Happy 2015 the Year of Organization

It has been nearly 3 years since I posted on this blog. They have been very, very busy years with child wrangling, student wrangling,  camping, curriculum writing, car dieing and buying, and lots of knitting. But I have not a lot of finished products. My knitting, house, finances, and life are totally disorganized. I've read on Facebook where people choose a word instead of making a list of New Year's Resolutions, so my word for 2015 is Organization.

To begin organizing my knitting, I'm going to start by sorting and listing all my WIP. I've also said, uhmm, that this will be the year of completing WIP instead of starting.

So let's begin:

Number 1

On my needles at the moment I am making this gray scarf for M4A This scarf will be a part of a package given to a 16 year old who is 'graduating' out of the orphanage system. At the two children's homes M4A supports, the graduates will receive a hand knit sweater, scarf, hat, mittens, and 2 pairs of socks (thin for wearing in shoes, and thick for wearing around their house). They also receive store bought blankets, alarm clocks and other products that the organizer Nanci purchases during her trip.

Number 2

 This is the Lane Splitter skirt. I am about 4 inches from the decreases. I love the pattern and the yarn I bought at Mary's store in Unionville (I miss Mary's)

Number 3

This is the KnitPicks Chroma in Worsted weight that I had bought to make the Lane Splitter skirt. But I decided the yarn wasn't up to the wear of a skirt, so I decided to knit a hat. I'm thinking the hat may be too small, I'll have to see when I make it back to it.

 Number 4
This is Still Light. I had started it in an alpaca yarn I have, but I found it too scratchy. I have started this yoke 4 times. I keep messing up at the wrap and turn on the purl side and leave a hole. I have a new technique to learn, purl wrap and turn.

Number 5
Socks for M4A. I started these in the summer or early fall. I have one sock done. I meant to send them with the fall shipment of socks to Kazakhstan.

Number 6
This is a cowl in Alla's pattern. I bought this orange Eco Plus at Romni Wools in the spring on a trip with Denis. Denis found the wool and said he really wanted it. I love EcoPlus so I bought it, but orange isn't my colour.





Now to enter all these projects onto Ravelry. Let's see how many projects I find tomorrow.

Till then stay warm and knit.

To Shrug Or Not to Shrug

In January, when I was in my cast on crazy days, I decided to make the Comfy Shoulder Shrug by JoAnne Turcotte. It calls for worsted weight yarn, so I went through my stash to see if I had some worsted.

Instead I found Northern Chunky by S. R. Ketzer in the house and though it was bulky, I thought it could do the job. Nope, the knitting was stiff. The shrug would have been like airplane wings.

So, I looked around the house again and came up with Sandnes Mini Alpakka. This stuff is fingering weight yarn, so again not what I needed, but I tried it doubled and I was able to get gage.

Only now I'm not liking the material. I think I screwed up the cast on because look how it curls.
And in this row I've done something screwy.
I was planning to go back to this when I finished the M4A sweater, now I'm not to sure. Instead I think I'll go and finish Denis vest for school in the fall.

M4A Sweater

 

Today I joined the sleeves to the body of the sweater and tomorrow I will be beginning the yoke. As the sweater HAS to be in the mail to the organizers a month today, I'm on track for finishing in good time.

I'm still loving this pattern. It is neat and easy to follow.

Crochet Instead

I needed a break from the sweater I'm knitting, so I looked on Ravelry and found this pattern. It is called Angel Wing Newborn Pinafore.

It looked cute, easy and the real change I needed from the 3 x 2 ribbed sleeves.

Anyway, I tried the sweater with some cotton I had around the house, but the colours weren't right for a newborn (just too strong). So during March Break I went to Romni and found some Rowan Purelife in the basement. I bought 3 balls but only needed 2. Guess there is another trip to Romni in my future.

So the facts:

Pattern: Angel Wing Newborn Pinafore by Maxine Gonser
Yarn: 2 balls of Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton DK in Cholorophyll
Hook: H / 5.00mm
Started: March 13th, 2012

Finished: March 27th, 2o12

I actually finished crocheting the pinafore about a day or two after starting, but it took me until yesterday to weave in all my ends and sew on the buttons.

