Projects of the Week

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would get a jump on my project of the week post this week. This week, I am trying to keep busy with knitting hats for children in India. I posted pictures of the hats I knit up over the summer here. Hats are an easy projects that are easy and quick to knit up, which is part of why I love knitting them up.

I have plenty of yarn that I am working on knitting up into hats. I do not know when they will be sent over to be distributed to the children, which means I have some time to work on knitting as many as I can up, so that more heads will be kept warm. It is also fun to be able to work with so many different colors, and be able to look at something different every couple of days. Most of the hats I am knitting are Child and Teen size hats.

Ok, a bit off topic, but I have two skeins of Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool, that I want to use for a personal project, but want to do something besides Hats and Scarves. I would love to have input, so if there is something you would like to see me make with it, head on over to my Facebook Page, and leave me a comment on the post. Thanks All.

Project of the Week

Hi Everyone!

This week I have been busy working on getting a Christmas gift finished up for a friend of mine. I have been wanting to get the entire gift (which has two parts to it) done before I head out of town for my cousin’s wedding in two weeks. Why is it such a big deal to have this done by early October, it is in part because I would like to take what is left of the one pound skein of yarn with me on the trip, rather than several smaller skeins and little balls. I am trying to think about packing as light as possible.

Like I have mentioned in a previous post, I have a bunch of partial skeins of yarn, and small balls of yarn that I am looking forward to using to make hats for children in India. I have set a goal for myself that I would like to complete before there is a request for hats again, and I am challenging myself to reach it. I have been trying to keep myself busy, beings that I have been without a consistant job for the duration of the past 3.5 years. Knitting to help children in need has become my job.

Working on my 16th Sweater

Hey Everyone!

This week’s Project of the Week is a size 2 sweater using Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Bon Bon Print, while also using two rows of Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Shocking Pink.

I started this project on Friday, after I completed the Size 6 sweater (blog post is here). As of writing this post I have finished the sleeves on the front, and will be starting the sleeves on the back here shortly.

I know that I used Shocking Pink and Bon Bon Print in the most recent size 10 sweater I knit up back in July. I am using some of what I had left (3 full skeins of bon bon print and a partial skein of shocking pink) for this sweater, and the rest I am planning on using for hats.

This sweater will easily be done by the end of the week, which will be nice, and then I can move on to other projects I have going, and would like to get done before the end of the year.

Stay tuned for the Completed Project Post which will be coming to you in a few days 🙂

Project of the Week: August 21st, 2013

It’s Wednesday! which means it is time for another Project of the Week Post!

This week, I am still working on the size six sweater, using Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Fall, that I wrote about last week.

Now that VBS is over, and I have had the chance to get some rest, I have more time and energy to put into working on my sweater so far this week. I have spent a good share of this week working on the front sleeves. As a spur of the moment decision while working on the front sleeves, I have decided to add a couple rows of Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Coffee, so that the front is a little different from the back. I am also hoping to get the front completed today, but we will see about that, and what time I get back from having dinner with some of my extended family, since two of my Dad’s cousin’s are visiting from California.

I have also been reading some other knitting blogs, I knew there was What I Ate Wednesday. When I started this series, I picked Wednesday arbitrarily, but as it turns out that it was a good choice, since it seems that Wednesday is also Work in Progress Wednesday for other crafters, so this series fits right in.

Project of the Week: August 14th, 2013

It is Wednesday yet again, which means, another project of the week Post!

This week’s project of the week is a size 6 sweater, using all Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Fall. I love this color combination of yarn. It really does make me think of fall, which I am really looking forward to being back. The only thing I don’t like about this specific yarn is that it is a bit rougher and not as soft as some of it can be.

I went with this yarn, because I wanted something not as bright to work on beings that the last several of my sweaters have been brighter, and I was ready for something darker, and easier on the eyes. I picked the Fall skeins because I am so ready for fall to be here, and have the cooler weather that comes with fall.

This sweater that I am working on is the 15th sweater of the year. It is interesting to see how I have been knitting up more sweaters each year, over the last several years.

Project of the Week: August 7th, 2013

This Week’s Project of the week is a Child Size hat that I have knit up using what I had left of a Caron One Pound Skein in Sunflower, a Caron One Pound Skein in Permission, and what was left of a skein of Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Aruba Sea.

As I write this post, I am in the process of getting the ends sewn in, so that I can sew it up.

The child size hats knit up really quick, and they are perfect for using up balls left over from sweaters and other projects. It has also been nice to have something smaller than a sweater to work on, beings that I have been working on so many sweaters lately.

While finishing up this project I have been listening to the music for this year’s VBS at church, getting my fill of country music. VBS starts on Monday morning, so between now and then I will find another project to get going, or keep working on so that I have something going during a busy week.

Project of the Week: July 31st, 2013

Hi Everyone!

This week’s Project of the Week is a size 8 sweater for World Vision’s Knit for Kids Project. For this sweater I am using a skein of Caron One Pound yarn in Sunflower and a bit of Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Shocking Pink in the front sleeves.

I really like the texture of the Caron One Pound skeins of yarn, they are thicker and softer than the Red Heart yarn, yet cost more, at the store where I typically buy my yarn. As for the Red Heart yarn I am using, I love the color, but it is a thinner rougher skein of yarn. I know I mentioned last week that it is hit and miss with the texture of Red Heart yarn, and this skein is a “miss”.

