An All-Weather Pursuit

I bet you thought I forgot.  I didn’t write a post on Wednesday, and I bet you thought I was just being lazy.  Well, I sort of was.  I sat down to write a post, just for the sake of writing, yesterday.  And then I had a great idea: to wait.  Today, I attended the second Craftin’ for CASA Craft-In on campus.  It was a supreme showing of solidarity, knit goods, teaching, and learning.  I could have written a blog post yesterday, but I decided to wait and tell you all about this magnificent event.

I went out to the Chapel steps around 12:15 to start setting up, but none of my set-up crew was there yet.  I stood around, knitting on a cabled had, for most of the next hour.  If you haven’t been outside in Conway today, you probably don’t know how cold and windy it is, but let me assure you, I was no prepared.  I wore a sweatshirt, a jacket, and a scarf and wasn’t warm enough.  After about twenty minutes, my fingers were so achingly cold that my knitting needles felt like intricate torture devices.  Still, I did not put them away.  I continued working on my hat until my students arrived to set up and kick off the craft-in.

We had literature about CASA: flyers, brochures, information, even suckers and mints with contact info.  We had a band, Handmade Moments, to help attract attention.  We put up a large banner and two smaller ones to tell people what we were doing there.  And then the people came.  Knitters, newbies, and the press.  People were learning, snapping pictures, and having a great time, all in the name of making a difference.  Out in the cold, we underlined the message of warmth: foster children deserve the warmth of a loving family, and while we can’t be their parents or siblings, we can give them something that says we care.

Donna Bowman and Els Strickland accept my second donation

Also, I proudly handed over another 4 items for donation!  I knit items with CASA children in mind:

• the Tiny Touchdowns Football for a one-year-old
• the Trudie Rattle for a one-year-old
• the Bus Hat for a 13-year-old
• the Tassel Scarf

Now, the Tassel Scarf was originally knit with a high school girl in mind, but due to a slight mix-up, another student worked on a blue and white scarf for the same person.  As the TA of the class, it was only right that I take my object out and allow the student to grow and learn.  Still, I knit the scarf to benefit a particular person.  So I decided to sell the Tassel Scarf as the pair of the other blue and white scarf.

See, in December, Craftin for CASA will do a sale that’s a “buy one, give one” event, so each object made for the CASA kids will be paired with an item for sale and people who come to buy can literally feel the good they’re doing.  I didn’t want to make my Yarn Diet objects for sale because I thought that was too impersonal.  But all the money from these items will go to CASA so they can train their volunteers who in turn help these kids.  So by selling the scarf, I am still benefiting the girl I originally knit it for.  And I am okay with that.

I was ecstatically happy about the work I did today.  I taught new crafters.  I helped spread the word about CASA.  And my knitting found a new home, sent out in the world to make children and teenagers a little bit warmer.  It was a good day.  And well worth waiting for.

Scary

When I was little, I helped decorate the house for Halloween.  We had a spooky two-story home with high ceilings and dark shadows.  I hung cobwebs on the hedges.  I raked leaves for giant jack-o-lantern bags.  And I put together little handmade ghosts to hang from the porch.  They were simple, really.  Two tissues, a rubber band or twisty tie, and a black marker was all it took.  With your thumb, you make a pocket in one tissue, which you stuff the other tissue into.  Then you wrap the rubber band or twisty tie around the bulge to keep it in place and use the marker to make eyes and a mouth.  They didn’t work so well when it rained, but other than that, they were great little decorations.

Once you grow up, you might forget about all the little arts and crafts things you did when you were a child.  Paper mache, styrofoam snowmen, popsicle statues.  Did you keep any of them?  I didn’t.  I wanted to make things, and enjoyed making things, but either they fell apart or I didn’t think they were worth keeping.  Or, in the case of my last batch of ghosts, my brother’s friend set them on fire.

