Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Special Deliveries!!

Last week, Laurie Johnson and I delivered our blocks for Warm Up America to Michael's. The store had been collecting the blocks for the cause in the past few months. They were very happy to see our stash of 134 blocks!

Yesterday, we delivered 65 chemo caps to M.D. Anderson. They were delighted to see the homemade caps just in time for all of this cold weather. We also made the delivery of 100 preemie caps to TX Children's Hospital.

Overall, this has been a very productive year for us. Although we took a break from meetings in the middle of the year, we still managed to meet our goals.

There have been some questions about whether we will repeat this effort again next year. Let me just say that it is under consideration. If anyone would like to help organize this, please let me know. We might want to change our focus on other charities. Stay tuned...

Thanks to everyone for contributing and taking some time to bring a smile to those people in need.

Check out the pictures that we took of our handmade items.












Great job!!

Thanks again,

Amy

Friday, May 16, 2008

Happy Friday!

This is a picture from the May 7th meeting. (From left to right: Tracy Batchelder, Amy Ehlert, Laurie Wright, Linda Baldree, Louella Mott, Celyna Ebohon and Laurie Johnson)


Well, here it is, Friday again. It seems like this past week just flew by... I have a couple of things that I wanted to share with everyone.

1. Margaret Southern sent me a great suggestion for a cute and easy project for beginning knitters. She recommended the pattern and thought that it might be an easy way to learn how to follow pattern instructions. (It also is a great way to use up those remainders of skeins from old projects.) This comes from the Knitting Calendar by Desiree Scales & Friends. It is called Kitten Hand Puppet (if you would like a better copy, please let me know):






2. I also wanted to share more pictures from our last meeting on May 7th. John Batchelder took these pictures. Enjoy!




Friday, May 9, 2008

Just look at our progress!

On Wednesday, May 7th, we met over lunch (thanks to everyone who could make it -- if you couldn't, no worries, we'll try to all meet again next month). We had a pretty good turnout. It was a relaxed session, with people eating their lunches, knitting, chatting, coming and going, just as their schedules allowed.

We displayed all of the beautiful blocks, chemo hats and preemie hats that we have made so far. We were all quite impressed with the handiwork of our fellow knitters! Great job -- keep up the great work!

We also had a special visitor -- John Batchelder's wife, Tracy. She spent some time with us and brought in several preemie hats that she handcrafted especially for our effort. For those of you that don't know, Tracy is the author of Wool Windings (see link under Favorite Blogs on this page), a very spectacular blog showcasing her knitting projects and also including snippets from her life. She has many avid followers (me included!) from Williams and all over the world. I am quite addicted to her blog and find it amazing to see everything that she is able to accomplish. I recommend that you check it out for lots of good knitting ideas and just to see what she is up to. Unlike me, she updates her blog quite frequently and always includes great photography to boot.

Let me just address another question that we've been getting. We've heard from several people that have said (with quite a bit of shame): "I haven't yet finished a block. I feel like quitting because I haven't completed anything!" Let me just set the record straight - this is not a race and you shouldn't be ashamed! There really isn't a deadline and we are still accepting blocks, chemo caps and preemie hats. We will be collecting all year. Knitting sometimes just has to take a back seat to your life and your work. When you get a spare moment, just take it out and continue. And, if you get stuck, give one of your fellow knitsters a call. We love to help and really don't mind.

One more thing, we have scheduled weekly meetings: Wednesdays on level 10 (10333) and Thursdays on level 13 (13405). The organizers will make every effort to attend one of these weekly meetings. But, I’m sure, just as your schedule can be hectic, things come up and we are unable to attend. Please, feel free to go ahead and knit with whoever shows up. Sometimes there will be lots of knitters and sometimes there will only be a few.

Here are some more pictures from our meeting on Wednesday:





























I'm holding a very cool tiger hat completed by Valerie.


Stay tuned for more photos from our meeting -- I'm hoping to receive more from John.

Until next time,
Amy
KNIT ON!