Today has been overcast pretty much all day. It feels more like Mid – September than the end of July. But that is fine by me, I prefer the cooler weather with overcast skies. It makes for  better knitting weather.

Beings as I got the front sleeves started yesterday, I have been working on the sleeves today, and I am working toward getting the done today, we’ll see how I do on accomplishing that, as I would like to have this project done this week.

I have also been thinking about projects for the near future and what yarn I want to use for what sizes. I am thinking about once I get this sweater done making a size 6 sweater, so that I will finally made at least 10 of each size.

Those of you who have “liked” my Facebook Page, and have been following my blog for any length of time, will have figured out, is that I have been making a lot more of the bigger sizes because I had knit up a ton, well not a ton, but primarily a bunch of size 4 sweaters tailed by size 2 sweaters, and I have been working on getting an equal amount of each size knit up, so that there is not this huge disparity between how many of the smaller sizes I have knit up and how many of the bigger sizes I have knit up. Honestly if I were to have another disparity between the sizes, I would prefer it to be that I had way more size 8’s and size 10’s than size 2’s and size 4’s. The smaller sizes are fun because they knit up quickly, and use less yarn, which is why I had made so many of them in the beginning, but as I have gotten older, it has dawned on me that there are older and bigger kids, that really need sweaters too. I also wonder how many people do knit up primarily the smaller sizes because they are quick, easy and cute.

I also took a little time to update the pictures of the sweaters from 2011 and 2012 on my Facebook page, so they are labelled with the size and the date they were completed.

That’s all for this week’s, Project of the Week update. Thanks for reading my Posts, and if you haven’t “Liked” my Facebook page, and you have a Facebook account, I’d greatly appreciate getting more likes on my page. Thanks!

Project of the Week: July 24th 2013

Hi Everyone!

Today on Project of the Week the project I am working on is a Child Size Hat for a child in India.

Back in 2007, a group of ladies from the church I go to began knitting hats for those in India who had heard the message that my church preaches, and were in the process of becoming a part of our church, and setting up a branch in the area they were in (and all that entails with their own government, and then meeting the requirements set by the church in order to be affiliated with said church). Since that first shipment of hats, there has been at least two more shipments of hats made, one of which I was involved with making hats for. Since the last shipment was made around Thanksgiving time here in the States (late November), I have made some hats in between making sweaters, with yarn left over from the sweater or that I have had in my basket of yarn for hats that I have stuck yarn that is not enough to make a sweater out of, or is not the right weight of yarn for a sweater, so that I can get it used up into something productive to help a child in need. Since the last shipment of hats, I have just been putting the hats that I have knit up aside, and saving them for the next time there is a request/need for hats in India. I do not know when that will be, but I want to have as many as I possibly can knit up and ready to go, so that I can help keep more heads warm, and help meet a goal for hats if there is one.

This morning I finished up a child size hat, using Red Heart Yarn in Shocking Pink and Bon Bon Print, and the rest of the day I have spend knitting one up using what is left of the second skein of Caron One Pound yarn in Permission, and I will be putting Red Heart yarn in Aruba Sea and Real Teal with it for the second hat I have been working on today. The Permission, Aruba Sea and Real Teal I am using for my hat, are all balls that were left over from sweaters.

What I like about Red Heart yarn:

• Great Variety of Colors
• 100% Acrylic – it is sturdy and holds up well for knitting projects for kids
• Its made in the USA
• It is affordable, which is awesome
• I have not had much of a problem with the fibers splitting on me
• Even though it is acrylic, it knits up to be a warm garment, which is important
• Consistent colors, can buy yarn at two different points in time, months or even years apart and they match.

What I don’t like about Red Heart yarn:

• It is hit and miss for getting a “soft” skein of yarn

What I like about Caron One Pound skeins of yarn:

• Made in the USA
• Thicker and Soft
• Doesn’t split very easy
• 100% Acrylic so it is durable
• The fact that you do get 16 onces in one skein, so depending on what kind of project I am working on, I would be able to make an entire larger project out of one skein of yarn

What I don’t Like about Caron One Pound skeins of yarn

• Limited Color Selection
• Not as affordable as buying the solid colors of Red Heart, where I normally buy my yarn I can get three skeins of the seven ounce solid Red Heart Yarn for the same price as a one pound skein of this yarn.

Project of the Week Series

Hi Everyone!

It may just be me, but some of my posts seem a bit random, and all over the place. Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, but I am aiming toward getting some flow and continuity to my blog.

As of today, I am going to be starting a series of weekly blog posts, that I am aiming to publish each Wednesday, entitled “Project of the Week” where I talk about the project I have spent that particular Wednesday working on.

I am starting this series in part, because there are days when I want to write a post, but don’t know what exactly I should write about. This way I will have at least one post a week about something that I am working on, to keep you, my readers in the loop about what is going on behind the screen.

In each blog post, you can expect for me to talk about what project I am working on, the size I am making, the yarn I am using, what I like/don’t like about the yarn I am working with, and anything else that comes to mind that I want to mention about the project.

Stay Tuned for this week’s Project of the Week, which I will be writing here in a bit!