Knitting for charity

I have been following Kyla Quinlan's knitting nuggets, knitting for charity. Recently she posted the seven most requested items for charity knitters. There were a few surprises; not only of what was listed but also of what wasn't! Here is the list:

No.7: Pet items.
No.6: Socks.
No.5: Mittens.
No.4: Afghan squares.
No.3: Afghans and blankets.
No.2: Preemie and baby items.
No.1: Hats.

I was surprised that pet items were listed until someone reminded me that the Humane Society and animal shelters need them. I thought scarves would be listed in the top seven, my students love to make them and they are a wonderful first project. Now, however I will encourage them to make small blankets to donate to animal shelters and the Humane Society instead.

Socks

I have become obsessed with knitting socks. It all started when a friend asked for help with the pair she was knitting in the second week of January. I went home, dug out some yarn I had ordered and started a pair that night. Since then, I have knitted five pairs. This is a lot of heavy duty knitting. I will post pictures later in the week as I need new batteries for my camera. I have enough yarn for two more pair before I have to go shopping.

I also knitted a cardigan sweater. It is a Coats and Clark pattern called "Country Swing, City Swing" and was featured in the April 2009 issue of Knit 'n Style. I used Cascade 220 Chocolate Tweed and am really pleased with it.

I read "A Dangerous Lady" by Jane Stanton Hitchcock and really liked it. It is a murder mystery but has several unexpected twists and turns. Also read "Past Perfect" by Susan Isaacs and thought it was wonderful too.

Obviously, it's been a long, cold winter here!

More Morris books

I have been reading the House of Windsor series by Gilbert Morris and really enjoy it. I finished book four "The Gentle Rebel" and liked it although it's a little hard to believe that a girl could have passed as a man for that long. Although the same premise was in "Ahab's Wife". I guess they didn't develop hips and breasts as early as some of us. Anyway it is a very good book.

I am also reading Marian Coel's "Drowning Man" and really like it. She has a very good mystery series that takes place on the Arapahoe Indian Reservation.

My knitting is coming along. When I am working on a large item like this afghan, it seems that every evening runs into the previous one, I know that I am accomplishing a lot and eventually it will be finished but only after a long, long time!! Maybe I'll work on my socks for awhile tonight to break the monotony.

Lots of bazaars are on this weekend. I think I'm going to several to price the knitted items.

Too many knitting projects

I have been sorting through some of my in progress knitting projects and began working on a couple. One is a pair of lacy socks that take a lot of attention and the other one is an afghan pattern that I've made before so I have an easy project when the socks become too complicated and I want a break.

I am determined to finish all of the projects but some sooner than others! One of the projects that took precedence was the prayer shawls as I wanted to have several for a backlog. Also, I was trying to get some items ready for the Christmas bazaar however we aren't going to have a table until next year which was very disappointing. Hopefully, by next year I will have a nice little inventory--if I don't start too many fun projects.

One of the drawbacks of having several knitting projects in progress is remembering where I left off in the pattern and also the intricate details of each pattern. Using a Post-it for a line marker on a chart helps me keep my place and I write notes about the size on it.