Major Knitter

Knitting in the Community

My friends and I went to a little square at 1981 Post Road in Fairfield, Connecticut today.  It was such fun.  

We sat in the Stitch n' Bitch area and had a great time.  A few of us bought some adorable baby gifts before we left.  We all enjoyed ourselves.  I told my friends about Alex's mission to create a therapeutic, helpful community for cancer patients.  If you're in southern Connecticut or just passing through, I hope you'll visit and see the great community knitting crafting area Alex has created.  Maybe you'll even knit up a little square for her Volunteer of the Year (VOTY) quilt.

We had fun.  I'm sure we'll be back again someday soon.  Thanks Alex and our host for the day - Caroline!

P.S.  I've had several inquiries about the "new knitting store in Fairfield" - and I want to clarify.  It's not a knitting store.  It's part gift shop, part Stitch n' Bitch area and part crafting table area. I think it would best be described as a haberdashery.  The vision is really about creating a community location for cancer patients and their caregivers and others who want to help support them.  You should definitely go check it out.

Jean Greenhowe - You're Amazing

In December one of my Scouting friends tagged me in a picture he snapped of a hand knit Nativity set.  I was so glad he did.

Isn't it adorable?  I immediately knew I needed to knit it.  So I searched high and low until I found the pattern.  

It's Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special.  I found mine on Amazon. 

I should have known it was one of the amazing creations of Jean Greenhowe.  If you're not familiar with her work, do a search.  She's a whiz with dolls of all shapes and sizes.  She adds such a whimsical look to them that there's no way you can see them and not fall head over heels in love.

This is definitely going on my queue.  I love how the shepherds are natural tones and the Three Kings are in bright colors.  

Will you be knitting your own Nativity Scene for this year's Christmas?  Is it too soon to start?

 

 

 

Dragonblut

I've been so busy with my various mini projects and tears... that I've neglected a part of my knitting that has been as integral as knit or purl.  Perhaps you've noticed how much it's been missing from my repertoire of late.  I'm talking about sock knitting of course.

I joined FB in the summer of 2007.  I know by looking through my blog that I knit.a.lot.of socks.in.2007

• 2007 - 23 pairs
• 2008 - 15 pairs
• 2009 - 10 pairs
• 2010 - 8 pairs
• 2011 - 14 pairs
• 2012 - 7 pairs
• 2013 - none so far.

In fact, in 2013, I don't have any socks on the needles!  So I decided to remedy this situation.  I looked through my stash and found some very lovely Wollmeise in the Dragonblut colorway (purple and red mix).

I already have a recipient in mind for these socks.  It's another worthy Scouting friend who constantly gives of herself and helps everywhere she goes.  I think a little thank you is in order.

This is not going to be a rush.  I'm on a blanket tear... but these will be on the needles.  I haven't decided on a pattern yet.  I think these deserve something more than a simple stockinette pattern, but I haven't determined which pattern might be best for this yarn.  Any suggestions?

 

Mount Snow Ski Weekend

This weekend was a big Boy Scout skiing weekend.  Our Council goes every year.  It's organized by Jack Berry who does an amazing job year after year.  He's been doing this for so long that he makes it look seamless, even though we all know there is a ton of work that goes on behind the scenes.  

Thank you Jack!

We arrived each morning before the crowds and secured our tables inside the lodge. 

The boys spent the day snowboarding with friends.

While we ladies had a knitting bee inside the lodge.

After dinner, the older Scouts led the Cub Scouts, and younger siblings in a night of fun games and prizes.  Secundogeniture did a fabulous job as a team leader guiding his young team through the ten different challenges.  There were prizes for everyone!

On Sunday, Primogeniture went snowboarding on the North Face with friends on the black diamond trails.

They all stopped for a special waffle snack.  Here Wendy and primogeniture enjoy a chocolatey tasty treat.

After lunch, Primogeniture wanted to drive our family home, so I sat in the back seat and continued knitting.  All in all, I managed to finish six new pink swatches for new swatch blankets.  It was a great weekend all around.  Fun.  Friends.  Snowboarding for the kids.  Knitting.  Camaraderie.

