Click for Babies KAL

Katie of the Knittin’ on the Fly podcast had a Click for Babies purple hat KAL for the month of September. I decided to join in. 

Each and every day infants across North America are shaken and abused because the person caring for them became frustrated with their crying.

Many times the abuse could have been prevented had the person caring for the infant only known that early infant crying may be normal.

CLICK for Babies is a North America initiative to help educate caregivers about normal infant crying, how to cope with crying and the dangers of reacting to crying in frustration by shaking or harming an infant. This is especially true during the period of purple crying.

The acronym PURPLE is used to describe specific characteristics of an infant's crying during this phase and let parents and caregivers know that what they are experiencing is indeed normal and, although frustrating, is simply a phase in their child's development that will pass. The word Period is important because it tells parents that it is only temporary and will come to an end.

If you want to help you choose a hat pattern for a newborn baby. Then you choose a soft purple yarn. Other colors of yarn can also be used in your cap, but the cap must be at least 50% purple in color. Then you knit or crochet a hat or cap.

Caps will be distributed to babies in November with the Period of PURPLE Crying program.

Here are my four hats. 

Such a great cause. Since I have some yarn leftover, I’ll try to knit a hat each month.  Then when she asks for them next year, I’ll have a few more to send her.

Until next time......

Mittens Mishandled

Christmas is coming! While I don’t feel the need to give everyone on my list a hand knitted item, I do like to give a few. To the deserving, the appreciative and the special.

So, I get this bright (?) idea to try to knit mittens. Even though, JC Briar asked me how often I would need mittens in southern USA, I do have a children and grandchildren who live in the northern parts of the country. So mittens it is!

So I said to myself “After all how hard could it be. I knit socks for goodness sake!”

Well........I found a generic pattern for a mitten. I found a beautiful yarn from Knit Picks called Andean Treasure. I have the right size needles. And away I went.

I pulled out the pattern. Didn’t make a swatch. After all they should fit someone, right?!

I knitted a beautiful 3 inch tall 2 x 2 ribbed cuff. Now I needed to increase for the thumb gusset. Seemed simple enough. I am merrily knitting away until I get to the place where I need to put the gusset on waste yarn. I look at the thumb gusset and think “boy, it looks a little large”. I try on the mitten and yep, it’s big!

Well this is my first try, I forge on ahead. I finish the hand and decrease the top of the mitten like a sock. Wow, is it ever pointy. Kind of like a Norwegian mitten. Hmmmm.

Now I return to the gusset to finish the thumb. It is so large that I figure I have better work some decreases to get it to regular thumb size, because I am a thinking knitter and that should help. Well, I guess I decreased a little too much, because now the thumb looks like a chicken leg!  I try on the glove. The glove is too short for me and the thumb is way too big at the bottom and way to tiny at the tip.  The hand diameter fits well though! So it will probably fit someone.

I make the second mitten the same. Then I take them to my book club. They are very impressed with my knitting since none of them knit and had them try on the mittens. They fit no one! Eeek!

To make a long story a little shorter, I have raveled parts of the mittens and reknitted the top and thumbs on each glove. The length now fits a few people and the thumb is now better. Except for the one where I twisted some of the stitches when I picked them up. They are not a pretty site. Not even mittens a mother would love.

My mom suggested that I just frame them and say to myself. “Good first attempt.”

I have now gotten out my “Handy Book of Patterns” by Ann Budd. I now have a gauge of 6 stitches per inch. I will begin again.....

Until next time . . . 

A Small Break in the Mountains

Life was getting a little hectic here, so we decided to take a short break in the mountains. 

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

 

 

Until next time.......

Where Have All the Socks Gone?

My knitting has been odd this year. Well, my knitting has looked okay and things fit. What I mean is, I am not knitting the types of things that are usual for me. Take that to mean socks.

I have had a tough time this year knitting socks. Oh, the socks turned out beautifully and they fit. I just couldn’t seem to gather up much enthusiasm for knitting them this year. This is very surprising to me, since I made a goal in 2011 to knit a pair a month and actually knitted 16 pair. Yes! pair! Rarely, am I hit with second sock syndrome. This year, however, I have only knitted a few pair - La Vie de Bois socks by Heather Kinne of Fiberista Files podcast, 

a vanilla pair called Shades of Green, 

baby striped vanilla socks 

and a shop sample single sock (say that 4 times fast) for our local yarn shop to advertise a new yarn. 

What has happened? Where did my sock mojo go?

Maybe the problem has been so many podcasters calling this the year of the sweater. After all, I have knitted five sweaters this year -- 3 adult sweaters and 2 baby sweaters. I have two sleeves finished on my Aberdeen St. Cabled Cardigan. 

Maybe this is the year of the baby. After all, I have knitted the 2 baby sweaters, 2 baby blankets, a pair of baby socks and 5 baby hats.  

Maybe this is the year of weaving. After all, I got my new Cricket loom and have woven a casserole mat, 2 spa cloths, a plaid scarf and am 1/3 finished my MacFarlane Tartan Scarf. 

Maybe this is the year of the scarf. I have knitted 5 and have one on the needles that I am designing.

Maybe this is the year of the hat. Including those mentioned above, I have knit 9 hats this year. 

Just going through my Ravelry page and looking at all the projects shows that I have completed 32 projects this year and have 6 projects on the needles/heddles.  Obviously, a productive year. But where are the socks?!

Maybe the mojo for socks is sulking because I have been lured away to knit other things. What will it take to bring it out of its sulk. I wonder.....

Until next time......

Knitting Mojo

Knitting Mojo is a funny thing. There are days where you want to knit from sun up to sun down. Every stitch is a joy. There are days where you spend hours searching through Ravelry and your large collection of knitting books and magazines for the next great project. There are days where you dump out your stash of unfinished objects (UFOs) and work straight through them, finishing them in short order. There are days when you systematically work through an ebook of sock patterns or mitten patterns or dish cloth patterns until all in the ebook have been knitted. Knitting is good! 

And then there are days . . . . where you hide from your knitting even when you hear it calling.  You make up excuses....I need to wash my hair, ... or the dishes ...or the laundry or ... the car. I am busy making breakfast ...or lunch ...or dinner. I need to get this book read for book club. I have too many errands to do. It’s just too hot! or too humid! I am too tired. I hate that color green that I am knitting that sweater out of. I don’t like the way this yarn feels. Why does that pattern have soooo many cables?  Knitting mojo has left the building.

Then.....a new magazine comes or a podcaster mentions a new pattern or yarn and aaaaah! Knitting is good!

Why do we have this love-hate relationship with our craft?

Until next time . . . .