Warming Feet

My son loves hand knitted wool socks. Everyone in my family does, but my boy especially loves them and wears them constantly in winter. Luckily, my LYS always has oddballs of sturdy, self-patterning sock yarns like Regia in its sale bin, so for about 5 bucks and one week's worth of effort, I can whip up a pair of warm socks for my favorite 6 year old. These socks see some really hard wear; my son has been known to wear them outside on the driveway, and keeps the same three or four in constant rotation, and they have yet to wear out. There's nary a hole in socks that are on their third winter.

This year, though, my mind is on other children, the street children of Nepal. I'm still really stuck on that image of homeless children wearing flip flops in the winter. In our comfortable western world, the closest we get to this experience walking to the car after a pedicure in January. My son will surely get his socks, but he'll have to wait. He has a drawer full, sometimes to overflowing, of hand knit and commercially made socks. He has sturdy shoes and footie pajamas, a warm bed and a full belly every night. So right now, I'm making socks for kids in Nepal. I made these two pairs, and started a third this week.


If you are knitting socks for the kids in Nepal, please consider the following:

• use the sturdiest yarn you have. I used Regia and Lang Jawoll (I even knit the heels and toes using that cute spool of reinforcement thread that comes with the Jawoll), but Opal, Trekking XXL, Lion Brand Sock Ease or Patons Kroy would also be good choices, and I'm sure I'm forgetting others in this wool/nylon blend category. Assume that these socks will see constant, hard wear, will rarely be rotated, and almost never washed.
  
• Knit at a tight gauge to ensure sturdiness. I knit my socks at 8 spi. You could also knit a bigger yarn at a tighter gauge. If you have some really sturdy wooly worsted, for example, you could knit it at 6spi and get a really firm pair of socks.
• One 50g ball of yarn was enough for a pair of child's socks, but just enough for adequate cuffs (about 5"). Make the cuffs as long as possible. I happen to have several 50g oddballs saved up for my boy's socks, but if I had more yardage, I'd make the cuffs longer. This is a great time for you to stash-bust your balls of leftover yarns and make your own stripey or wild-self patterning socks.
  
• I used used my Ann Budd's Knitters Handy Book of Patterns as my guide for stitch count and lengths, but there is any number of generic sock patterns out there for children. Skip the lacy patterns, and crank out simple stockinette or ribbed socks. This is why the self-patterning yarns are ideal.

Thanks so much for your enthusiasm for this project, and whatever you knit, whether it is socks, a hat, mittens or anything else will be appreciated.

Project Nepal

I know I have been absent from blog-land lately, and I am not even certain if Ann, Mo, and I have any readers out there anymore. But I am returning with a request for help, and a call to action.

Knitters are generous people, I know. We knit chemo caps for people with cancer, blankets for animal shelters, and prayer shawls for the grieving. We knit for soldiers and veterans, foster children and homeless children. Our sturdy, warm handknits get shipped to all corners of the world where people are cold: Afghanistan, Mongolia, Botswana.

from the ROKPA website

While I hate to take away from any of these other worthy recipients of our generosity, it has been brought to my attention, knitters, that people are also cold in Nepal. I recently received an e-mail from a friend who is involved with an organization called ROKPA which provides services to the homeless and impoverished in Nepal. He shared with me that "many of the homeless people (or even about half) are children who live on the streets or in shanties. During the winter months they are subject to very cold weather and are happy to have something to put on their heads, hands, feet, necks, bodies. The kids need everything from socks (they walk around in flip flops) to wooly hats."

Did you catch that? Homeless kids in Nepal wear flip flops in the winter.

Knitters, I am asking you to contribute something warm and wooly to kids in Nepal this winter. Here are the guidelines if you want to participate:

1. Warm, insulating natural fibers only. Knit for durability, warmth, and of course, beauty.
2. Knit items for kids between the ages of 4-10, whatever size that means to you.
3. The deadline is January 25th.
4. Contact me at lizjosh1ATverizonDOTnet for mailing information.

I am serving as the collection point for this project, and would love to stuff Chris's luggage with socks, hats, scarves, sweaters, shawls, and mittens for the people of Nepal. I know your needles are busy, but if you could spare some time, some stash, and some love for this project, I would so appreciate it. Also, feel free to link on your blog or your favorite corner of Ravelry to help get the word out. I'll be posting here a little more frequently with ideas and patterns, and hopefully, to share photos of whatever knits I receive.

The quick knit that wasn't

Here's my "I need a quick win" knit that ended up requiring an email to the designer in Germany, grilling my favorite knit shop owner for advice during her son's baseball game, too much time on the calucaltor, etc. You understand, right?

I found this cute free pattern on Knotions and purchased some beautiful Pebbles Classic Elite yarn hoping to whip out an easy summer top for Isabel.

Many things got in the way of making this a quick win, mostly trying to get a gauge somewhere close to the pattern.

The final product is super cute, but it is out of season and probably won't fit her past the new year. And, I'm NOT knitting this again. Moving on ...

Congratulations Jared!

The extremely talented Jared Flood is publishing a collection of handknit designs to be released next week. I am so excited about these patterns! Click here for previews and Jared's post. I see more than a few items that will be on my queue!

A Victory Lap For The Drive-Thru

This Drive-Thru was a Tour de France knit. All our evenings for the past three weeks were spent cheering on the boys in the peloton but especially Thor Hushovd from Norway. His remarkable sprints and gritty determination in the mountains won him the honor of the Maillot Vert. Congratulations Thor!