I’m a scaredy cat.  The dark, heights, creepy music in scary movies, the quickly approaching Zombie Apocalypse.  They all freak me out.  But it’s not the ghouls and ghosties I’m afraid of this Halloween.  I’m terrified of deadlines, writer’s block, and dwindling yarn stashes.  My school stash currently has five partial balls of assorted acrylic (2 greens, 2 reds, one mauve, one off-white, and one yellow) and 4 partial balls of cotton (two yellow, one black, and assorted scraps).  That’s not enough.  But I am reluctant to bring more yarn to school because my home stash isn’t as big as I would like either.  Still formidable, but…

So what am I to do?  Live in fear for another four weeks. Stay focused.  Keep knitting.   That’s all I can do!

FOs Week 31

Countdown: 4 Weeks Left!

AAAAAGGH!  My fingers are flying, and I’m freaking out.  Four weeks left.  Only four weeks.  To finish the rest of the objects and send ALL of them out.  It feels like I only started this yesterday.  Anyhow, this week, in my frantic race for the finish line, I completed 4 objects!

Kitty Blanket

I’ve been dealing with Knitter’s block this week.  Mostly, the projects that I made, I only started because I needed something to knit.  I’ve lacked a certain… inspiration.  So, my first FO was a kitty blanket.  Patternless, simple, and very cuddly.  I used big needles and big yarn, so it went really fast.  I cast on 42 stitches on size 11 needles, worked in garter stitch for about 16 inches, and then picked up stitches all the way around the blanket in an excessively fuzzy and crazy yarn.  I worked a couple rounds with that yarn and bound off.  The result is a perfect cage pad: thick, squishy, and eye catching.  I particularly like the way the edges curl up to make a slight bowl.  I imagine a little family of kittens cuddling in it as they share a cage.

Presto Hat

FO #2 was supposed to be a baby hat.  And it is a baby hat, modeled after the Presto Hat! pattern I found here.  But it also fits my head.  Knit in cotton on bigger-than-necessary needles, this hat has an excellent drape, it’s stretchy, and it folds into itself thanks to alternating rings of stockinette and reverse stockinette stitch (that’s why it collapses when I sit it down).  So it’ll fit just about any head from infant to adult female.  I used three remnant skeins of Peaches and Cream cotton, and I worried how the colors would match up, but I think it’s a charming effect.

When I finished the Presto Hat, I had nothing to knit.  In fact, I went to Knitwise this week and just sat there with nothing to do.  It was almost unbearable.  So, of course, I found another project.  Looking around in the dwindling school stash (more next week), I found an unmarked ball.  I remember buying this yarn, and I remember the first two scarves I ever made with it (I bought a lot of it at once).  I loved those scarves and gave them away to people who were, at the time, very close to me.  And I had this one ball leftover, and I lost the ball band.

Baby Cocoon

I don’t know what kind of yarn this is, but it’s soft.  It’s got tiny boucles on it that give it a rich texture.  And I knew that there was more yarn in the ball than it looked.  Maybe, I thought, enough yarn for a sleep sack.  Searching through Ravelry, I found the Snug as a Bug Sleep Sack pattern by Robyn Devine (here).  It was perfect.  I used size 7 needles and cast on 64 stitches, but other than that, I stuck to the pattern.  Around 16 inches, I was running out of yarn, and I had to bind off, so it’s about 2 inches too short.  But it’s so soft and so warm and so utterly adorable, I think it won’t matter.  Everytime I look at this Baby Cocoon, I see it filled with a baby– a tiny guy who needed a bit of warmth before he could turn into a butterfly.

Then, it was time for yet another trip to the stash to find one more object for this week.  I found some yarn… just yarn.  Yarn that I know I don’t like.  It’s called Lion Brand Romance, and I once tried to knit a sweater out of this stuff.  It knotted coming out of the skein.  It shed ALL OVER ME.  It’s really, really cheap material that has been discontinued for years.  But I thought it deserved a second chance, and since I lacked the inspiration to make anything else, I started looking for something that might look good in a super-fuzzy bubblegum pink.