I can hardly wait for next year.  Maybe I'll even go skiing.  What do you think?

How Can I Help with the Hug from Marienne Project?

First of all, thank you to everyone for all your kind comments about my Mom, the blankets and the Jackson Recovery Centers Women and Children's Center.  Many of you asked me how you can help.  I am overwhelmed with your kindness and generosity.

1. Using worsted weight acrylic yarn, knit up 7x9 inch swatches for future blankets.
2. Use any stitch pattern you like.
3. Use any color you like.
4. Please use smoke-free yarn from a smoke free home.
5. Since these are going to charity, please use acrylic.
6. Knit up some newborn, toddler or children's hats (premie to 18 years old).  For baby hats, please use any appropriate baby yarn.  Worsted weight is probably not the best choice here.  
7. Knit up an entire blanket (or crochet, quilt, etc.)
8. Weave in all loose ends.  No need to include extra yarn for joining.  I'll take care of that.
9. When you're done with your swatches, hats or blankets, email me and I'll send you my mailing address.  

For any donations of at least 5 swatches or 5 hats, I'll send you a set of four Knit Notes enclosure cards.  You can specify if you want the general Knit Notes or the Baby Knit Notes (pastel mix of colors - blue, pink, yellow and other).

For any donation of an entire blanket (baby, child or adult size) - or 25 swatches (or 25 hats) or more - I'll send you a skein of sock yarn of your choosing from my stash.  Here are colors to choose from for the first five donors who meet the requirements.

 

Deadline to be eligible for this great giving opportunity:  March 31, 2013

Just think - you could do a good deed, get rid of your acrylic, and get something good in return - all while giving some child a "Hug from Marienne." 

I hope you'll join in the fun!

 

 

A Hug from Marienne

My Mom gave the best hugs ever.  Seriously.  You might think it was your Mom, but it's just not possible.  I have it on good authority that it was my Mom.  She would help others and listen and say just the right thing.  Her hugs were the very best.

So when I started making the blankets for the Jackson Recovery Centers - Women and Children's Center (WCC) - I started with purple - Mom's favorite color.  I wanted the blankets to go to the children - infants to teens - who were accompanying their mothers on the journey to recovery.  I wanted those children to receive a hug from my Mom, too.

While I was in Sioux City this past week, I delivered the blankets to the WCC.  

Here's the first blanket on a little girl sculpture at the entrance to the Women and Children's Center made by friend and local Sioux City artist Mark Avery.  It's all about purple and hearts.  This is exactly what I envisioned - the blanket providing a hug for a child.

Here's the mother and infant sculpture posing with the Monster Mash blanket.

All in all I was able to drop off:

• the red and purple heart blanket
• the blue Monster Mash blanket
• the blue Stars and Stripes blanket
• an adult striped blanket donated by a friend
• three infant blankets
• about 20+ infant, toddler and children hats

I just hope the Hugs from Marienne will provide a little smile and comfort to each recipient.

Thanks to everyone who helped make swatches so very long ago.  It's great to finally have them delivered to their recipients.

Textile Merit Badge

I spent the afternoon teaching part of the Boy Scout Textile Merit Badge to my niece and nephews.  They learned the very basics of weaving (warp, weft, loom, heddle, and spindle).  We made our very own simple looms out of shoebox lids and acrylic yarn.  It was lots of fun.

Here are the boys with their woven wall hangings... which might end up being bookmarks.

Gracie did a great job with her weaving, too.

Basically, we did this.  Watch this video for a tutorial of how to do your own primary weaving.

 

I highly recommend doing with with your Scouts or kids.  We spent about one-and-a-half to two hours from start to finish - making the loom, setting things up, weaving, finishing, and tying the fringe.

C shows off his weaving with his knitting (from my last visit).

P shows off his weaving and knitting.

Gracie shows off her weaving and knitting.

It was a wonderful fiber-filled afternoon!  There will be even more fun to report tomorrow!

