something else.  Not as if I am lacking for yarn.

Midmonth Resolution Report 

I've done some reading but not finished a book.  I have worked on the "Omega" shawl, spending two days untangling the current ball of yarn as it collapsed badly near the end.  I've work in the remainder and am now on the second ball of yarn and somewhere around Row 50 of the seventy-six or so rows of the last plain (mostly stockinette, only the single increase at each edge) section.  I may make it slightly longer before I do the border.

A personal resolution I didn't mention was to achieve 7/7 for my tracker: one week (which starts on Monday) of at least 6h30m of sleep each night; getting at least 250 steps each of the nine assigned hours (during workday, which can be more difficult); achieving my minimum exercise minutes; and if possible meeting the new metric of "mindfulness".  Last year I had exactly ONE week where I met the three metrics that existed:  Sleep, steps per hour, and minutes of exercise per day.  Often I miss out on sleep or steps, especially when I have a lot of cameras-up meetings - or in the before times, when we were doing in-person meetings.

This week I was 7/7 on the first three and 4/7 (but I am assigned for only three days, so in a way it was 4/3) for the mindfulness.  Next goal will be to get 7/7 on all four metrics.

Not that I want this blog to be political, but.....

It's a rough time for many of us, not just in the USA, but since I live here, it's what I know about the most.  The abovementioned online group has people in other countries which are also going through elections and other political activity, on top of the pandemic.  We have people who work in the USA government who are having a lot of distress right now.  And since the group is not limited in the type of persons allowed, we have differing political opinions.

I had to ask people to back off a bit after the events of January 6th, which got some upset, and one demanded that I remove her.  I said that I don't remove people but she could leave if wanted, and in the end, she didn't.

Another person did leave.  Somebody posted about the "Inauguration Celebration" shawl pattern, and this person responded only "Why would any thinking person celebrate the inauguration?", without signing the message.  While not forbidden, I ask that people include knitting or other fiber-working content in their messages (so, a shawl pattern is fine, a response to it might not be) and to sign their messages.  I politely asked the person to send her message directly to the person to whose message she was responding, or to repost it with some knitting content ("OKC" = obligatory knitting content) and her name.

No, instead the person left.  I'm a bit offended as I wasn't telling her that she couldn't voice her opinion on the list, just asking her to follow some simple rules about posting.  I have friends all over the political spectrum, some of whom believe that the certified results of the USA's November 2020 election are not accurate, and some who believe that the president-elect isn't going to do enough for the country.

As for me, I will do what I can, where I can.  I'll get the vaccine when they finally get to my group.  This weekend, I am participating in some Day of Service activities in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  So I think I'll end with a quote of his:

And given that this week's parsha or Bible passage for my religion is Vayera, this seems appropriate as well:

Looking at the year ahead.

 "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." 

 ~ Lou Holtz

That seems an excellent motto with which to start a new year.  Also, this contemplation:

So many people make resolutions, or set intentions, this time of year.  I've found it much easier to do a month at a time, but here are some goals for me this year:

Read (or finish) six (or more) books. 

Complete three specific UFOs:

    

Make a cardigan I've been thinking about for some time.

Make another cheese soufflé.

Given how this past year went, I think any more definite or additional plans are frivolous. 

 

While I don't generally wear my religion on my sleeve, this resonates with me:

A New Year's Prayer by Rabbi Naomi Levy

I'm good at making resolutions, God.
But I'm not very good at keeping them.
There are so many goals I'd like to achieve, so many changes I'd like to make.

I pray to You, God, for strength. I want to live a meaningful life, God.
I want to comprehend my true promise.
I want to understand why You have put me here.

Help me to see, God. Show me the person I have the potential to become.
Let me find my passion, God.
Teach me to resist temptation, to conquer self-destructive habits, to overcome selfishness and pettiness.
Give me the humility and the courage to repair relationships that pride has destroyed. Show me how I can bring hope and healing in this world.

Let this be a good year, God.
A year of health, a year of blessing, a year of love, a year of peace.
Amen.