The Survivor Shawl

I found a shawl.  The pattern is called “Simple Yet Effective” (found here).  And that it is.  I knit this up in just over a day, and it was very simple.  It’s my first shawl!  Even working with the yarn wasn’t so bad (though I am covered in pink fuzz).  The color, that very bright pink, reminded me that it’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I haven’t really done anything to mark it.  Now, I can’t promise that this shawl will go to a breast cancer survivor.  But it will go to a survivor.  I intend to donate it to a women’s shelter.  These women have been through unimaginable hardships, and I knit my hopes and uplifting thoughts into this piece.  When I put it on my shoulders to test the drape and fit, I smiled.  It was a great feeling.  This shawl, made from sub-par material, is warm without being heavy, bright without being blinding, big without being cumbersome.

I’ve felt fried all week, like all my extra energy and all my purpose has been stripped away.  That’s why my blog posts have been late.  That’s why my homework has gone undone.  That’s why I’m eating too much.  But not matter how frayed and frazzled I am, I won’t stop knitting.  I will finish this.

Four more FOs

I Don’t Know About Artist, But…

I’ve been grappling with semantics lately.  Everyone uses synonyms, and I use a lot of synonyms on here because I don’t want to continually use “knit” over and over and over again.  So I substitute words like “craft,” “skill,” “art,” “hobby.”  What’s the difference?  I want to draw a line between skill and craft, between craft and art, and take the word “hobby” out of usage all together.  Each word has its own connotations, its own deeper meaning, emotions and ideas that go with it.  But what does any of it mean?

Francis of Assisi had some ideas about the difference between labor, craft, and art.  He once said:

He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

I don’t think of myself as an artist.  My knit goods all have a utilitarian purpose; they’re useful.  I’m not making blobs of fabric or wall decorations.  I’m making clothing and toys, things that someone will find benefitial.

But then there are purely artistic Knitters.  Works displayed in galleries.  Political pieces, like knit wombs.  That sort of stuff, that is meant to be looked at, to convey a message, but not necessarily to be used.

And a hobby… well, a hobby isn’t good for anything.  I’m not sure there really is such a thing.  I guess people take up a hobby to pass the time, but eventually, if they stick with it, their craft of choice will grow out of its hobbyness and into something more.  It’ll be useful, it’ll be on display, it’ll be something the former hobbyist is proud of.  Maybe I’m wrong or maybe I idealize craft, but latch hookers and ship-in-a-bottle builders get something out of the work they do, something more than just a pastime.

Other phrases exist in the handmade world to take issue with.  “Made from scratch” isn’t really made from scratch most of the time; you didn’t grow the tomatoes or necessarily make the noodles that went into your lasagna.  Even “handmade” isn’t entirely handmade, unless you raised and sheered the sheep, spun the yarn, and then knit it up.  It’s all hazy.

Stupid semantics.

Wings for the Flightless

Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I have been informed three  or four times in the last two weeks of the penguin sweaters being sent to a New Zealand yarn shop to protect the birds from an oil spill that happened in the beginning of October.  It’s a really popular story thanks to a combination of adorable animals, funky jumpers, and environmental disaster.

That’s cool.  But I think it’s gotten way too much publicity.  First, I’d like to point out that the yarn shop has stated on its blog, The Yarn Kitchen, that they have received more tiny sweaters than they need for the crisis.  They are overwhelmed by the international response and have found other charities to direct the donations towards.

Second, and here’s what really bothers me about this, is that our animal shelters need more pet blankets and cage pads.  Where is the publicity for Fayetteville Animal Shelter— features from ABC News or Good Morning America, like the shop in New Zealand received?  Where is the overwhelming response to needs in our own community?  Why have I never gotten a single tip from a Facebook friend about a charity in Arkansas that might take my knit goods (though I’ve been asking for ideas since March)?

Don’t get me wrong; penguin sweaters!  That’s an adorable and unique idea.  But to see so many people interested in something on the other side of the globe and very few people talking about the opportunities we have to make a difference locally, it just bothered me.

FOs Week 30

Countdown: 5 Weeks left!

I had fun this week.  Knitting fun.  Yes, it happens.  And in the midst of all the fun, I was able to finish 4 objects.

Bus Hat

FO #1 was a plain and simple hat for a 16-year-old boy.  It’s my first Craftin’ for CASA piece.  Using some of my Sayelle in Navy, I followed the Bus Hat pattern (found here) by Kylie McDonnell-Wade (who was kind enough to give me permission to make it for charity rather than the specified “personal use only”).   It knit up in a couple hours.  I asked my fiance, “Is this too feminine.”  Maybe it is.  But it’s a unique beanie that you can’t buy at Walmart.  It says, “Someone made this just for me.”  I hope he likes it.

