charity

In 2011 I knit a lot of scarves for charity. In spring, I learned a new stitch, the "half patent" as it is called in Germany and I guess it's called brioche stitch in English. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Anyhow, I got bitten by the scarf bug and I made scarf after scarf with this new stitch, plowing through my stash of woolen, warm yarns in different weights. Last year I had donated some scarves and hats to the homeless in a nearby city, and exactly these homeless people I had in mind right from the beginning.

I finished 8 scarves in brioche stitch in 2011! Here they all are. There's also a hat I made and a scarf I made in 2012, and that's what I sent to the charity to donate for the homeless a few weeks ago. Good timing it was, as it's just now starting to get really cold here.

Remember my 17 mice from last year? Well, I made 8 more this year! They are selling so well that I may have to make a few more soon.

I used one ball of handdyed-with-KoolAid Marks&Kattens Eco Ull for these mice. They were all knit on 6mm needles. I made them all smaller than the original instructions call for, as my gauge is much bigger.

I love knitting these little mice, but I had so much trouble felting them! They're so small, they pile up between the washing machine hatch and the drum, refusing to felt (I have a frontloader as almose everyone in Europe).

Not before my husband had the brilliant idea of putting the mice in a net bag (you know the ones oranges come in?), sew the bag closed and felt the mice in the bag did they really felt. What a great idea! I'll do that every time now.

You know what? I finished these mitts in 2010. The only reason I haven't posted about them was because I thought I'd write the pattern down and post the pics then.

Well, I might still do that, but I think it's such a shame these lovely mitts and the great photos my husband took of them might never be blogged, just because I'm not into pattern writing right now! I mean, just looking at these pictures makes me happy, so why the heck just not post now.

So here they are - my Twisted Rib Mittens in a lovely, fiery-coloured wool/acrylic blend yarn. The trick in these mittens is really just the twisted rib in the cuff and in the finger part.

These have been since given to charity. How do you like them?

In August, I took on the challenge to make 25 squares for Knit a Square by the end of 2011.

Today I proudly present my (most likely the) last squares for 2011 which bring my tally up to 42 squares! I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. I've sent the first patch of squares to South Africa already and my second package is ready for sending, too.

These last 10 squares are all garter stitch with thick needles, either with thick yarn or yarn held double.

I'm tempted to make 8 more squares to reach 50, but I doubt that will happen this year.

Two more charity knits to my tally (closing in on 50!). These are very simple preemie blankets, knit with 100% cotton I bought from a friend earlier this year.

What I did was to cast on 90 stitches, knit every row for 10 rows, then knit all right side rows and k10, p70, k10 the wrong side rows until I had nearly a square, then knit 10 rows again. The blankets are about 50 x 50 cm in size, just perfect for preemies and exactly as the charity I am knitting for, Frühchenstricken, needs them.

Both blankets took three balls of yarn, that's 150 grams. I knit them on 4 mm needles even though the yarn called for smaller needles to make the blankets softer. I've noticed that items made with mercerized cotton tend to be rather hard, and a looser gauge helps with that.

It's been a month since my last confession... no, I mean my last Knit a Squillion square posting! I haven't been as busy a bee as I was in August, but I've met my goal and passed it!

This month, I've knit 10 new squares, five in organic cotton, three in sock yarn held double or triple, and one in Lang Eve yarn.

All are garter stitch, warm and thick, and I hope the children that wil be getting the finished blankets will love them.

I've also finished a preemie blanket with 150 grams of cotton in bright, happy yellow. The blanket is about 50 x 50 cm big, stockinette with garter edges. This will go to charity, too.

I am still working on scarves for charity, using up my supply of single balls of wool (blends) and half balls left from other projects. I haven't made much progress this summer, but here are three. That's better than none, no?

The first one is made with local German sheep's wool (orange), Finnish wool (grey) and industrial made green vintage German yarn called Tiffany, which I used in a scarf I made in May, too.

I wanted to use the orange yarn to "bind" the design, but noticed I wouldn't have enough to continue making wide stripes with it. So at around halfway through the scarf, I changed the striping and made all three colours exactly the same width.

I think it looks really nice and certainly original, don't you think?

Motivation is really a funny thing. Once something really gets you moving, there's no stopping it. If you have two motivators pushing you towards the same goal, you can accomplish anything.

Like 16 squares in a week.

That's right - since my last update on Saturday the 13th where I had 6 squares done for the Knit a Squillion challenge, I have started and finished 16 new squares! My total tally at this moment is therefore 22 squares - just three short of my commitment!

How on earth was that possible? I work full time, I've been going to the gym 4 times a week and even taken care of my ill husband (he had the cold) the past week. Haven't I slept, but knitted through the nights like a craft-obsessed Tyler Durden? Well, not quite.

Although I haven't been blogging much, I've been a busy bee - I signed up to a gym to try it out for this month, so I have been going there pretty much daily. I also have finished my first six squares for the Knit a Squillion action, for which I committed to knit 25 squares this year.

I was reading Minimalist Knitter's (aka Robyn's) site as I often do and came across her newest charity endeavour: participating in Knit a Squillion action by Knit a Square.

Their ambitious plan is to to send 1,2 million squares to South Africa by July 10, 2012.

I mean: wow. 1,2 million squares will make blankets for 36.000 children in need. I thought: I want to participate in this!

Robyn set up a challenge for herself and for her readers: she will make 10 squares a month and challenges everyone reading her blog to make 25 squares. And you know what: I'll take the challenge and pass it on.