More things finished.

Good thing I got the rainbow cardigan finished when I did, as I couldn't focus on yarning for a while.  I did take "emotional support knitting" to the hospital and hospice, but couldn't pull it out.  Part of the time we were busy with details, part of the time I was holding my father's hand as we took turns letting him know we were there.  And then there were all the details afterwards, and exhaustion, and mostly I petted the yarn.

When I could focus enough, I finished a few items:

Hat of sock yarn scraps, knitted in a half-and-half
style with no seams.  Scarf of Red Heart Super Saver
Jumbo Speckle in "Bubblegum", made-up pattern of
mostly alternating rows of single and double crochet
with a fancy granny square on each end.

The hat and scarf were in progress and set aside so that my first FO of the year would be something I was keeping for me.  Both are charity items.  The hat is a solid sock yarn worked with striped or ragg-style scraps.  I made the scarf because I'd ordered White Speckle, and the label said that's what it is - but clearly the yarn is Bubblegum Speckle.  It would not work with what I have and I'm not fond of pink, so charity items it will be!  There's almost as much left in the skein as is in this scarf, so it may well become another scarf in some pattern.

Then my mother mentioned that the wife of a friend needed a chemo cap, and I grabbed the blue ball of yarn and knit one quickly and delivered it - so quickly I didn't get a photo.  So I am showing the remainder of the ball of yarn.  The recipient was grateful, including that I made it while dealing with grief.  Well, having somebody and something else to focus on for a bit helped, for my mother as much as for me.

After this I turned to some items I picked up in the "FINISH ME" rack at The Scrap Exchange.  All were ready except for running in ends and adding buttons and some cleaning.  There was also an item that resembles a bag in royal blue and white, which you see in the bunting's "before" photo.  I'm not sure whether it was meant to be a sleep sac or another bunting or a tote bag.  I thought that if it wouldn't be useable in the current state I would frog it and use the yarn for something else, but the person to whom I delivered the finished items said it would be fine, so it's in the finishing queue.

The bunting was finished except for ends and buttons.
Not sure what the blue-and-white items is; we decided it's a
sleep sack which I will finish, and maybe add shoulder straps.

Bunting finished.  Close-up of buttons below.

I chose very classic buttons.  The only other
ones I have in sufficient quantity and the
correct size are deep blue flowers.

Pink set before.  Needs some sewing and buttons.

Also, an unknown black stuff on the hat.
Luckily, it washed out with a bit of scrubbing.

Pink set finished.  I attached the items together with a piece
of leftover yarn.  Note the strap on the hat, one side has a
button loop but there are buttons on both ends.

Close-up of the buttons, pink with a white flower.

The third set was the most difficult to finish because there was a definite stain on one sleeve, and only one bootie.  I decided to use the bootie to replace the stained bit of sleeve - which meant I had to figure out the pattern and gauge.

The label was on the package at The Scrap Exchange.

The stain, and unlike the one on the pink hat, it did
NOT wash out,  Removal was necessary.

I simply crocheted from the bootie to the sleeve.

I was successful, and found some cute blue buttons to use on this set.  Like the pink hat, I made a strap for this one with a button on the sewn end as well as on the working end:

Finished set with the leftover yarn from sleeve and bootie.
I attached the hat and jacket to each other for donation.

Close-up of the blue buttons - bunches of grapes.

After delivering the items, I received an email complimenting me on the craftsmanship.  I had to explain that I only added buttons, the real work was done by some other person, unknown.

A group hug, in yarn.

A bit before Thanksgiving, one member of the online fiber group I oversee announced that she suddenly lost kidney function and was having to navigate a very new normal.  She couldn't knit, and was frustrated and depressed and a couple people wrote privately to give her encouragement.

As the group is wont to do, we decided to send her what can be considered "a group hug", in the form of a blanket.  The member lives in Minnesota and we saw her with a blanket in one photo on her Facebook page.  A close friend of mine who has been on dialysis for years told me that everybody gets a thin blanket as part of a "welcome to dialysis" package, because you have to lie there for several hours and the rooms are always cool so the machines work better.  We figured a group blanket would be something this person could use and which would remind her she's cared about when her spirits are low.

We agreed on a colour scheme of mostly jewel colours, which I would put together with gold yarn because of a picture the recipient had posted on her social media:

We agreed on making the squares about 8" on a side, of DK or worsted weight washable yarns of any fiber, depending upon what people had available.  This size can be made from leftovers fairly easily, if people didn't want to start a new ball or skein.  It's big enough that we don't need many, because I didn't want to sew together a hundred pieces!  Also, I wanted them big enough that the border wouldn't overwhelm the squares.