Tassel Scarf

FO #2 is also a Craftin’ for CASA donation.  A 16-year-old girl requested a blue and white striped scarf.  I dug in my stash to find a skein of old, dirty, dark turquoise Red Heart Wintuk yarn.  I wasn’t sure I could use it because it had these odd bits of foam in it, it looked stained, and it smelled… like GrandmaW’s house.  Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but….  I tried it anyhow.  I cast on 220 stitches and knit every row.  I put in two white stripes on either end, and then made tassels at Knitwise this week.  I cast-off at the craft-in.  This scarf has been a very real part of my knitting life, and I imbued it with laughter, excitement, and encouragement.  The yarn cleaned itself as I worked, so there’s no dirt, no stains, no issues.  It doesn’t even particularly smell.

Trudie Rattle

Then I just had some fun.  I really enjoy making toys!  I found a pattern for Trudie the Turtle here, and I had to make one!  Using a bit of Red Heart yarn in Leaf Green that was given to me one Christmas, I knit this little guy up in less than a day.  The worst part was all the finishing.  I thought I would never get the legs on, and seriously considered NOT putting legs on.  Finnicky little things!  In a bit of inspiration, I put a cat toy in the stuffing, so it rattles.  I also made the face out of yarn so it’s infant-friendly.

Bart

When I was done with Trudie, I cast on for Bart.  Oh, he’s probably my favorite so far.  I found the Bartholomew pattern here, and love love loved it.  I’ve had this skein of Red Heart Wintuk in Sea Green that I had NO idea what to do with.  Really atrocious yarn.  But it inspired me this week.  It spoke to me.  It said, “alien monster.”  Now, I originally meant to follow the pattern and have a one-eyed alien monster, but when it came time to do the face, I forgot.  Instead, I have two slanted blue eyes and a friendly mouth.  The hair was my idea.

I really enjoy toys.  I think Trudie might go to the CASA project, for a one-year-old little boy, unless one of my other classmates has something else to give.  Bart will probably end up at a children’s shelter, making kids happy for as long as he can.  I’m running out of time, but also running out of objects in the tally!  It’s time to start focusing on the giving aspect more than the making.  On crafting the world more than crafting the objects.  Isn’t it exciting?

Four More Objects!

Knit-In 1

Yesterday was the highly anticipated Craftin’ for CASA craft-in!  It was a cold, wet, windy day, but we covered the chapel steps with crafting and chatter.  We even had a guest appearance by our school mascot.

I was finishing up a striped scarf that was knit lengthwise.  As I bound off more and more stitches, I wrapped the scarf around my shoulders to keep it from dragging the ground.  I watched the knitters and crocheters working around me and thought, “I wish we could wrap the world up in our work.”

We drew in 3 newcomers, people who had never held knitting needles before but wanted to learn.  The first two (one of which is a BOY) are fellow Honors College members.  The other, taught by yours truly, is a girl I’d never seen before.  I didn’t catch her name; all I know is that she works on campus and wanted to learn.

Did we get our point across?  In other words, did we knit loudly?  Can you hear us now, Conway?  I don’t know.  But we had a good time, we made some new friends, and we are closer to our crafting goal with more objects for our sale to benefit CASA in December.  We have one more craft-in before then, on November 3.  Come join us?

Crafters Assembled! (Picture Copyright: Donna Bowman)

 

Production

I’ve been thinking a lot about knitting lately (obviously).  Two needles and a strand of yarn making interconnected loops over and over and over again to create fabric that can be shaped into objects.  That’s what I do.  But that’s not the only way to knit.

Knitting Looms

Knitting machines exist, but I don’t know anything about them.  I do, however, know about knitting looms, also known as knitting boards.  In fact, I own a set of knitting looms, long skinny ovals with pegs sticking out of them that can be used to knit an object without needles.  These can be used for flat knitting, like scarves, or knitting in the round, like hats.  Straight and simple, you loop yarn around the pegs, loop yarn around the pegs again, and then take the first row of loops off the pegs leaving the second row on.  Loop again.  Slip bottom stitches over the top ones again.  Keep going until you have an object.  Make sense?

