September 26 - Two Young Men

 I am sitting here on a Friday afternoon at my daughter and her husband's house, reflecting on this past week.  They live about 60 miles from me and I offered to house sit for them while they vacation in Maui.  They just moved here, so it's fun for me to go out exploring.  Tomorrow, a nearby community will have it's semi-annual city-wide garage sale day.  I hope to find more sewing and knitting supplies for Needlecrafts for Charity.

It was another fun meeting this week, but then, every week is fun with this club.  For the first time at Needlecrafts for Charity, there were two male students that attended.  Thanks for showing up, Jacob and Lee!  Both learned to hand sew and did a great job. Thanks to the new ladies that attended also :)

A big thanks to Sarah from California!  I visited my post office box on Wednesday and was  surprised with a box of circular knitting needles and a gift of $10 to help with supplies for our "Days for Girls" project. I'm so thankful for the many gifts our club has received from the generosity of others who care.

Now for my big news - I will start teaching classes beginning next week.  I have taken a 3 year break to attend college, and now that I have only 28 credits to take over the next few quarters, I can offer knitting and sewing classes again.  I'm offering for the first time a Knitted Market Bag Class and a Hand Sewing Class.  Please contact me if you are interested, or if you someone who might be.

First Meeting of Needlecrafts for Charity!

I'm so excited to report that we had a wonderful time on Monday at our first Needlecrafts for Charity meeting at the University of Puget Sound.  We had to switch rooms a couple times at the last minute, so I believe we will need to send out some notifications before our next meeting.  The more the merrier!

There were seven ladies attending, including me.  We had a very successful planning period and then on to hand sewing demos (see below).  Kim, the club president, brought some hot pink leggings to show how easy they are to make.  We plan to have a leggings workshop in November to raise money for our "Days for Girls" sanitary pad kits.  After a young lady places an order for leggings, we plan to have an assembly line which will consist of cutters, seam sewers, and topstitchers. These young ladies are so creative with fund raising ideas! My best idea is a bake sale, but this isn't nearly as fun as sewing construction in the presence of the public :)

Hand Sewing Demo

Chemo Caps for Kids

I just finished my first chemo cap for a child struggling with cancer.  Needlecrafts for Charity will be working on this project as well as the sanitary pad kits for women.  The yarn used in the cap is Bernat Softee Chunky and the pattern is Kaity's Chemo Cap.  It's an easy pattern that knits up quickly. 

We still need knitting needles for this project.  The cap uses size 7 and 9, 16" circulars, and size 9 double pointed needles.  If you would like to help with this project, please email me at thegreenerneedle@gmail.com

I'm just so excited to be helping with these projects.  Our club meets tomorrow, so I'll have pictures of our progress.  Stay tuned, and check back each week!

Kaity's Chemo Cap

Needlecrafts for Charity!!!

It has been a busy month!  I've been preparing to resume the Needlecrafts for Charity club at the University of Puget Sound.  I returned to my administrative assistant position on August 16th, finished summer quarter at the Evergreen State College on August 26th, and started advertising for the needlecrafts club on September 2 at LogJam on the UPS campus. Whew!

We had an exciting event at LogJam.  The club president, Kim; the club treasurer, Kirah; and I manned a table to solicit for new members.  Thanks Kim and Kirah :)  A whopping 75 students signed up!  Now I know that not all of the sign ups will attend, but even if 20 do, it will be a great group.  Students were interested in sewing and knitting, so I had to change my plans a bit for the syllabus.  There will be two groups working simultaneously; one group will sew and assemble sanitary pad hygiene kits for women in developing countries, the other group will knit kids' chemo caps for our local military hospital. I'm very excited to be leading this group!

Now for gathering supplies.  If there is any way you'd like to help, please post a comment and I will respond with how you can help.  We desperately need scissors, pins, and snaps for sewing; and knitting needles, scissors, and rulers for knitting.   

This will be a very fun fall :)   In the picture below: Lori, Kim, and Kirah

            

New Market Bag Knitting Class!

I'm back from all of my summer journeys. I came back from Sock Summit (which was totally awesome) and had one day before leaving for the San Juan Islands with my daughter, Kate.  We had a great two days of sightseeing and relaxation.  We even visited an alpaca farm and both bought a skein of yummy soft alpaca yarn.
On Thursday evenings, the 18th and 25th, I will be teaching a market bag knitting class.  I haven't taught a knitting class for over three years so I am very excited to be teaching again.  If you'd like to join the class, send me and email at thegreenerneedle@gmail.com
The Siesta top from corn/cotton yarn I've been knitting is almost complete. This yarn stretched a great deal so I will have to do some seaming in order for it to fit properly.  It's a very cute top!

The picture was taken at Sock Summit in Knitters Brewing Company booth.  Lavender shawl, pink sock, purple sock - ready for a night out!

Getting Ready for Sock Summit

I leave Thursday morning for Sock Summit in Portland, Oregon to help in the booth with Knitters Brewing Company - the business I interned with during June in Encinitas, CA.  I'm getting excited to meet new knitting ladies and see all the wonderful yarns, patterns and accessories.  If you're at Sock Summit, please stop by and say "hi."

I've been spending the last few days practicing for the Flash Mob dance that will take place Saturday evening.  I've had a lot of fun rehearsing as it reminds me of my former drill team days in high school! 

I'm still knitting my Siesta top.  I'm just at the bind-off for the sleeves, so the knitting will go much faster.  In the next few weeks, I will work on my materials for the knitted market bag class that will be held towards the end of August.  It's been a good summer for knitting here in the Northwest; we've had such cool temperatures. More later......

Back in Washington!

I've been back from my internship for a couple weeks.  I hit the ground running ever since I stepped off the airplane.

During the past few weeks I've read books and written papers for my independent learning contract portion of summer school.  It was so helpful to participate in an internship so that I could experience what I was reading :)

Currently I'm taking a break from sewing and working on a summer knitted top (it's also part of my summer school).  The yarn is made from corn and organic cotton: a totally new fiber for me.  The pattern is Siesta and I must say, is turning out quite nicely.  It's a great portable knitting project.

It has turned out to be a beautiful summer day here.  I hope it is sunny today where you live :)