First intended deadline was Christmas, but of course with the holidays not all the squares arrived.  Not only were people busy, but a couple packages went missing in the mail.  So those contributors decided to make more, and I had to wait for them to arrive.

Then I had to add borders.  It might have made sense for me to work on them as squares arrived, or when most of the squares were here, but of course I waited until I had all of the pieces here.  I worked three rows of single crochet around most of the squares.  I didn't block the squares, either before or after adding the border, because the different stitches and weights and patterns meant it would be difficult to do, plus the time involved.

Finally, I could try arranging them.  First I divided the squares into colour families:

Clearly, some of the borders need to be redone.  They were.

I found I had many in shades of deep rose, so I arranged those into a checkerboard:

  

The first one was great until I realized I had only four columns, and I needed five.  So, a re-do, adding in another red square for the grid to work.

Then I added the other squares, trying to avoid having the same square of a given colour next to another.  I also tried to keep the few lacy squares away from each other, for blanket integrity.  This is what I thought would be the final arrangement:

Of course that's not what happened, as I did a bit more arranging as I sewed the blocks into rows.  I also had to finish the topmost row, which is where I'd put the blocks that were not to the size requirements and I knew I'd have to adjust.  One is a heavily ribbed, reversible cable block that pulled in quite a bit.  Another is one of the replacement blocks; the sender sent a leftover from another project.  Two were knit on the diagonal, which can be difficult to measure and often come out odd-sized.  The one with a heart I wanted to keep in a special place.  So I worked those together with different amounts of the border on each block, and a fill-in panel, and made sure that row ended up the same width as the others:

You can see a sewing tail I left at the bottom.

Now it is time to sew the rows together, and I noticed that I'd sewn the end block on the final row backwards from the others.  See that four blocks aren't showing a tag?  It turns out I'd done the border from the back instead of the front, and my OCD compelled me to not only take the block off, but to re-do the border before reinstating it.

Then one more big error: instead of sewing the bottom row under the next row, I sewed it on top!  Rather than re-do a long row (a single block is one thing, the row is another) I decided to keep going in that manner, so the blanket would be flipped, except for the second row of odd-sized blocks and the panel.  I want to be sure the heart goes in the correct direction.  This did cause an issue with the green-and-white block, as those are sheep and I didn't want them to be upside-down.  So again, cut off the block and sew it back into place.

Finally, all the squares are together, and mostly blanket-shaped:

Not perfectly even, but not bad given the variations.  Also, most of
the blanket photos are taken from one end and not directly overhead.

After that photo I decided to remove all the tags, as they were no longer needed.  I put each person's name on it, then when I set up the layout I added a code for row (letter) and position (number) to keep them in order as I sewed.  As I removed the tags I created a chart showing who had made each block, in case somebody wanted to know later.  Since some people did one block and others did several, I decided not to include it with the blanket.

Then I added the border:

Close-up of the border - a simple finish.

Also the embroidery, which I am pleased is very neat on the back.  I used chain stitch which I knew would be fast, and adjustable around curves, and fairly thick so the letters would be legible.  More-or less, anyway.  I wrote the message on waxed paper (I didn't have tissue paper handy), pinned it to the blanket, and embroidered, then pulled away the paper:

As we were working on this, another group member announced that she has to undergo chemo due to a cancer diagnosis.  I gently inquired, and no, she has plenty of blankets that she has made over the years - I was relieved to hear it!  But her hair is falling out, as often happens with chemo, and the infusions tire her so much that she can knit on a few stitches on a chemo cap at a time.  So I let the group know and she is likely to have a wardrobe in an assortment of colours very soon.  I mentioned my no-new-projects-during-Lent commitment during our Sunday meeting and a couple people stated that this is charitable work and it shouldn't count.  I have a very soft hat handy but it's colours this member said she doesn't like, so I will have to think about what to do - maybe after I finish one or two other projects.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The box did arrive safely; the recipient posted this message:

I came home from dialysis and I was tired. Driving home on the freeway I missed my turn and ended up in a residential area of a Minneapolis suburb - lost and frustrated. I got home and there was a big box waiting for me. In it was a gorgeous blanket knitted in squares by members of the KT family. I can't believe that  you all would make me this blanket; you guys hardly know me!! I am gob-smocked. 

