We're Havin' a Draw!

I've been blogging about the Fleece Artist sock adventure, and I thought it would be great if we had a draw for something cozy and Canadian. So either we could raffle off Peter Mansbridge












or maybe Brent Butt







, or.....




we could have a draw for this beautiful Cross Cross Scarf pattern and yarn from Fleece artist:

The yarn is Suri Blue (50% Suri Alpaca/50% Blue Face Leicester) and I am sitting on my hands right now to stop myself from ripping the package open. The colour is kind of ocean greeny fading in and out - I'm no wordsmith so here's a picture of another item with the same colours:

So here are the rules, well not really rules, more just a general framework. Because if they were rules, then this would be a lottery, and that would be wrong:


1. Knit your stuff and either send it to us or drop it off at one of our LYS partners. To the bag, either give us an email address or a Ravelcrack name.


2. For each item you donate, we'll enter your name once in the draw.


3. The deadline is February 20th. You can knit for either the Innu kids or for the Mongolian kids - by the way, if you have a preference for your donation, just attach a note to your stuff and we'll make sure it gets there.


Easy peasy, lemon-squeezy.


But if you'd rather have Brent Butt as the prize, post us a comment and we'll see what we can do.

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!

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!

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.

And then I Lost my Needles on the I-95

When we last left this soap opera, Anita was trying to do the work of 12 inch circulars with 18 inch. Knittin Kitten suggested two circs (thanks for the tip! I need more info though - how is that done? Do 18 inchers work?). As I was driving down the I-95 between North and South Carolina, trying to figure out how to do the 2 circs deal, my needles flew out the window.

Sigh.

Bottom line, if you see a pair of 2.75mm on the highway, they are yours to keep.

So after much begging and pleading, Ross drove me to a fabulous yarn store in Myrtle Beach. Its called Knit 'n' Purl. Here's a blog that talks about Phyllis and her crew. She doesn't have a website. Basically, you keep driving until you're sure you're lost - then you're almost there.

Phyllis, said, "Anita, you can do the dpn".

"I can't." I said

"You're doing it." she said. "The first row is the worst".

"Like "the first cut is the deepest"?" I asked.

Phyllis doesn't know Cat Stevens. That's okay.

So here are the results. This is a picture of my boy's foot, along with the yarn. I'm sure in 20 years he'll be explaining to the shrink about the day his mama (yes I'm in Georgia) made him wear girl socks. Right now we're in Savannah, and can't drive any further (thanks Tropical Storm Fay), so I have lots of time to knit.

Socks and the Sea

Right now, I'm sitting in a hotel room in NagsHead, North Carolina. I can hear the surf from my room, and its totally soothing. Before I left Ottawa, I bought some Fleece Artist yarn to make some socks. I know I should stick with what I know for the Innu project (hats and blankets) and leave the more complicated stuff to the experts, but its sooo tempting when you see the Fleece Artist stuff. The plan was to go with the two needle sock pattern, but I saw Fleece Artist's pattern using circular needles and I got a little cocky.





Here's a picture of the socks I'm making:

Note to self: when they say 12 inch circulars, they don't mean 18 inch, they mean 12 inch. Bottom line: I am stretching and stretching and stretching the 64 stitches to make it fit around 18 inches, and it won't fit.

Not pretty. I can't convince my family to take a break from our holidays to go on a yarn store hunt - imagine that.

So I'm frogging and going to go back to the 2 needle pattern.

Gotta walk before you run.

Check out the Size of the ...Needles on that Girl

The knit-out was a huge success.
Good weather - check
Lots of knitters - check
Free yarn, free patterns - check
Horse and piggy smell - double-check


One down is a pic of Jeanine - she's been my pal since last year - she's one of the first ones to send us stuff for the project. Jeanine makes me laugh. She had a hobby farm in Southern Ontario and kept sheep that she sheared, then she washed the fleece (wrecking her washing machine, I think), then spun it, then knit it. I told her they sell it already spun at the yarn store nowadays. Heh heh. Apparently I'm not funny. Anyways, this is JT spinning up yarn from her baby (well sheep-baby), Aubergine.


Plus there's a lady with massive....needles. I had to laugh.

We were there to spread the word about the project, and the Guild promised to help - yay, Ottawa knitters.