Maybe.

I personally hate my knitting looms.  It hurts my hands.  The stitches slip off the pegs and unravel back to the beginning of the round.  You have to keep your eyes on what you’re doing, which means that’s basically the only thing you can do (unlike my knitting while reading, knitting while watching tv, etc.).

And in my experience (maybe I’m doing it wrong), the fabric is not the same.  The pegs are spaced out pretty far and fairly large.  That means that any project requires heavy worsted to chunky yarn and big stitches.  On top of that, I followed the directions for knitting, and what came out was a twisted stockinette stitch.  It kind of looks like stockinette (knit every row in the round, or knit every row on one side and purl every row on the wrong side when knitting flat), but I can tell the minor difference.  Rather than lining up like perfect Vs, the stitches look… odd.  Twisted.  Hence the twisted stockinette.

Once upon a time, I looked down on loom knitters.  I knew a girl or two in high school who did it.  The looms work up fast because the yarn is so big.  I thought the girls were cutting corners, cheating, and producing less quality work for all their quantity.  And then I got a Christmas present from my roommate, Ms. Mary.

The Best Scarf Ever

And I loved it.  It’s my favorite scarf in the entire world.  I wear it every winter.  It’s cozy and fuzzy and warm and goes with just about everything.  Opening this present, fondling this amazingly cushy scarf, I had to rethink my ideas about quality production.  Here was a handmade object, something with interconnected loops of yarn, that I absolutely loved.  Does the fact that it was made on a loom make it any less wonderful or appreciated?  No!

I broke out my knitting loom this weekend.  Worked a few rows just to make sure that this form of production got a fair trial from me.

It hurt my hands.  It took more time than my regular form.  And the stitches kept popping off the pegs, unraveling back to the end of the row.  I’m never going to enjoy loom knitting quite like I enjoy the clack-clack of my nickel-plated circular needles.  But I’m glad I tried.

FOs Week 29

Last weekend was ridiculously busy.  I’m talking crazy.  I spent 12 hours driving, 14 hours at work, and not nearly enough time sleeping.  Unfortunately, that also meant I didn’t get a lot of knitting done when I am normally the most productive.  So, this week, I can only add one object to the tally.

Tiny Touchdowns Football

But what an object it is!  I’ve knit a football for this project before, but I didn’t enjoy it half as much I did this little guy.  I found a pattern for a Plush Football here, and loved it.  It’s clear, simple, and beginner-easy.  Using some Sayelle in Teak that I found in my school stash and scraps of unidentified white yarn, I knit this up in just about a day.  I’m concerned that the lacing won’t hold over time because my embroidery skills aren’t really all that great and I didn’t sew it on very tightly.  Still, even when those few bits of white are pulled out, the toy itself is very cute.

Even better, I was able to visualize the recipient as I made this one.  That’s a luxury that I haven’t had very often.  I’m not sure how many details I can really give out (don’t want to endanger the child), but I made this for a 1-year-old boy in foster care in Central Arkansas.  I’m going to donate it to the Craftin’ for CASA project the Craft Wisely class has planned for this semester.  The Tiny Touchdowns Football will go to a little boy so that he can have “something soft to hold,” as his foster parents requested.

So, you may be asking, “Okay, you’ve accounted for last weekend and one day this week.  What were you doing with the rest of your knitting time?”  Well…  See, I finished a project early in the week, too.  I made a hat.  From my own design.   I’m clearly not a designer.  Knitwise on Tuesday saw me finish a bright-green, drop stitch hat meant for an adult female.  And they all knew it was big.  I knew it was big when I started it.  I knew it was a big fat hat and it would only get bigger when I dropped all the stitches.  I thought, “That’s fine.  It’ll be a great slouchy hat for a woman with a big head and big hair.”  No big deal.

The Lettuce Monster Hat

I started the decreases, and it was going great.  And I put it on my own head just before I cut the yarn to pull through the last stitches.