For those who do not know, I lost my kidneys last July. No one knows why. I am one in a million the docs say. Then I spent 3 months in and out of the hospital; mostly in. The docs kept sending me home w/o fixing me. They sent me to a rehab facility and there I spent 3 weeks of very little rehabilitation After an "event" at my daughters house I ended up in another hospital for a week and they sent me to a rehab facility that was more aggressive. After 4 weeks I finally came home much stronger. I am staying with my daughter and family for more recuperation.. I had more in-house physical/occupational therapy. I am stronger than ever but continue to keep active by exercising.

Thank you to Afton, Alison, Annette, Diann, Donna, Helena, Jen, Jill, Kathleen (Hi), Kathy, Kim, Maura, Minerva, Robin, Sue T, Susan A, Trish, Vickie and Margo Lynn. I love all of the squares and the golden trim. I cannot thank you knitters enough. It reminds me of all the good there is in this world. I am still amazed. 

During my physical breakdown, I could not walk, write, had brain fog and lost some memory. That is all better but my knitting skills are not up to par. I will try and post some projects but most of mine are in time-out. Seems like I make so many mistakes in my knitting.

Thank you all for the blanket; I will use it when I go to dialysis to keep me warm.

I love  you all.

Horsing around. (Memories)

I could have uploaded the previous post earlier, once I decided I was done with it, but have been traveling again (family) and didn't.  So these come close together.

Facebook reminded me that seven years ago I finished this:

There was no pattern, just a photograph.  Somebody I knew (our paths no longer cross, due to pandemic cancellation of the activities when we would usually encounter each other, and not being Facebook friends and so on) commissioned it from me based only on a photograph.  So I had to figure out how to make it.

She reported at the time:

[The horse] had a peaceful night out of cat range and will go to Old Lyme to meet his new person in a couple of hours. Right now he is still on top of the jelly cabinet looking down at me. Baby boy (fill in a name) will love it when he starts exploring. I think the large animal and horse vet mom will like it also. She just has to put it away for awhile so it does not become a dog or cat bed.

I hope the horse has been well-loved in that time, whether by the now-named boy or others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another memory came up earlier in the week:

Chemo caps for my cousin Pat in Chicago Bears and Chicago White Sox colours.
On top of a baby blanket my mother "commissioned" as a gift for someone with whom she works.

Sadly, Pat lost her fight with cancer a few years later.  I was told she was buried wearing one of my hats.

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.

20 Hats and a Blanket

Those who know me will not be surprised that in the last days of 2013, I finished a bunch of items for various charities.  OK, I know that in the past I have designated the week between Christmas and New Year's for "selfish knitting" = something for me, and I did mostly finish a crocheted bolero for myself while on my Christmas trip to North Carolina.  But I had a number of items OTN/OTH and decided to fill a box and.........

For the Children's Comfort Tote Project, which gives a lidded plastic tote to kids in shelters and going into foster care in Maine, each of which contains new pajamas, hat, mittens, scarf, and blanket, plus toiletries and a stuffed animal, I made an afghan:

I'd had ideas about making several, but time ran short for assorted reasons.  It's a simple granny ripple done in a multicoloured yarn.

I didn't find the chemo caps dropoff point at Stitches East (where I'd received a very soft ball of orange yarn, that they asked us to use to make chemo caps, last year) earlier this fall, so I decided to send the caps to my usual recipient, PatPat's Hats.  Then with one thing and another, hats being handy for carry-around knitting, I ended up filling a box:

It contains twenty hats, mostly knit but also crocheted.  There are five pairs, where a skein or ball had enough yarn for two hats:

The two orange ones are from the yarn I received last Stitches East.  I also have ten "singles," with just one hat of a particular yarn:

Here is a closeup of the two crocheted hats with ribbons.  I did the purple one second and made the row of stitches in which I wove the ribbon taller than on the orange one, where I learned that it needs extra height to not scrunch the ribbon as much:

This is the top of the other orange hat.  I did a random cabled pattern that I made up on the fly, and I really like how it came out.  Unfortunately the light orange didn't photograph well, this is the only one I have that shows off the cabling:

The packages are received, and I am taking a bit of a break from charity items so that I can finish the bolero and work on a couple other items.  My mother loved the crocheted vest I gave my grandmother for Hanukah so much, I think I will make one for her.  I'll post a picture of it and my grandmother's Christmas vest (this year, she received a bonus) in another blog post because I have to track it down.


Update:  I thought about adding the totals of items I have knit and crocheted for various charities this year.  These are my records, there might have been more because one record just said "wool hats" but not how many:

• 11 Sweaters
• 3 scarfs (and I finished one more but didn't get it mailed in 2013)
• 2 pairs mittens
• 2 pairs socks
• 39 hats
• 3 shawls
• One afghan

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.