The kindness of strangers......

I recently joined the Charity Knitting group on Ravelry.  I knit a lot and probably 75% of what I make goes to various charities.  This isn't because I am a saintly, good person. It is just because there is only so much I can make for friends and family before I turn into that crazy lady who everybody wants to avoid at "present time".

I noticed one of the threads on the forum was all about donating yarn.  There are some very generous givers, but most seemed to be thousands of miles away.  In an optimistic moment I put on a request for any UK member who might have yarn to donate.  I'm happy to pay for my wool and love looking for bargains.  But I'm also a keen recycler and love to make something useful from unloved yarn.  Imagine my surprise when I received a quick reply.  

Beverley lives in the UK and is decluttering her yarn collection.  The photo shows what she kindly donated to me.  I love the challenge of using remnants like these. There is some dk yarn....some fairly standard and some really beautiful....especially the orange yarn which is very shiny and has tiny threads of purple in it.  I'm still waiting for inspiration about the best thing I can make with it. 

There is also a lot of 2 ply sock yarn.  I know knitting socks is very popular.  But I must be a rare knitter who hasn't yet caught that bug.  Instead, I am going to knit with 2 balls of yarn together to produce 4 ply items.  I've already knitted a baby hat from a pattern that I really like.  Here's a photo of it:

It weighs about 20g and as I have over 600g of donated yarn that is a lot of hats!

Some of the yarn was in skeins.  To me that implies it is vintage and has probably been seeking a new home for a long time.  When I was a child, my mother always bought her wool like this and I had to sit with my arms outstretched to help her wind it into balls.  I quite enjoyed it (to her surprise) and it probably sparked off my fascination with knitting etc.  It was harder to roll the skeins without a helpful little girl to hold them straight.  But I managed and all the yarn is now safely stored away.

Every last scrap will be used and I will probably send the items to Operation Orphan, Greenfields Africa, and Sibol.

Beverley insisted on paying the postage herself.  So I passed on the kindness.  While putting away the yarn, I came across 4 skeins of what I can only call "shawl wool". That doesn't do it justice.  It is a good quality 4 ply yarn in a cream colour with a nice sheen.  It would make a beautiful wedding cape or something similar.  I see a lot of lovely crocheted and knitted shawls.  But that's yet another bug that I haven't caught.   I think I have been inoculated against shawls and socks.  Instead, I have now given the yarn to a Barnardo's charity shop for them to raise money by selling it.  I also sorted out my ribbons and passed them on to the Sibol challenges project.  So Beverley's generosity has helped at least 4 charities.

Thank you, Beverley.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.".

AESOP, The Lion and the Mouse


“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” 

― Plato

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” 
― Mark Twain

Fanfare and drumroll: the entrelac blanket is finished...

Here is the finished entrelac blanket.  I took my time adding the border and blocking it.  Final touches make all the difference to a finished project and I quite enjoy making something look as beautiful as possible.  I always remember a school teacher who often said "If something's worth doing, it's worth doing well."  With that in mind, the first part of the border I added had to be ripped back.  I decided I had knitted it too tightly.  I love the variegated yarn but it has a lot less "give" than the rest of the blanket.  Even after I knitted it loosely, it dictated how much blocking I could do.

I can still vividly remember the way my daughter used to treat her blankets.  Her inquisitive fingers would have found lots of threads to pull on the back of this one.  So I went with my original plan to line it with some lovely soft flannelette.  I washed the material twice to stop future shrinkage problems and I anchored the backing to the knitted front with several little stitches.

Here's what the finished blanket looks like.

I'm really pleased with it.  Admittedly, finishing it off during a heatwave was hard work. But on a cold night it will be lovely and warm. 

I looked up the actual translation of "entrelac" and found out that it is a Catalan word meaning "interlacing".  I think that next time, and there will be a next time, I might just use 2 colours.  That will bring out the woven effect even more.  The total weight before adding the border is just under 300g.  The final size is approximately 28" by 33".  So 2 large balls of dk yarn will be enough to make another spectacular blanket.  Colour A would slant to the right and colour B would slant to the left throughout the whole blanket.  

I'm already trying to decide which 2 colours would be good together.  The possibilities are endless.  Lilac and white would be great for a baby.  Bottle green and gold would look very Celtic.  Then there are sports team colours etc etc.  Maybe I will wait until I have a particular baby in mind and let the parents decide.

This is the pattern I followed.  It is well written and comes with loads of photos.  Thanks to Julie of Mack and Mabel for writing the pattern and letting me win it on her giveaway.  I could have chosen any of her patterns.  But I chose this as I was in the right frame of mind for a challenge.  I'm so glad I did.  I have put it away carefully to wait for the next baby girl in the family.

Entrelac baby blanket: almost there....

