Service and Non-Profit Fair

Seventeen people expressed interest in Knit for Those in Need today at the Service and Non-Profit Fair! This was more support than I could have hoped for in a two-hour period during a small, out-of-the-way fair, and I am thrilled! This has inspired me to get the ball rolling as soon as possible, which will require some juggling on my part.Look for more updates soon!

:)

Service and Non-Profit Fair

Come sign up to participate in Knit for Those in Need today at Champlain's Service and Non-Profit Fair from 3-5 pm in Hauke! There will be food and fun prizes! Please stop by we'd love to see you! :)

Knit for Those in Need Update

Hooray! Things are back on track to get Knit for Those in Need up and running as an official group! I spoke with our amazing local yarn store, Kaleidoscope Yarns, and they were generous enough to offer us a discount on our materials, and in addition to that Champlain's own Center for Service and Civic Engagement has expressed interest in providing funds. Now we just need people!

I will be recruiting sign-ups at the Service and Non-Profit fair in Champlain's Hauke building on January 25 from 3-5 pm, and I will try to have a date for a first meeting decided before that time. Anyone reading this from Champlain should try to spread the word, and anyone else should still feel free to mail in items! Although the donations coordinator for COTS is on vacation until the 19th, and so cannot answer my email about items needed, the COTS website has a wish list that includes winter socks, XXL adult winter clothing, and L adult waterproof gloves and mittens (I asked in the email if good quality wools that would be warm when wet would be acceptable.) Just look for my address in the top right corner of this blog, and comment below if you send something to let me know it's coming!

Keep knitting!

Finals and Life in General

Finals week officially begins in four days. I have a new love interest. Ergo, I have not been posting on my blog as regularly as I should. I know that excuses are not to be accepted. I know that this is how this blogging thing always happens - a person starts off with a lot of steam, posting several times a week, and then slowly they taper off into a blog or two every now and then, with the main topic usually being an apology for the lack of posting. Well, that may be what this blog turns into, but not yet. Just let me get through finals, and then I will be back on track. Soon I will start posting pics of the Christmas presents I'm in the process of making. Won't that be nice?

Happy finals - er, holidays - everybody!

Northampton Wools

Working at Northampton Wools is like being a kid in a candy store. I walk around in a daze of yarn-induced ecstasy, touching everything within my reach and losing myself in the swirl of color that surrounds me. I have been known to leave the shop at the end of a work day owing them money, and most days come home with only a portion of my earnings, but with gorgeous wools in my bag. Like today, for instance. I left with only $14, but also three skeins of divine Mulberry Merino in three stunning colors. This is a 52% Mulberry Silk, 48% Merino blend that is incredibly soft and has a lovely silky sheen.
Any ideas for what I should make with it? It's only three hundred yards, so I was thinking a complex scarf pattern incorporating all three colors would be interesting. Send me any ideas you have!

Lesson Learned

Tip to all: When sort of making up a pattern as you go/pulling stuff from other patterns WRITE WHAT YOU'RE DOING DOWN AS YOU GO!!! I can't for the life of me remember what I did, and deciphering the one or two notes I made is proving to be impossible. Solution: Make them again and keep track as I go this time. It will actually be good, as there is one thing about this first pair that I really dislike. The thumb hole is too close to the open pattern, and so when they are on your hands the pattern pulls towards the thumb. I think I will add a few stitches to the thumb hole side, which should rectify the problem. I may have to keep this pair instead of selling them/giving them away, because the pulling actually is pretty bad (oh darn!). However, making another pair will have to wait until after Christmas, because I have oodles of Christmas knitting to do! There are (hopefully) four lucky people who will be getting handknit gifts this year, and more if I can manage it. My dilemma at the moment is physically getting to the yarn store - hopefully I'll get there before going home for Thanksgiving this Friday! I am so excited to see my family, home friends, and pets, it's ridiculous. But anyway, until I get a chance to get to the yarn store, I'm working on my second large lace shawl project. I can't remember if I posted a picture of it yet or not, but just in case, here it is:
I am roughly halfway through with it (partway through the wavy part between the petals), although it is hard to tell because each row gets longer and longer. At the moment it is taking me a half hour to knit one row, and I have about 540 stitches on the needle. It is a lot of fun to knit, but is one of those patterns where focus is necessary, so working on it while watching a movie or talking to people is out of the question. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's off the needles!

Knit on,
Hannah

Finally!

I have FINALLY finished the fingertipless mitts that I have been working on for what feels like forever! The pattern is an adaptation of two other patterns that I have used before, and I will try to figure out how to write it up and post it at some point. There are some things I am not too pleased with about it, and I will be tweaking the pattern the next time around. Hope you like them!