Another one coming

I did my last post during a storm, and we have another coming tomorrow.  So of course I am flying to Florida.  It's not fleeing from the storm; I've had this trip to visit my grandmother on my schedule for a while.  I admit it's a convenient coincidence.

My last post was also during the final football playoffs of the season.  Last Sunday I watched the Super Bowl with friends and their family and neighbors.  Quite a game!  Having more friends in Kansas and Missouri than in San Francisco, I chose to root for the Chiefs.  I missed the first half because I went to a matinee (and was very glad I did so, the show was amazing!) but the second half - really, the fourth quarter - was edge-of-seat playing.  I am glad the Chiefs made the final touchdown, because if people argue about the penultimate one, they still won when you subtract those points.

Work has been busy, so I don't have much more to report on my Resolutions.  These are the scarves I finished and have yet to finish, except one:

Finished:

• Stitch Studio Sweet Dreams in Creamsicle (center row, second from left)
• Patons Lace in lavender and Porcelain (next on the right)
• Browns - Bernat Super Value Stripes in Beechwood, knit, and Caron Jumbo in Chocolate Variegated crocheted on the sides (center row, second from right)
• Caron Chunky Cakes in Trifle (center row, right)
• Red Heart Fleece Hugs in Jungle (bottom row, right)

In Progress:

• Ferris Wheel (top row, left)
• Premiere Serenity Chunky Big Ombre in Walnut (bottom row, left - the yarn was badly snarled and tangled, so much time was spent getting it useable)
• Big Twist Premium in Peacock Stripes (center row, left)
• Patons Lace in Woodrose (not shown)

I will probably have the Chunky Big Ombre scarf finished this week.

I also made a chemo cap for a friend of my mother's who asked for one in cornflower blue:

I also finished the scarf for my niece, to go with her Christmas hat and mittens, and the extra blue mittens.

No idea why the colour is so odd on the close-ups.


On a completely different topic, since it's Girl Scout cookie season, I've made purchases both to donate boxes to the troops and taking them to work.  We had a team leader get a promotion so for his last week, given that we are in the facility of a federal contractor and options are limited, this was his farewell party:

OK, we met after dinner one night at a local sports dive bar, and alcohol was consumed, but for the in-the-office celebration, amusement and cookies were appreciated.  He made off with the boxes that contained his favourites, Do-Si-Dos and Tagalongs.

Resolutions for February

Now for my micro-resolutions for February 2020.  Even though I didn't finish all the scarves I had on the list for January, I made good progress plus finished four (or three, if you count the pair of mittens as a single item) other items.  This month my resolution is to finish an item for Fiberlady to display at Stitches West.  I'll be there helping them again, and they invited a local lady who wrote a book to spend time in the booth and sign copies.  I decided to make a tote bag from the book in Fiberlady's hemp yarn.  I chose it because it looks like a quick and not too fiddly knit, and because I have a bunch of their hemp yarn lying around not turning into anything.

I added another series of resolutions.  Many online reading groups do a by-the-month reading list, and I found one that appealed to me:

My choice for January is The Ballad of Frankie Silver, a past-and-present murder mystery.  Thick book but the story moves even as multiple threads have to wind together.  I was hoping for something smaller but it's the only qualifying book I had at home, I didn't have time to shop, and I don't like traveling with library books.  I still have a bit to finish, but hope to choose a shorter book for February.  While Little Women seems an easy choice, or 1984, I am going to look through my shelves for something less expected.  Stay tuned.

Charity Knitting for July 2013

So much for my intention to write the blog more regularly!  I have two reasons:  One, I have been involved in a summer Shakespeare in the Park production of "The Winter's Tale" which has taken up almost all my time not working.  Nightly rehearsals on weeknights and all day Saturday, plus Sunday during hell tech week.  But it has been a lot of fun, the people are great to work with (and on some levels less crazy than theatre people often are) and we're into the second weekend of performance so it's fairly smooth.  Of course, weather does interesting things to the production, but unlike most "in the park" productions we have an indoor alternative and even rehearse a "rain transition" in case we have to change mid-show due to a change in weather.

