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Hello and thanks for visiting my blog. I have been knitting on and off for 50 years and I recently learned to crochet. I love looking for wool bargains and making them into something useful. I mainly knit for charity. I occasionally knit for myself and family members if I find a really good pattern or if they ask nicely!!

Sunday 26 November 2017

A start, a finish and a big donation...



I received another bag of lovely donations from Hubby's colleague. Pastels predominate because she used to knit for her grandchildren, who are now older and wiser and more into grunge. I can't remember the last time I actually BOUGHT a ball of wool.

The wool is mainly dk which suits me perfectly except for the fact that I am currently trying to blitz my 4ply yarn. Here is a photo of a corner-to-corner baby blanket that I have been knitting for quite a while. I am using blue and white 4ply and loving the stripes. Sorry, they don't show up well in the photo. The only problem is the lack of daylight at this time of year. I have learned the hard way that knitting this blanket in artificial light leads to mistakes. I managed to knit a blue stripe instead of a white one, not once, but twice. I tried to live with it, but couldn't, and had to rip back a couple of inches each time. That is no fun when you are crawling along in the 4ply lane


So, my modus operandi now is to knit the blanket whilst watching the midday news. It distracts me from all the doom and gloom which, in turn, distracts me from the endless 4ply knitting. Then, in the evening, I knit with dk yarn. The photo shows a hat that I was able to knit in a couple of days. It's satisfying to be able to finish something quickly. The blanket looks like taking me the rest of the year. I only manage to knit a few rows per day because I have to concentrate. I don't want any more mistakes! 

Here is another photo of the same hat together with one I finished months ago but never got around to photographing. These will eventually go off to Operation Orphan. I will knit more hats until I have enough to fill a reasonable size box. There is no rush as they tend to dispatch the warm clothing donations during the summer. That way,  they are in situ and ready when winter arrives.



11 comments:

  1. great knits.Tomorrow Iamtaking three crocheted blankets to a local centre that sends them out to Syria.I should have done it a couple of months ago but better late than never!

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  2. Grunge, the world around, eh? My granddaughter shops second hand.

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  3. Lovely things you have been working on.
    Donations of wool are always so useful, prices are rising all the time.

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  4. You are so lovely to knit so many donations. I knit to hand the doom and gloom myslef, well that and nerve wracking football games.

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  5. Some lovely things there Una. I am getting to the end of a long year using up stash yarn and it has been fun but I am yearning to knit something I have chosen myself! We are both suckers for a donation. Jo xxx

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  6. could you share your hat patterns I too would like to make some.

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    1. Hello, Linda. The pink hat came from this pattern http://stitcheryprojects.com/2011/03/21/basic-baby-hat/ which is a really easy pattern.
      The other hat came from a printed pattern, not from the Internet. However, I usually find most of my patterns on the free Ravelry site here https://www.ravelry.com/account/login. It's easy to join and worth a look if you haven't seen it before.

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  7. I'm always amazed at all you accomplish with your knitting! I've done some small versions of that corner-to-corner knit blanket. Well, at least it will get quicker as you get past the middle, right? :) The hat is very cute, nice colors. I think people have learned that when they give yarn to you, you USE it quickly for good purposes, and that's what they want. No wonder you haven't had to buy a skein in so long! It's really wonderful.

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  8. What a cute and colourful little hat next to that blanket! I enjoyed hearing about your knitting strategies. I was knitting a ribbed neckwarmer for Mr. M last week, whilst sitting in a dim room with my dad, and when I got home the ribbing had shifted - twice. No more knitting in dark rooms for me either. Good luck with the blanket. :)

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  9. That's a lovely yarn donation Una it seems ages sine I bought any yarn too and I'm determined not to unless it for a special project, you are very good using up your 4 ply your makes are lovely. I'm afraid I have to double it up I don't have the patience to use it as 4 ply. I know what you mean about mistakes and artificial light I have to be very careful what I work on in the evenings. :) x

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