Knitting is more than just a hobby.

Hello my fellow knitters, and anyone else who finds knitting blogs interesting!

Where to begin. That is a task in and of itself. I am currently working on an 8 strand cable scarf (pictured below), and a size 10 sweater for World Vision Knit for Kids sweater. For not having a lot of time to knit, my sweater is knitting up super quick. I have about 3 more inches to go in the body before I do the front sleeves. It is crazy how quick this sweater is knitting up for me, with working full time, and of late full time and then some.

I spent the last hour or so working on updating my knitting spreadsheets that I have going on my computer. I added the columns and formulas I needed for this year. I also did columns and formulas for 2016 – 2020. Beings that it is now almost May, and i had yet to make the columns up for this year, I decided that I might as well just do it through 2020 and be done with that for the next six years.

Knitting is totally my creative outlet. It more than makes up for the mundaneness and lack of creativity I have in my day job.

I have been spending a lot of time this past week watching YouTube videos about knitting, and looking up patterns, as I want to get better, and be able to knit more complex patterns. I tried knitting socks once and gave up while trying to turn the heel. I want to give it another try, and really try this time.

I also have a couple skeins of lace weight yarn in my stash to make another leaf lace wrap/scarf for myself. Now that I have the baby blankets for my cousin and his wife done (I just need to get them shipped), I will have more time to work on projects that I want to work on. I know I have talked about it in the past, about having a personal project and a charity project in the works at the same time, and that is the case 95% of the time. I rarely only have one project in the works these days.

Beings that I have a size 10 sweater in the works, it is nice to have a smaller project to work on, when I only have a few minutes to knit, before I start work, or I don’t feel like working on as big of a project when I am tired after working 10 hours. I would love to be able to get paid to spend time working on projects, blogging about them, as well as craft store adventures and hauls.

Over the next few months, as I get some of my own stashed yarns knit into fantastic projects, and as next fall gets closer I am going to get out more, and go track down the locally owned craft stores here in Portland, and buy some yarn from them and write reviews on the shops, and the yarn for you guys. If my goal to be a better knitting blogger is going to ever come to fruition, I am going to start having to do the work myself. I can’t afford to jump in to it full time, and just make it my career, but I am starting somewhere here and now. I am making this goal happen.

For those of you who read and follow me for my charity knitting projects, rest assured that those are going nowhere fast, and will continue to be an integral part of my blog, and pictures and so on and so forth. I am just wanting to increase my skills and create so much more in the way of fall and winter accessories that are not only cute, but very practical.

Infant Hats and Christmas Gifts

In between working on the Christmas gifts that I am working on, that are a bit more complex, and require more attention I have also had some infant hats going at the same time. I have plenty of baby yarn left over from other projects that I am wanting to get used up for a good cause, so I have been using the balls I have sitting over here for infant hats. I currently have 10 infant hats complete. I am looking into charities that get the hats to hospitals and birthing centers in the high poverty areas here in the US. One that I know of – Bundles of Joy, is a group that donates their time and hats to infants born in the Pine Ridge Reservation OB Ward. The reservation is located in South Dakota.

The fact that there are areas within the US where unemployment is over 75%, and whole communities live without electricity, indoor plumbing, sewage systems, and telephones. Seeing infants born into this system where the infant mortality rate is around 5 times the national average is heart breaking. That is why I like using the talent I have been given, in knitting to give back to those who are much less fortunate than I am.

Some may ask, why I do it, when these infants will grow up and are roughly 4 times more likely to commit suicide as a teenager, or join a gang, and if they grow into adulthood 3/4 if not more of them will be unemployed for their entire adult lives, and be alcoholics, and if the alcohol doesn’t get them, another health condition related to the alcohol or poor diet will. While this argument is very valid, My answer is yes, that is all true, but there is also that small fraction of a population that will make a better life for themselves. Do you want to deprive those the opportunity to be able to contribute, or make a difference by letting them die as infants do to not being kept warm? That is why I knit for the infants, and I would love to see each of the infants born into poverty receive a handmade blanket and hat, knowing full well that few of them will be able to rise above the generational poverty.

As for the Christmas gifts I am working on, I am making progress on both the falling leaves wrap and the six strand braided cable scarf. The scarf is knitting up faster than the wrap because it is not as intricate of a pattern, so I am able to work on it while watching YouTube videos, or shows on hulu, or working on other things on the computer. The falling leaves wrap requires more focused concentration, and I can only have music playing while working on it. Both of these will be done before Christmas.

New Year, Many New Possibilities!

Hey Everyone!

It is hard to believe that it is 2014 already! Happy New Year! This year holds many new project opportunities. I am still going to be working on sweaters and hats, but I am also going to be looking for new ways to help children in need!

I am still working on my size ten sweater using Lion Brand Pound of Love Yarn in Lavender. I am determined to get at least 12 sweaters done this year, and having an even number (from the time I started knitting until the end of the year) of each size completed. All I need to obtain that goal is four size 10 sweaters, four size 8 sweaters, and four size 6 sweaters. I know that even though I am working, I can obtain this goal. Beings as last year I completed 17 sweaters and 47 hats, I can get 12 sweaters done.

Being a Constructive Force in a Destructive World

It has been about a month since I completed my last sweater (big deal right?). What a busy month it has been. In that month I knit up a baby blanket for a friend who had just got a 8 week old foster baby. After that I started another sweater, in the mean time I have also had a church event going on, in which I was also helping a friend with what she needed to get done for overseas guests.

This Sweater had seemed to take a while to knit up, purely because of what else I had going on. I like how this sweater turned out in the end. I made this sweater because I had needed to purchase some more Permission to finish up my last sweater, so I had most of the One Pounds skein left, and just decided to make another sweater with it. Upon completing this sweater I have a bit of the Permission left over, which will be just enough to make a hat for a child in need. In the mean time I am moving on to different colors for my next sweater. 

 This sweater meets my quota for what I knew I could get done in a year, even at a slower pace. This is my 12th sweater a year (averaged out to one a month, if this were all I would be able to get done this year). It is hard to believe that I am more than half way to 100 sweaters now. (47 more to get to 100!). It is hard to believe that I have used close to 40.25 pounds of yarn, and nearly 20.25 miles of yarn for the 53 sweaters I have completed thus far. 

Anyone else who knits, crochets, or sew for charity love crafting so much to help those who benefit from whatever project you are involved in, that you can’t imagine what your life would be like if you hadn’t learned how to knit/crochet/sew?