I did make it known that I knit, and do so during rehearsals and performances (since I am the Stage Manager and therefore am backstage - or more accurately, since we have no backstage, back-of-audience) as a way of keeping focused.  It works well enough for me.  I do have to maintain plain work, for the most part, or anything my hands can autopilot.  So with two organizations sending out calls for items to be delivered in July, I was able to create the following items.  For Afghans for Afghans, three wool sweaters:

The pink one (which has appeared on the blog before) is Bernat Felting Roving in the easy-peasy Steppe Sweater pattern, about 26" around; the one at right is a multicoloured wool called "Icelandic" which I knit in a basic Icelandic-sweater-style pattern and came out about 31" around (and actually had been knit sometime in the past and was all-but-finished in the stash); and the one on the left (32" around) I made with yarn from my trip to Argentina a few years ago. 

  

The organizer of A4A, Ann, went to Buenos Aires a year later and I told her where I had gotten yarn.  At the time, I thought I would use this green for a sweater for them, and originally intended to use it as trim with a multi, but that yarn wasn't cooperative.  Then I had a hurtful experience when I sent these sweaters in 2011:

 

I ran out of yarn with the one at top left so sent it as a cap-sleeved vest (they accepted vests for that campaign) and I was told it was going to be thrown away because the volunteers didn't think it qualified!  I was also told the one at the top right had sleeves too short (I tried it on and they reached my wrist) so it would be thrown away also - and it was alpaca!  After that, I decided they were nasty ungrateful and unkind people and there was no reason to waste my knitting time with them.

That is when I joined the Mittens for Akkol knitters, who are warm and friendly and a very fine group.  I've been happy to knit for them for the last couple of years.

But the green yarn nagged at me, so when I heard about the girls sweater campaign this summer I thought I would overcome my bad feelings and send sweaters.  Besides, I had that pink one going and then found the other, which I think had been intended for a previous M4A campaign and not gotten done in time.  The three together just fit into a Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate box, which turned out to be cheaper to send than even surface mail!  So off they went.

And the Steppe Sweater pattern, being mostly plain knitting in the round until the armholes, is perfect for autopilot knitting during rehearsals.  Things got a little fiddly because I realized I didn't have enough for a whole sweater, so I added the multi - Patons Kroy Sock in Spring Fields, five strands held together.  I think it gives a nice, bright touch that some girl should enjoy:

I ended up knitting the sleeves from two ends of the green yarn after it became clear I didn't have enough to make both sleeves all green, so the green ended at the same place on the sleeve, and then finishing with the multi.

 

At the same time, when it was really hot or when I needed something small (the downside of knitting sweaters of a piece, which is great because finishing is minimal, is that they get big and HOT to carry around and knit) I made caps for PatPat's Hats, which gives hats to oncology hospitals and other places to distribute to children (and some adults) who have lost their hair to cancer treatments.  I forget how I found out about them but they are in Connecticut and hats are easy to make!

 

Earlier this summer they sent out a call for hats kids could wear at Camp Rising Sun, which is a free camp for children who have been diagnosed with cancer, which has been providing kids with camping experiences for thirty years.  These hats needed to be cotton or thin yarns, because it is summer, so I focused on those.  I had just gotten some frozen yoghurt pops and thought it would be fun to mail the hats in that box, so my goal was to make enough to fill the box:

Most are cotton, a few are not, such as these three of Bernat Baby Jacquards (and I still have some of that ball left, but I didn't want to make too many alike) and the two of an oddball of Fiesta yarn that I thought an older boy might like because of the colours:

 

Although it is easier for me to autopilot knitting, crocheting is faster and a nice change of pace, so two of the caps (one of the "pink lemonade" ones and one in Brown Sheep Cotton Fine) are crocheted:

I got seven hats out of six balls of Sugar 'n' Cream that I had in my stash waiting for a use.  I wanted them to be as different as possible from each other, even the ones where I used a similar pattern, and I think I came up with a nice variety:

 

I made three in ribbing patterns to stretch over different sizes of heads.  It makes a difference when a child has no hair, or a little hair, and different types of hair.  All striped, because plain hats are dull: 

These are my three favourites of the bunch.  Two are in a short-rows pattern from KnitPicks that I often use when making hats, and the third is just a plain hat with stripes.  It was the last hat I made, and I was integrating the yarns I had left.