It was awful.  It looked like a hungry lettuce monster was trying to eat my head but couldn’t quite get its leaves around my skull.  I had a fat, ugly green hat that was too short to slouch.     Someone in Knitwise asked me, “Would you wear it?”  My answer was a resounding “NO!”  So I scrapped it, ripping out every single hideous stitch.

I killed the Lettuce Monster.

Sometimes, in knitting, you have to step back, understand when whatever you’re doing isn’t working out, and start frogging.  Rip-it.  Rip-it.

When I got home yesterday, I started a scarf that I also intend to give to the CASA project.  It’s a beautiful turquoise blue, knit sideways with white stripes.  But I left the rest of my white yarn at school, so I have to put the scarf aside until later.

Today, I started and got about halfway through a beanie that could also go to the CASA project (if we don’t receive enough donations to fill our requests).  It’s dark navy blue and meant for a 12- to 15-year-old boy.

Look for those projects next week!  If you happen to be in the Conway area on Tuesday this week, Craft Wisely is hosting a craft-in on the steps of the chapel at UCA.  1:30-2:40.  You should come join us, especially if you don’t know how to knit/crochet and want to learn.  Until then, happy knitting.

 

Fledglings

Past generations learned to knit at a much younger age.  By the time she was five, my GrandmaW knew knitting, crochet, quilting, embroidery, and cross stitch.  Crafts were taught in elementary school as a standard curriculum for girls.  Why don’t we do that anymore?

Some people might argue that knitting is not a practical use of class time and that’s why it was taken out of our curriculum; kids don’t need to knit anymore.  The fact is, knitting will help these kids.  They will improve their fine motor skills, counting, and concentration.  Schools with lunchtime knitting clubs have already begun the movement, proving that kids today are every bit as capable of picking up handcrafting as our grandparents were when they were children.  In fact, I know a very talented seven-year-old who knits beautifully and already has seven projects up on Ravelry.

Children, even boys, want to learn.  That’s why there’s a book for it!  Okay, so there are several books for it, but the only one I’ve ever had a chance to flip through and the only one I’ve ever thought was really geared towards younger kids and might catch their interest was Kids Learn to Knit by Lucinda Guy and Francois Hall.  With animals as characters and rich illustrations, funny chapter titles like “How to Stop Knitting,” and simple step-by-step instructions and beginner patterns, this book really has it all.  It’s relatable and manageable for children.

To teach a child anything, you have to have the right tools for beginners, clear instructions, and lots of patience.  Simple.  For knitting in particular, there’s a popular rhyme to help beginners remember the steps in knitting a stitch:

In through the front door

once around the back,

peek through the window,

and off jumps Jack!

That illustrates the wrapping motion and what to do with the yarn, much as you might use a rhyme when teaching a child to tie their own shoes.

I think children like to do things.  Like to make things.  Like to feel special and like to feel that they can accomplish things all by themselves!  Knitting can do just that.

There’s a distinct lack of knitting books for younger children, and so I wrote one for workshop this week.  Noted, it’s not my most brilliant writing, but it’s something.  A little girl, Misa, keeps getting horrible knit presents from her grandma: slippers that are too big, an itchy scarf, and mittens that are too small.  They’re all the wrong colors, too warm, and Misa hates them.  But then Grandma gives Misa knitting needles and yarn, teaches her how to knit.  Misa gives Grandma a hat, and it’s too big, ugly yellow, and lopsided.  Grandma wears it anyway.

How can we expect knitting to flourish in the future if we don’t make it available to kids in the present?  Can we expect them to seek it out for themselves when they’re in high school and college, like I did?  Will knitting survive if we leave it up to chance?  No.

Next Tuesday, I won’t be teaching children to knit, but I’ll be helping college students on campus learn to knit for children.  Craft Wisely is hosting a craft-in to share knitting with our fellow students and solicit donations for our upcoming “Craftin’ for CASA” service project, in which we will make objects for kids in foster care as well as sell objects at UCA to raise money for CASA, court appointed special advocates, which requires donations to train more advocates and do the best they can for these kids.

Kids make the perfect recipient.  That includes giving them items as well as knowledge.