 

 

A Little Tweak Here, a Little Tweak There

I showed Lindaly and Secundogeniture the pink swatches I've been making.  We went down to the basement and headed straight for the pool table.  I will tell you - the pool table has never received so much attention in all its life!

Secundogeniture quickly began offering his expert 14-year old designer advice on the pink blanket.  Last time you saw it, the blanket looked like this. But with a little teamwork, and Secundogeniture's designer advice, we rearranged the swatches according to his ideas.  Here's the semi-final result.

He wanted the colors to go together diagonally - and I had just about enough squares to do so.  While we all like the red and white swatch in the bottom left corner, I don't have another one like it for the opposite corner.  In the end, I decided to make two more contrast heart swatches for those last two corners.  After that I'll be able to address the task of joining the swatces and adding the edge.  Ooh la la!  I have to set this aside for a few days as I have a very busy week ahead of me.  But I plan to have this blanket done just in time for Valentine's Day.  I think it will be appropriate!

Don't you just love collaboration?  I think I may have to consult Secundogeniture more often! 

Pink, Pink and Even More Pink

My creative juices are flowing with the latest swatch blanket.  But I need MORE pink.  I got a magenta at my LYS, but it wasn't enough.  I wanted hot pink, pale pink, fuschia, magenta, and more.  Secundogeniture and I were at the mall today and on the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart and visited their large acrylic yarn department.  I was only going to pick up two, maybe three skeins.

I have absolutely no idea how seven skeins of acrylic yarn jumped into my cart.  But now that they're here, I'm going to be knitting up oodles and oodles of 7x9 inch swatches - many with heart themes.  I can hardly wait to make my pink blankets.  

 

 

When an Obsession is a Good Thing

When I knit something, you may have noticed that I tend to repeat myself.  Over.  And Over.  And Over Again.

My knitting friend Jan referred to it like a kid at the amusement park getting off the roller coaster and immediately wanting to go again.  

That's me.  When I knit something I like, I immediately want to knit it again.  You've seen this with

1. chickens
2. snowmen
3. Wonderful Wallabies
4. Owls
5. Sampler Blankets
6. Hats
7. Baby Booties
8. and now... Warm Up America blankets

I'm having so much fun letting my mind problem solve, figure out the best color schemes, search for the best yarn, the perfect pattern, the right swatch to unify the entire project, the new catchy look.  

It's OK that I had these swatches in a time out for eight years (YIKES!) - because I knew I would come back to them some day.  I've gone through all the easy swatches to join.  Now I'm down to the odds and ends.  There aren't enough swatches in a complementary color combination to make an entire blanket - not even a whole child's blanket which only requires 25 swatches.  So I looked through my stash for any acrylic I might have left.  I found a bit, but not much at all.  So I asked my friends and they answered my call.  Now I'm trying to knit up some connecting swatches to tie together the blankets in a theme.  First up is the pink blanket.  I thought about making a Monster Blanket out of this one... but I kept being drawn to hearts, hearts and more hearts.  I want to add more red, but that hot pink is calling my name.  Sometimes I ignore that siren's song, but when I go down to the basement and play with my swatches, adding the latest colors, I either like or dislike the direction I'm heading and I take another turn.

I really, really like the hot pink swatches, but I can't find any yarn in my stash or my friend's stash.  I went to my LYS Westport Yarns and discovered that they do carry Cascade Yarns Cherub Aran - a 55% Nylon/45% Acrylic blend which is soft and perfect for extra swatches, but they didn't have hot pink.  I did find a very nice magenta (technically called Italian Plum) - and knit up three swatches.  I am very happy with the heart theme.  I used some Homespun in a pale pink for the intarsia heart and I think it's the right look for this blanket.  So no googly eyes for me.  Just hearts.  Lots of hearts.  I'm going to swap out a few more swatches for magenta and hopefully hot pink hearts.  If all goes well, I might actually have another child's blanket to take to Iowa with me.

I haven't ruled out a pink/purple girly Monster blanket.  Just not today.  That will be a problem to knit through another day.