 

So with all the charity knitting done, am I working on something for myself?  No, all the projects I have queued for me require concentration (at least to begin) and the next weekend of performances is beginning, so I am doing another Steppe Sweater for Mittens for Akkol (getting a jump on next spring!) until the weekend, when I will have time to set up a new project.  I did finish two shawls for myself earlier this summer, but they will have to wait for another post to be reported.

 

Torso for Ta-Tas

A couple of months or so ago, a friend talked me into contributing to a community art project sponsored by a cool local indie shop.  The theme is to:

Come join in the "Celebration of Life" - ART is a healing tool, bringing awareness, comfort and hope to all those touched by battles fought and the ones still to come.

The idea is that you pay $10 and get a plastic torso, the kind that are used to display shirts and other top-body clothing.  Then you decorate it and return it to the shop and they will put it into the show.  I do not have art skills, but I figured that I could do something or other.  My friend, who is a photographer, planned to print out a bunch of her photos and decoupage them onto a torso.

Me, I do yarny things.  And I had seen something called the Tango Tunic which seemed perfect for this project, especially in a pink recycled cotton yarn I happened to have around.  I started it and posted when I had the collar done, and it grew fairly steadily.

But I couldn't just leave the torso plain white, or covered in one of my T-shirts.  I had a vision, which due to time I didn't fully accomplish, but I did the key elements.  First, I removed a breast:

This did involve buying a new tool, which is a hotknife.  I have decided that I really like having this in my arsenal, although melting plastic is really stinky.  Yes, I did ventilate the space well.

Then I did my own decoupage, for no other reason than to highlight the surgical site and to make the torso a bit more interesting looking than a solid colour would be.  I added colours, using torn tissue paper and Mod Podge(R), being randomish in placement although I had a design for the colour sequence.  I took photos as it progressed:

   

    

 

I could not leave the hole as a hole, of course.  I had planned to do a backing wall with the plastic I cut off, but it didn't fit when reversed and I didn't have time to reshape it.  When I picked up the torso I had purchased some earrings, and one disappeared before I got home.  So the other became the centerpiece of the filler, strung on silver thread:

   

I thought of doing more, as a mandala design, but I ran out of time.  I still might do a few rounds quickly before I deliver this.   It's due today, of course!

Here is the dressed torso.  I am adding a note that if someone buys the artwork, s/he can remove the tunic as it is fully wearable.  That is also why I decorated the torso, so if the tunic is being worn it's not just a boring hunk of white plastic.  It's still not very artistic, but it is OK, given my skill level.

These are a couple closeups of the tunic hem and collar:

 

 

I have seen a lot of the torsos that were delivered in the early days, by real artists.  So I know how mine does not compare.  But it's for a good cause and that is what really counts, right?

 

Added later:

 

When I went to deliver the torso, the organizer complimented it several times, and then realized what is in the cutout area.  She said "it's the earring!"  When I bought the pair and got home, one was missing.  I think I tried to call to see if it was there, but hadn't had time to get back to the shop.  I thought the other had gotten lost in my car.  Meanwhile, they found it at the shop and tried to figure out to whom it belonged, and the artist even checked with people he thought might have bought it.  Nothing!  So I may be getting the earring back as a pendant, unless he can make another to match.

 

Quite a few friends posted on my Facebook page that they think the piece is actually art.  I am very flattered by that.  It's not just the crocheted tunic, it really is the torso underneath.  I still wish I had time to do something more mandela-ish with that space, but she is what she is.

 

And yes, I did make sure she transported very safely:

 

The show opens this coming Thursday evening at MCC on Main.  I cannot be there but I will go the following week to a showing of the Swan Day CT documentary, and I look forward to seeing all the torsos on display!

 

Whence all this pink in my knitting and crocheting bag?