The second time around, this sweater was even faster and easier. The yarn is once again Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, knit on US 6s and 7s. If I were to knit it again, I would CO more stitches for the cuffs of the sleeves - they seemed a bit snug on both of the girls.


R doesn't seem to like a tight color, so this sweater is a bit looser at the top than I would like. But she loves it. She is actually wearing it inside in the AC today because she doesn't want to take it off. True sweater love!


I have truly appreciated your kind words and prayers concerning my mother's cancer diagnosis. We continue to live day by day and to take the difficulties as they come. Thank you so much for your thoughts and good wishes.

Side-Swiped and a Drive-Thru

About two months ago, I found out my mother was sick with a mysterious GI illness. A month ago yesterday, we learned that the mystery illness was in fact Stage IV metastatic pancreatic cancer. Six to eight months. Best case scenario.

BAM! Side-swiped by Cancer. I thought my life could cruise on auto-pilot for a while - at least for the summer - kids, garden, home, friends, food, family. Nope. Seems as though I'm in for a GROWTH OPPORTUNITY. (That's what we optimists call it when life SUCKS.)

Everyday has been different and challenging for my mother, yet she is emerging from this first shocking month courageous and spunky. We're slowly finding a rhythm as my brothers and father and I put together the puzzle pieces of caregiving.

I initially thought that caregiving would mean lots of knitting by my mother's bedside - not so bad, right? But it turns out, it's much more frenetic: running errands, organizing medications, scheduling doctor's appointments, gardening, cleaning, and cooking. Except for the hours spent in hospital waiting rooms, there hasn't been much knitting time.


Luckily, I had the best project in the world for this situation*. The Drive-Thru sweater by Wendy Bernard. This child's yoke sweater is knit in the round with worsted-weight yarn. It is seamless and quick. So quick that I knit it in less than a month - and remember, I am a slow, slow knitter. A knitter who cannot at this moment dedicate any part of her brain to charting, modifying patterns, or stitch counting. The shaping is pure Elizabeth Zimmerman so you know that it is tear-free and fun.



I used Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed. Sigh. A heavenly yarn. I chose an expensive yarn that would provide some tactile delight and luxury - my mother would sometimes just stroke it while I knit.



I started a second Drive-Thru for my other daughter, mixing the colors around. Because I'll need it for the next few weeks. And then after that, maybe one for myself ... one day at a time, one stitch at a time.

*Socks would work as well but my daughter really needed a sweater.

Two Months Of Update!

Having resolved to Knit Less in 2009 (and blog a lot less -- hello, two months since my last post), most of my knitting projects are short on ambition, but long on satisfaction.  Since my last big project, I made a lot of simple, little projects, all of them gifts, almost all of them from stash.  

Here's the first: one simple yet stinkin' cute sweater for the daughter of my dear friends Andrea and Tanya whom we visited in May in Providence.

This sweater took less than a week to make. A yoked sweater knit in the round in a rich red color, it's all about the simple. But those owls have such an impact! They are adorable without being ducky-bunny twee. It makes a unique statement in a world of boring baby sweaters. The biggest challenge by far was the buttons. Joann's did not have 30 matching buttons, and being a lazy, impatient sort, I did not want to wait for a new shipment, look online, or go to yet another store. The simplest solution, one inspired by Kristy, was to go with different colored eyes, so I simply gave one owl dark blue eyes, while the rest are light blue. It is a quirky, individual design element, which is the Whole Point of Handmade Items, no?

I used one of my very favorite baby yarns, Mission Falls 1824 Wool (machine wash & dry! awesome rich colors! 50% off at my LYS!), and used only 3 skeins despite its total crap yardage. Baby Sami, 6 months old, is growing like gangbusters, so I made her about a one year size so she can be warm and owly this winter in New England.

The next sweater was an impulse knit, for my lovely and adorable baby niece, Lila. She has already received and promptly grown out of her first Aunt Lizzie knit, so it was time for another. Some stashed Cotton-Ease and leftover Katia Jamaica combined into yet another Baby Surprise Jacket, this one about a one-year size as well. San Diego babies need sweaters all year round, so I don't really need to worry about the size, and this jacket just makes me happy to look at. I wasn't a confident or experienced knitter when my daughter was a baby, so I have a feeling that Lila will be the recipient of much knitted cuteness from me.

Remember that meme on Facebook, where you agree to make something for 5 people, and they agree to make the same offer?  Here's the knitted stuff I made for some of my FB friends.

L to R:  Fetching Mitts, Green Thumb Mitts, Crocheted Market Bag

But the crazy has snuck back into the crafty life, with my entire creative time being eaten by the Queen Sized Ripple Blanket of Crochet Insanity.  

I love it.  I lovelovelovelovelovelovelove it.  But it is going to be So.  Big.

I'm using Tahki Cotton Classic and an F hook, and it takes almost 45 minutes to complete one color stripe.  I made a tragic error by making it just a little too wide so that one ripple uses about 28 grams of yarn, leaving me about 3 grams short of a second complete ripple.  And much of the yarn I am using is discontinued TCC colorways bought as Webs grab bags over the years, so there is no supplementing with additional skeins for a lot of the colors.  Which means lots of leftovers.  Gah!  

After a great deal of individual attention, it looks like I'm almost halfway done.  But it's getting big enough to be unwieldy, and it requires too much yarn to take on vacation, so I will be putting down the hook periodically and getting back to the pointy needles as I spend most of the rest of the summer on the road:  Baltimore, Vermont, the Chesapeake, and many, many days down the shore.