I'm On A Roll

Another finished object ... yippee!! I finished up the toddler sweater today and am so happy that it is done. I think I will send it to the Dulaan Project when I have a few more things made for them. I would like to make a hat to go with the sweater, but first I need to finish off some other projects.

And I get my sewing machine back today. Apparently I did something to the hook so it needed to be replaced to the tune of $100 - ouch! And I had it serviced so that was a few more $$ spent on that. I probably won't be buying any more crafting stuff for a while since I had to spend so much on the sewing machine. Though if you saw my sewing room you would wonder what on earth I would need to buy since I pretty much have at least one of everything (that is what DH would say but we all know the truth - ha, ha).

I am going to work on that Psychedelic Square Afghan that I started months ago in baby colours. All the squares need to be sewn together, ends woven in, and then some kind of border added. I am thinking a simple garter stitch border so that I can call it done. I will not start anything new, I will not start anything new, I will not start anything new!!!!

The Dulaan Project

There seems to be a lot of chatter about The Dulaan Project on blogs. I love this charity and thought I would summarize what it is about here. You can click on the link to the left if you want to read more or go to Mossy Cottage Knits to read her blog about the project.

Basically, you can send any warm knit item for children ages 2 to 10 (they do take adult and teen size items as well) in any type of yarn (wool, acrylic, blends). I really like this because it leaves it wide open for anyone to make items out of any yarn, in any size, and in any pattern. These items will be collected until July 1st, 2007 and then shipped to Mongolia for use during the winter (which can get down to -40F ... yikes). They also really like double sided fleece blankets. You know the ones that you cut the fringe on the edges of two pieces of fleece and tie the fringe together.

In Mongolia, children are not allowed to go to school during the winter unless they are dressed warmly and for most this is impossible on their own. Knitting a hat, scarf, mitts, sweater, or vest will help them greatly!

There is a wonderful page with many different types of patterns that would be acceptable to make for this project. Or you can go to Knitting Pattern Central and find tons and tons of patterns sorted by type.

I made this Tutti Frutti Hat for Afghans for Afghans project and hope to make a few more for the Dulaan project. It is so easy with no decreasing, just knit a rectangle, fold in half and sew up the sides. You could use any type of knitting design/colours you wanted. I also love this pattern for Mock Earflap Hat in sizes for baby, toddler, child and adult.

I hope you will join me in making even one item for a child in Mongolia. That would be one child that would be warmed by your love and generosity!

Preschooler Sweater

I thought I would post a picture of the wool sweater I am working on. I started this way back in March and have just now started to continue working on it. I am using a P2 Design pattern called Lonestar. It is supposed to be a 6 month size sweater but I am using worsted weight yarn and size 4.5mm needles so it is working up into around a size 4. I bought the yarn from Elann. They have such an awesome selection of yarns at very good prices. And they always ship really fast!

I am off to a crafting for charity group tonight. This is the first time we are meeting since the spring so I am looking forward to be getting together with other like minded women. I always come home jazzed and ready to do more charity work! Have a great weekend everyone.

I finished the baby dress yesterday. I am really happy with how it turned out and will be making a bonnet to go with it. Then, I am sending it to HAIN Western Region to be donated to a hospital. I pray that it will be a blessing to a family in need.

First before I start the bonnet I need to finish the wool sweater that I started months and months ago. I need to pick up stitches around the second sleeve and do the finishing work around the neckline. I will post a picture later of what it looks like.

Quilts Donated

A BIG thanks to all the women who helped make 12 quilts to be donated to a local ECEAP preschool program. Let's all keep up the great work and make even more for next year!

Working On Projects

We are back from a beautiful weekend at the beach! I am energized for another week and hopefully will get more charity crafting done. The kids are settling into their routine and I am getting back into it as well.

I decided to clean off some of my counter in my sewing room. It was getting sooo crowded with "stuff" that I couldn't find enough room to cut fabric for quilting kits that I am making. We start our first quilty get together on Friday evening so I needed to make up some more kits. While cleaning up I found some knitting projects that I hadn't worked on in a long time (and some quilty ones too).

This hat I started last fall and just never got around to finishing it. I finished it up in a day and now I have a new hat to wear while waiting for kids to get on and off the bus. I used Sirdar's WOW yarn which is thick and chenille like. Worked up fast in seed stitch.

Then I found this white infant dress that I was making. I had run out of yarn but couldn't seem to get back into it after I received more to finish it off. I am using Sirdar's Snuggly 4 Ply for this and plan to make a bonnet to go with.

There were a few other projects hiding in there that are almost complete. What's up with that? I have such a hard time finishing anything. Seems like I get down to the last sleeve of a sweater, or the last finishing of a dress and I can't work on it .... I am bound and determined to finish up some of this stuff! And I'm not going to even go into all the quilty projects I found (maybe another day).

It's Been A While

Sorry for not posting in the last week. It has been crazy (as most of you with kids can probably attest to). I haven't done hardly any crafting projects so there's not much to write about.

I did finish another dishcloth and gave it to my Mom to try out. She hasn't used a knitted dishcloth before so she is in for a treat! The pattern came from a Yahoo group called MonthlyDishclothes She has two KALs (knit a longs) per month where she posts 6 to 8 rows each day over about 7 days. And the fun part is you don't know what it will look like until you are done. You can see the latest one on the website. It is a maple leaf though you can't really see the pattern from the picture I took.

We are going camping again this weekend so I will have some time to work on a project or two. Hopefully it will be an uneventful weekend (I will make sure the water pump is turned off).

What an Adventure ...

No one said that having a trailer would become such an adventure! But first, charity stuff. While we were away I managed to knit two hats. A preemie heart hat and a lacey newborn hat.

I am not very happy with the way the heart hat turned out. My choice of yarn colour wasn't very good ... needed more contrast. And the pattern is written different than the sample shows. Changing both the colour and the pattern would have made it turn out much better.

I love the lacey hat. This is the second time I have made it and it turns out so girlie!

Camping Adventure ... It started off on Friday. We had picked up the trailer on Thursday afternoon and Friday evening my DH comes inside the house and tells me that one of the tires on the trailer is flat. Yuck!! He found the jack and got it off. Thankfully it happened while we were at home and not on the road in the middle of nowhere. Saturday morning he took it to the tire store and had it fixed. Turns out I had run over a shiny new screw (I drove the trailer home from the RV store).

And we're off ... sort of! About 45 minutes after we left the house I looked out the side mirror at the trailer and I see water pouring out of the corner of it ... yup ... water. Not just a little trickle but quite a bit of water. Tell DH and he pulls off on the next exit. Get out and water is pouring out of the bottom of the trailer! What in the world happened ... turns out we left the water pump on (RV store forgot to mention that we should turn it off) and a hose that connected the water tank to the water filter came disconnected so the pump was continuously pumping water onto the floor of the trailer. Probably 15 to 20 gallons of water. Thankfully (again God is good) the entire long weekend was hot and it is still hot here so I am sure it will be completely dried out. What a mess! And what an adventure. We had fun once we got to the campground and I managed to get some knitting done too.