Knit Along — Week One Progress
August 8, 2013
I have a confession to make. I’m addicted to sock yarn. Now this is kind of pitiful because I hate, hate, knitting socks. But sock yarn, especially the really expensive kind with cashmere and silk and merino makes just the cutest baby sweaters and I have a granddaughter that I love to knit for.
I also like sport yarn and DK. Don’t ask me why, but I love knitting lace patterns and they turn out so nice on the small weight yarns.
So, my bin of left over yarn, which I was planning on using for chemo caps, is loaded with DK and smaller weight yarns. So it takes a LONG time to make a hat.
And add to that the fact that sometimes those free patterns you get on ravelry.com are, well, inaccurate about things like yarn weights and knitting gauges.
So my first hat, made with some sport-weight merino blend yarn turned out to be . . . well . . . small. But it’s beautiful. And some child. . . er infant. . . will, I’m sure get use out of it. But the next time I make this pattern, I’m using worsted weight and MUCH BIGGER needles.
Having ended up with a tiny hat for my first project, I went digging deeper into my sash of leftovers and came up with some super chunky acrylic tweed that I bought a long, long time ago when I was first learning how to knit. But I needed the chunky stuff because I didn’t want to put up a post this week and have to confess that I’d only managed one, tiny hat.
So, yes, I have another hat with pretty cables on it. And the yarn is soft and cushy and I’ve been told that hats like that are much appreciated. So, success! And it only took a couple of hours (instead of days) to knit this one. There is a message here to my brain. Chunky yarn and big needles are your FRIENDS!
I don’t know what I’m going to knit next. Tonight I’ve got to take the cat to the vet and I don’t think I’ll have time to wade through my stash and pick out the yarn for the next one. And then again my stash is heavy on the sock yarn. Does anyone have a good pattern for a hat made of sock yarn?
So, how have you done this week? Please post pictures so we can all be impressed.
The Last Chance Charity Knit Along is taking place from August 1 – August 31, 2013. Knitters are being asked to knit or crochet hats for The Hatbox Foundation, which provides hats to cancer patients and other in need. Knitters who send hats to Hope before September 9, will receive a small tape measure for their knitting bags and will be entered into a giveaway for books and other swag. For details read the week one blog.
July 31, 2013
It’s August 1, the official kick off of the Last Chance Charity knit along. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, a reader asked me to support the The Hatbox Foundation, a group that organizes donations of hand-made knitted caps for people with cancer or otherwise in need. And that sparked the idea of creating a space for knitters who are readers and authors to come together and share our love of fiber arts, while simultaneously supporting a worthwhile charity.
So here are the deets. I’ll be knitting hats from now until the end of August. And I’m hoping others will join me and share their accomplishments, their declining yarn stash, their love of knitting and crochet, or maybe some good book recommendations. Whatever. It’s a knitting group. I plan to post something here on my blog every couple of days with reports on my progress, which will give y’all opportunities to brag on your progress too.
Anyone who sends me a finished hat at the address below, will get a Last Chance Tape Measure and also be entered into a drawing for an advanced reader copy of Last Chance Knit & Stitch. I’ll be drawing names of the winners on Monday, September 9, to give you a chance to knit right up until the end of August and then ship off your finished hats. And I plan to give away five copies of the book. Every hat you send me will increase your chances of winning. So don’t be satisfied with knitting just one hat.
Here is a photo of part of my yarn stash. I have another full basket of left over yarn. I plan to significantly reduce this collection of leftovers by knitting hats this month.
And my first hat will be one called the “giving tree chemo cap.” I found the pattern by browsing patterns on www.ravelry.com. It’s a free pattern and I followed the link to a blog about chemo caps that moved me. Here is the link to the pattern and the blog article: http://knittingwithschnapps.blogspot.com/2012/06/introducing-giving-tree-chemo-cap_08.html.
And I’m going to use this DK yarn, which one of my knitting friends gave to me a while ago. I already used it for a hat that I gave away last Christmas, but I have a lot left over. Since I didn’t buy this yarn myself, I’m not entirely sure what fiber it’s made of. Some kind of wool, but I’m not entirely sure.
If you want to be entered into the drawing for the advanced reader copies (or if you want a tape measure) please send your finished hat to the address below. Include a card with your name and address. If you’d prefer to send your finished hats directly to the Hatbox Foundation, or a charity of your choice, that’s good too. But do let me know how many hats you complete, so I can keep track. Here’s the address:
Last Chance Knit Along
c/o Alliance Management Group
1901 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Suite 804
Washington, DC 20006
So what hat are you going to knit first? Share links and photos below.
Last Chance Charity Knit Along
July 11, 2013
As y’all must know by now, I am a knitter. The knitting travels with me just about everywhere I go, and I think knitting is about the most relaxing thing I can imagine doing. And the best part of knitting is that when you’re finished with a project you have something wonderful to give away.
That’s right, I almost always give away the stuff I knit. Only rarely do I knit something for myself. I get so much more joy in knitting for others. Which brings me to something I want to organize starting this August. It’s an idea suggested a couple of weeks ago by Belinda Harbuck Joyner, a member of the Last Chance Book Club Facebook Group.
Belinda posted a link to an organization called The Hatbox Foundation, which organizes donations of hand-made knitted caps for people with cancer or otherwise in need, and she asked if I would spread the word about this organization to my knitter friends. Well, as it turns out, in my next novel, Last Chance Knit & Stitch, a group of knitters called “The Purly Girls” undertake a project for Chemo Caps, another group that helps organize knitters who want to donate caps for cancer patients.
And an idea was born. I thought it might be fun to do more than just spread the word, but to organize a virtual month-long knit (or crochet) along with knitter friends, and any readers or authors who are also knitters or crocheters. The object would be to see how many caps we could collectively knit in a month.
Since I’m working on a book deadline between now and August 1, I thought we’d start the knit along formally on August 1. But between now and then, I invite you to do the following:
1) Leave a comment here, or in the Last Chance Book Club Facebook Group, or on my Facebook Page telling me you’re committed to producing at least one hat. You can also tell us about your knitting expertise or any other relevant information about your knitting.
2) Share a link to a hat pattern that you particularly like or that you’d like to attempt. Post that link in a comment below, so that everyone can enjoy it, whether or not they are on Facebook. There are hat patterns posted at Chemo Caps, ravelry.com, and other places.
3) If you’re really into it, post a picture of the yarn you’re planning to use in a comment below.
I plan to knit a hat that looks like the one below, which is the pattern that the Purly Girls use for their hat knitting efforts. It’s made with Red Heart worsted and knitted on US 8 needles circular needs and DPNs. And if you want to knit the same thing as in the upcoming book, here is a link to the pattern.
Oh and one final thing — the first ten people who post comments containing a link to a pattern or a picture of the yarn they are planning to use, will get a spiffy tape measure to use in their knitting or sewing baskets. And we’ll have other inducements as we knit along.
We’ll start the official knitting on August 1, so that gives you plenty of time to go find the yarn and the pattern.
