Sunday, September 28, 2008

She did it!

In the non-knitting side of her life, Anita ran a half marathon last weekend! Yay! Way to go! Now we know the real reason she wanted to start knitting socks - to soothe those tired feet! You looked awesome out there, my friend. Great job!

And, thank you to the crocheter who dropped off the many squares to Knit Knackers. And I loved the socks that Knit Knackers added. Very kind. I will be trying to find volunteers to make the squares into blankets, and will delve back into that myself. I made a poncho out of squares last summer, so I may try one or two of those as well.

I have been knitting little hats, working through leftovers in my stash. Photos later!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Cool Lynn

Here's a message from our latest Warm Hands Maeven, Lynn, who found us on Ravelry (thanks to Shirley for being my Ravelpal and getting us set up with a group and all).

Good morning,As discussed, I put together some small kits for some of the seniors in my community - with the thought that the seniors would benefit from having wool supplied, and enjoy using their skills to create knitted pieces that would be valued by others.To that end, I obtained some large ziploc bags and put in: - 3 balls of Patons Classic Merino - 100% wool and enough to do a hat, mitts or both - a four page flyer of hats and mitts patterns for which the copyright allows duplication for charitable knitting - a letter describing your work and the guidelines for knitting - some tags that the knitters may attach to their completed projects to make it more personal.

I've attached PDFs of the letter and the tag - so that you may be assured that your name and your logo are not being misused, and that your work is not being misrepresented.

And I've attached a picture of a complete kit. Several of my friends have expressed interest, on behalf of their mothers, aunts and sisters who like to knit. And I left a sample kit with a group of seniors at my local community centre to see if they are interested - although a few of them looked as if I was trying to swindle them.

Overall I am hopeful of a good response and lots of nice warm woollens for the communities in Northern Labrador.Thanks for letting me take part in this effort!Lynn

If anyone wants a copy of the PDF to use in their own community, just fire me a message and I will pass it on. I must say, its our best flyer ever.

Thanks Lynn and Shirley!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

My Left Foot


Okay, one sock is done for the Innu project. And by that, I don't mean one pair. I'm so proud that I have to show it off right now though. Thank goodness, all of you are knitting too, or there would be some single socked Innu out there.

My kiddies admired the sock and tried it on. We've all taken turns modelling it now. I never knew the difference between handmade merino socks and the ones I buy from that W store whose name must not be spoken. Now I know.

The real trick was the grafting, though. The pattern I had was confusing in the grafting area, so I searched on the web. here is the most amazing video. Watch it once, and murmur to yourself "I will never have a ridge on my work again". The movie is provided by Heather



On a totally separate note, I got a lovely email from Merideth at FIRE (the Dulaan/Mongolia guys) last week. The organization is focusing its efforts and money on some great projects, including an orthopedic centre in the country. She wanted to assure us though, that they will continue to distribute hand-knit items, so anything we send to her will get shipped in 2009.