I've never been really fond of pink, so was surprised to realize that I have three projects going on that all contain pink.  First, after getting all those sweaters knit and mailed, what do you think turned up as my "idiot" or when-I-don't-want-to-pay-attention knitting?

 Yup.  Another Steppe Sweater, this one about 26" around so approximately size 8.  I may send it to Afghans for Afghanistan, which is doing a campaign to get 500 wool sweaters for girls by sometime this summer.  The yarn is Bernat Felting (a discontinued yarn) so 100% wool roving.  Or I'll keep it for the Mittens for Akkol fall campaign, which is mostly socks but also other clothing items for the smaller children.

When I went to visit my grandmother last weekend, I wanted something easy that she (one of the people who taught me to knit) would appreciate.  I had been thinking for some time that this yarn - Gedifra Fashion Trend Fino Stripe, also discontinued - would make a nice baby blanket:

It's the 10-Stitch Blanket pattern worked on fifteen stitches and with a longer starting strip so it comes out as more of a rectangle.  That is only the second ball, so with each strip being about 3.5" wide this could end up fairly large, or have a matching sweater or something.  We'll see what happens by ball four, since of course the rows just get longer so the balls don't go as far the more I knit.

Then I made the collar of a tunic that will go over the torso I am decorating for a breast cancer awareness event.  I photographed it over a black T-shirt so the pattern is more visible:

It's going to be a whole tunic and luckily those are the only hearts involved.  I really had to pay attention to get them to work properly!

Before you worry about me knitting only for others, or only in pink, I'll show you this:

The color is slightly more blue than it appears in the photo, and it's a handdyed yarn (wool and maybe silk) I've had for a long time.  At the bottom is my first test piece, using US#13 needles.  I didn't like it - drapey enough, but the stitches were too big to make me happy.  So I switched to US#10, and after a couple false starts, it's moving along.  The original pattern is called the Flying Geese Shawl, but of course I am doing it my way.  I am alternating garter and stockinette in each "V", and I plan to do an applied I-cord border.  One of the false starts was trying to figure out an integrated I-cord and it looked too weird, so I am leaving it for after.  I do have a WIP with integrated I-cord borders, but couldn't remember how it worked so decided I'll just add it later.

Thanks to some long meetings, the shawl is growing nicely.  I have to focus on the tunic to get it done by the end of this month, because the decorated torsos are due by June 1st.  So that is my quiet at-home project, when I can focus on the pattern.  I'll post more pictures when these get bigger.

Chemo Hats - an easy batch

My mother mentioned that one of her good friends was undergoing chemo, and would I make a hat?  I'd done some for a cousin of ours when she'd had chemo and lost her hair, and I told my mother that if her friend went bald I'd send hats.  On a call a couple weeks ago, my mother mentioned that her friend had finally lost her hair, and I quickly whipped up these hats:

The one on the left was finished on one of my trips to Long Island, I took the picture before I left because I didn't think I would remember there.  Very simple crochet pattern.  I mailed them, Mom delivered them, and her friend raved about them.

So I made more:

Actually, only the two knitted ones on the right are for the friend.  All the knitted ones are a plain hat pattern, just cast on a multiple of four stitches, work 2x2 ribbing for a bit, and then simple stitch pattern or not.  I can whip one out in a day that has a lot of conference calls, and they are all washable.

The crocheted one is for a court administrator that Mom knows who is also losing her hair to chemo.  I entered it in a local fair, it won no ribbons, but it took only a couple hours to whip out so I didn't expect huzzahs.  I did think that the pattern was too short for a chemo cap and added a round of the lace pattern to improve it:

Washed and ready, these get delivered to my mother this weekend, and she can hand them around to the ladies next week.

It's Breast Cancer Awareness month.  One thing of which people should be aware: The disease is not limited to women.  If you have breasts, you can get it, and this includes men.  Of course, men usually can rock the bald look better than women!  I have made hats for men, to help them stay warm.

The place I get my hair cut (and dyed when I feel like it) is doing a fundraiser later this month.  I have been thinking of making some funky chemo hats to let them sell or hand out or whatever, to people who need them.