I've already gifted the pinafore to my secretary who has a new granddaughter. One day I hope to have a photo of the little one wearing it.

I just love the buttons. I picked them up at Mary's Yarns. I love any excuse to go up there and enjoy an hour or so with all that lovely yarn.

Brown Blues

Who knew trying to buy brown wool would be so difficult!

I went to my favourite yarn store to buy Cascade 220 Superwash for the sweater for the M4A Grad. I need about 5 balls at least, 6 by to be on the safe side. Unfortunately, LYS only had 4 balls.

I called another store I've never been too, but was willing to drive up to it. They had the right colour, but only 3 balls. I recorded the dye lot to see if it was the same as my favourite LYS. No such luck.

I talked about the difficulty during knit night and learned about Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool. So today after work I picked up 3 balls of Brown Heather. Looks really nice and feels wonderful.

I'm working on the gauge. But wouldn't you know it, I can't find a 4.5 mm needle. I'm sure I've multiples of that size around but I can't put my hand on them. Okay, I tell a fib, I actually have a 16 inch, but I need a bigger one to knit the sleeves in the round.

Velynda by Chic Knits

The other project I'm going to knit in Cascade 220 is Velynda by Chic Knits. I bought the pattern at Mary's Yarn in the late fall. I love the gentle shaping of the sweater.

I knew I was going to use Cascade 220 that was the reason I chose the pattern as it would work with Cascade 220. I couldn't decide which colourway to use. At one point I was on the porch of the store with about 6 different skeins trying to see them in the natural light. In the end I chose colour 9454, Rainier Heather.

I will be knitting a gauge square later today. I won't be knitting this sweater up until I finish the M4A sweater, but I am looking forward to knitting this one.

Mittens for Akkol Sweater

Last week, while on holiday, I learned about the Mittens for Akkol project. I can't believe that I never learned about this group during my years of waiting to travel to adopt my son.

As I was reading, a flurry of posts came up about the Grad colours had been posted. I investigated and learned the group knits gifts for the 'students/orphans' who graduate this coming spring. Nanci, the coordinator just returned from Akkol, Kazakhstan where she meets the grads to be, measures the students and elicits their colour choices. Each grad received a sweater, hat, mitts, scarf, thin pair of socks, and thick pair of socks. Reading about this project moved me to tears.

Many of the children in the orphanages in Kazakhstan are not orphans in the sense of parent-lessness. They live in the orphanage, or Regional Boarding School as the 4 year old to 16 year old homes are often called, but are still connected to family in some limited way. Because of this connection they are never eligible for adoption. In addition, many children come into care above the age of 4 and few families chose to adopt older children (me included). And other children, though eligible to be adopted never do get adopted and live their entire lives in the orphanage system. Whatever the reason they are in care, or however they came to be in the Regional Boarding School, it is definite they will not be leaving to a healthy, happy family with lots of cash to spend on their needs. Many leave to fend for themselves. The idea of these students leaving with a bundle of garments hand knit personally for them is a precious thing.

As I've been wanting to do something to support the children still living in the orphanages in Kaz, and that I love to knit, this is the perfect project for me.

Now I don't have a lot of time, but this is something that seems so very important to me, so I've chosen to knit a sweater for a boy. He chose browns, both light and dark, and dark gray as his colours. I've been checking out Ravelry for a pattern and finally tonight I settle on Todd Gocken's Brigade. I love it's streamlined look with the 3 X 2 ribbing up the sleeves, and I really like the offset zipper on the neck. The sweater reminds me of the style of clothes I saw on the young men in Kazakhstan.

The sweater is knit in Cascade 220. I'll do it in the Superwash version in the Chocolate colour as it will work great with his colour choices. I have some Cascade 220 for another project, so I can do my gauge, I believe both sweaters have the same gauge. I'll be out to buy the wool later this week.

I believe the finished sweater has to be sent out in early May, so I'll have to get started and finished quickly. My goal is to have most of the sweater finished by the end of March Break.