I'm really enjoying knitting this entrelac baby blanket and, despite being really busy this week, I have pressed on and managed to finish the main part.  The top ball of wool in the photo is for the border.  The others are what is leftover.  I could probably have knitted another white, blue and green row.  But the pink is almost all gone.  All the balls of wool were partially used when I started, so there must have been less pink.  I'm looking forward to making a few little hats with these oddments.

Today was the first time I have seen the blanket off the needles and laid out flat.  I could almost hear it breathing a sigh of relief as I cast off the last row.  It currently measures 26" x 32" but that will change when I add the border and block it.  I haven't blocked it yet as Julie of Mack and Mabel, who wrote the pattern, advised me to add the border first.   I'm really pleased with it.  I went over it sewing in loose ends and checking for holes but, all things considered, it is a very good first attempt at entrelac. 

Now I just need to add the border.  There will be a slight delay in proceedings as I had to order the correct size circular needle.  I had a very long pair of 4mm needles and managed to knit the main blanket on these.  But the border calls for 3.25mm needles.  It is knitted straight, not "in the round"; but my straight needles of this size are too short.  I found a 100cm circular needle on Ebay for absolute peanuts and snapped it up.  It will get plenty of use in future, so I am a happy bunny.  I am normally more organised than this and would already have the needle waiting for me.  But, hey ho, I can always find something else to do until it arrives.  Hopefully my next photo will show the finished blanket.

This is the pattern I am following.  It is well written and comes with loads of photos.  

Entrelac baby blanket: are we there yet?

I just have one more block of 4 colours to knit and then the main body of my entrelac baby blanket will be finished.  I just have to add a knitted-on edging after that.  I have a few decisions to make first.  Should I block it before or after adding the edging.  How severely should I block it?  I could make it almost flat.  Or I could leave it quite springy and quilt-like.  I will probably sit on the fence and aim for something in-between.  Depending on what it looks like after blocking, I might or might not line it.  I have some lovely soft white flannelette that would do the job nicely.  Decisions, decisions.  

Entrelac baby blanket: progress report

The entrelac baby blanket I'm knitting is now more than half finished.  If I keep to the pattern there will be five repeats of each block of 4 colours.  I have nearly finished the third block.  I'm amazed that so much yarn is still unused.  I could make the blanket longer.  But I have already seen some baby hat patterns that appeal to me.  So any leftover wool will probably end up as hats.

This is the pattern I am following which I won on the recent Mack and Mabel giveaway.

It is a very clear pattern and is my first attempt at entrelac.  For crochet fans, I have found many crochet patterns for entrelac blankets.  Just Google "crochet entrelac" to find them.

I'm pressing on with this blanket whenever I have some free knitting time.  Today for example I have not yet picked up my needles, but intend to before nightfall!!!

My first entrelac baby blanket....

When I returned to knitting about 18 months ago I found things had changed.  The Internet didn't exist when I used to knit.   Now it has really transformed the way information is exchanged.  By looking at blogs and forums, it is easy to see what other crafters are making.  One of the things that fascinated me was entrelac which is a method that produces diamonds that appear to be woven in long strips.

When I won a giveaway on the Mack and Mabel blog, I chose the entrelac baby blanket pattern as my prize.

Here is the blanket after working  on it for one week.  It is all scrunched up as it is still on my knitting needle. But it will eventually make a rectangular blanket big enough to fit a cot or pram.

Entrelac can be worked in any number of colours.  I have chosen white, pale green, blue and pink with a border of variegated yarn that includes all these colours.  I think the first baby girl born into my extended family will be the lucky recipient.

I chose this pattern as a bit of a new challenge.  I also wanted a project that could be "on the burn" through what are going to be some very busy weeks for me.  I can already picture the finished blanket in my mind's eye and it is going to be beautiful.

Last charity donations for a little while.....

As Royal Mail postage costs went up recently and courier costs have started to rise, I pulled out all the stops and finished filling a box for Operation Orphan which is an organisation that distributes warm clothing to children in Central and Eastern Europe.

Here are the contents: 2 scarves, 12 hats and 2 waistcoats.  Some of these items have been ready for months and now they can actually be useful and keep someone warm. it might seem odd thinking about warm clothing in the summer, but this is the time of year that charities start to prepare for distributing clothing in time for winter.

I have already started knitting a baby jumper for one of my favourite charities.  But it will probably be another year before I have enough items ready to fill a box to capacity.

I wonder what postage costs are like in other countries.  In the UK we definitely have to thing twice before posting something.  In the last week, I have spent nearly £10 on postage.  That is £10 that i can't spend on wool!

More and more people are looking for local charities that they can support by dropping in with their knitted/crocheted donations.  That is good news for the local charities but not such good news for those that rely on  receiving lots of parcels.  I would choose the local option if I could.  But, for now, my favourite charities can still rely on one box per year from me.