Warm Woolies 2008 Finale

Now that the year is winding down, and my stamina is too, I think it's about time I recap my Warm Woolies goal of knitting 100 items this year. It didn't go so well. I knit quite a lot of stuff, but didn't make my goal. I think perhaps I could have, if that was the only thing I knit all year long, but there were other responsibilities that needed attending to. I know I shouldn't feel guilty about that, but I do anyway. If you look at my accomplishment in terms of grades, I'd only get a C. I passed, but barely (this would be funnier if all of you were Jack Black fans like I am ;) . But since I'm laying it all on the line here, these are the final stats for my year of Warm Woolies knitting:

* Knit 70 items total

* Knit 55 pairs of socks, 5 Hats, 5 Vests, 1 Cardigan Coat

* Completed sections of 3 Oddball Baby Blankies

* Seamed 1 Blanket of 36 squares

* 22 squares for the Knit a Square, Join a Swap Group on Ravelry. However, I'm not counting these in my final total because it takes 36 squares to make one blankie and therefore, these do not count as one item :(

My 1st Seamed blanket for the Knit A Square, Join A Swap Group on Ravelry

Crocheted Cuteness: My last contribution to the Warm Woolies Baby Oddball Blankets Group On Ravelry

I met so many wonderful people this year working towards this goal, and among them was my blog-free pal Kathy, who sent me a ginormous box of yarn to use for WW projects. What a generous and thoughtful gesture, and I'm so glad to have gotten to know you this year Kathy! I promised that I would post a few pics of items I've made from the yarn Kathy sent, so here are the last 2 vests I'm mailing out this year. The blue/grey/black one is made entirely from yarn she sent, and all the brown yarns in the second vest came from her stash as well. Thank you again Kathy!

My knitty friend Troy, also contributed to my endeavor with 10 adorable hats that he knit for me to send to WW. He tells me that I should count them in my total, as he knit them for me to do so, but it just doesn't feel right since I didn't knit them myself! But I would love to claim them as Troy uses only the most beautiful fibers and gorgeous colors for his hats :) Thanks so much for your generous gifty Troy!! Here's a pic (which just doesn't do them justice):

With that, my Warm Woolies goal draws to a close for this year. I'll keep contributing in the years to come but I think I'll try less to focus on a number for 2009, and more on the joy I experience in the projects I do. It's not supposed to be work, right? It's supposed to be fun and make me feel soft and fuzzy inside to be able to warm up cold little munchkins.

Thank you so very much to all of you wonderful LovePurl participants! You have all made my journey much more fun this year and it's been wonderful hearing about and seeing all of your projects here on the blog :) That being said, I don't plan to continue with the blog in 2009. Now that Ravelry is here, and so many of us are joining groups there, I don't see a need for this blog anymore. There are piles of charity knitting groups over there that are filling the space this blog used to fill and I hope you can each find one there that you enjoy. I'm afraid that maintaining this blog as well as my own has been quite a lot of work and I haven't done well with consistently posting here - death for any blog or group! I hope you all understand :) It's been a joy and I thank you all so very much for all your hard work and kindness.

Hope your 2008 was joyful and that 2009 brings you all that you could wish for!

********
P.S. If another member of the group would like to take over the blog, you are more than welcome! Just e-mail me via the contact info in the sidebar and we can chat about that. Otherwise, if I don't hear from a replacement by the end of January, I will be deleting the entire blog. Please, if there is information here that you want to retain, get it before I do so. I would hate for anyone to lose precious info. Thanks so much for your understanding!!

checking in

I wasn't very productive at the beginning of the year but in the last couple months I've been able to get a little more done. It helped being part of a Ravelry group where knitting for a charity was one of the challenges.

Warm Woolies Wednesday (On Thursday)

Warm Woolies Items #39 - #42

So, I’m a day late. Such is life. Thanks so much to everyone who weighed in on the subject of putting the group on Ravelry. I appreciate all your thoughts on the subject! I was just thinking it might bring us a little more activity or a few new members if we had a group there. But I will definitely let you know before I do anything major and keeping the blog but also making a group on Ravelry is definitely an option too.

I mailed off my second box for the year to Warm Woolies on Monday. Nestled inside was the cardigan coat I made recently as well as 17 pairs of socks, bringing my mailed off total to 34. Warm Woolies is still holding their contest until November 30 and in reading the fine print the other day it says you can be eligible for $50-$75 worth of prizes if you knit 25 items for them by that date. What a nice little bonus, though I am certainly not doing it for the prizes :)

The hats above bring my total of finished items up to 42 for the year and I am currently working on item #43 (another hat). After that I think I may try to make a couple vests and see how long they take me. Then, maybe back to socks. I’ll keep you posted. Keep up the good work everyone!

Warm Woolies Update

Hi Everyone! I know it's been a while since I posted something here and I keep telling myself I need to do it, but it just never seems to happen :) I'm still knitting diligently away for Warm Woolies and have been trying to work steadily towards my big goal of 100 items for them this year. It's going very slowly and I have doubts that I'll make it, but I keep trying anyway! Recently, I've made it a point to post once a week on my own blog about my progress and I have been wanting to add those same posts here for everyone to see but there just never seems enough time for me to get to both places in one day. So hopefully, now that I've done this little intro, I can more smoothly post to both each week. Wish me luck!

Warm Woolies Items #36-#38

This week I did manage to complete 2 more full sets of small-ish sized socks and as of last night, I am halfway through a large-ish sized set of socks that will bring my total up to 38. The smaller socks are easier on me and faster to complete (i.e. more satisfying!) but I try to knit at least one large sized sock for every 3-4 small sized ones that I knit. After all, big kids need socks too! Once this large sized pair is finished I can go back to some small-ish sized ones which seem to be easier on my hands (which I'm having some trouble with). I’m trying to switch up projects too and not knit with bulky yarns as much, hoping that will give my joints a rest. Perhaps a hand massage is in order……

As of right now, I have sent off one package to Warm Woolies containing 1 vest and 15 pairs of socks. I also have another box ready to go that contains 1 cardigan/coat (pattern from their site) and 17 pairs of socks. I'm getting closer every day!

Everyone's projects are looking great so far and I thank each and every one of you for your hard work, and for joining me here at LovePurl! I love seeing what all of you are doing :)

A quick question for you - I've been wondering if it might be more fun for us to meet up over at Ravelry instead as a group. Any thoughts on that? Look forward to hearing what you have to say and have a great weekend everyone!

Kitty Blanket

I finally finished the kitty blanket for the local animal shelter. It finished up a good size, 30x47, so it will help keep one of the larger animals warm this winter.



Lynn/Orlando

Hat Quest

I was planning to post back when I had 4 hats, but life got in the way, and now I have 6 hats!
The top two are from the January 2008 issue of Creative Knitting - the snowed-under cap. I decided not to embroider the snowflakes because it would detract from the natural variegation of the yarn, and I'm not sure how well it would stay - not one of my best skills.

The rest of the hats are patterns I've made up. When I get one that works well, I'll post the directions on my blog.

I'm off to work on #7!
~Sarah

Contest

There's a contest up on my blog.... www.knitoneblogtoo.blogspot.com

I'm looking for hat idea for infants. :) Free yarn to the winner.