Look, I Made A Hat... Where There Never Was A Hat.

Now to answer the burning question: what did I decide to knit while I waited for my sock yarn to arrive?

OK, it's not a big stretch. I had plenty of that wonderfully soft lavender yarn left over after the first hat, so... I call them Hat and Little Sister Of Hat. Made to fit a toddler and a preemie. When I started knitting the second one, I thought I'd just give the larger hat to Baby A.K., since she loves it so much. But something rather life-altering happened to me yesterday and I decided that both hats will go to charity. I hope they find a good home/s. And I'll talk about the life-altering thing another day.

Meanwhile, guess what arrived in the mail today? No hostage situation at the post office after all - my sock yarn is here!

Need... Project! Need... PROJECT!!!

I haven't been myself these past couple days. Jittery, unsettled, can't concentrate, bored... it must be YARN WITHDRAWAL. I haven't knit a thing this week. The hat's done, I'm still waiting for my yarn to finish Husband of A.K.'s socks (BTW, this is what he does all day), I have a sweater that's been waiting to be finished for 2 years but there's no sense in getting into that since the sock yarn will be here any day and anyway I promised H of A.K. that I wouldn't touch it until his socks were done and where the heck is that sock yarn anyway you'd think it was being shipped from Siberia or somewhere that doesn't have a post office could someone at the post office be holding my yarn hostage... ?

pant, pant, pant I'm OK... really. Just... catching... my... breath... pant, pant, pant

One good thing, though - I got a copy of Lion Brand Yarn's Fall/Winter catalog today. Lots of cute patterns in there - Baby A.K. will probably be sporting a pair of the nifty Wool-Ease socks sometime soon (after my 2-year-old sweater, of course), and the Cable Luxe Tunic is so me. You know, I used to shun Lion Brand, and for the dumbest reason: it wasn't carried in LYSs that I'd visited, so I figured it must not be very good quality yarn. It didn't take long for me to get over this yarn prejudice - since my LYS isn't so L, sometimes I just needed to get a fix when I was in-between projects. Or a friend's birthday would suddenly show up on my calendar a week away, and I needed a quick gift of knitted goodness to give. I can always find it at the nearby craft stores, the quality is very good, and... well, I just like it. And I'm not ashamed of that.

Hmmmm... I think I have an idea for a knitted something while I wait for my sock yarn... tune in next time to see what I've gotten myself into...

How You Have To Finish The Hat.

The Caps For Kids hat is finished.

It's a nice hat, definitely warm and hat-like. And for my first hat, not bad. I think in the future, though, I'll try a more interesting pattern, maybe some cables or intarsia.

Baby A.K. certainly liked it - she ran around the house screaming, "MY HAT! MY HAT!" and wouldn't give it back. Better find that interesting, cables-or-intarsia pattern quick...

For Glenn.

I met Glenn during training and orientation for The Caring Place. There were a lot of us, but he stood out somehow - tall, quiet, but you definitely felt a sense of strength emanating from him somehow. We went on to become full-fledged volunteers, but we've only been grouped in the same session once (a session = 10 weeks). But we've seen each other around, during Caring Place seminars and activities, and also around the workplace (we work for the same company, but not in the same division. Not even in the same building.).

Time passed, and I noticed an article on our company's Intranet spotlighting Glenn and all of the volunteer activities he's involved with. There were, and I'm not kidding, between 15 and 20 organizations that he regularly gives his free time to. I was stunned - how does one person have that kind of free time? Or, more appropriately, how does one person have such a big heart?

More time passed, and through announcements at The Caring Place and through email, I learned that Glenn had cancer - many, many tumors throughout his body. He went through the ringer - surgery, chemo, medication - and at one point, his cancer seemed beaten. I saw him at a Caring Place quilt dedication (he, of course, had volunteered to help run the event that day), looking a little pale and tired, but he was SO happy to be there. His eyes really gave that away. He remembered me, and we chatted and I wished him continued good luck and good health.

Last week I received another email that Glenn won the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service, and was up for the national award in Washington, DC. His sister, who also works at my company, sent pictures of Glenn receiving the award from Senator Bob Casey. Sadly, this had to take place in the hospital - Glenn had been admitted for surgery to relieve some complications of his illness, which had returned. Yesterday, I got word that the surgery was not successful - he has a large tumor in his abdomen that can't be removed or operated around. He'll be moving in with his sister next week to rest and recover and... I don't even want to go there.

I could easily go on about how unfair it is that such a remarkable, generous person has to endure such suffering, but instead, I'll get to the point of why I wanted to talk about this. One of the email updates I received was from the volunteer coordinator at The Caring Place, who mentioned that while Glenn's been sick, he learned how to crochet, and has been making blankets that he's sold to raise money for organizations that support the less fortunate. Doesn't that just say it all? Even while battling cancer, enduring great pain and uncertainty, he's still giving his time to others. How many of us could, or would, do the same under those circumstances? I'm going to see if I can get some pictures of those blankets.

I may not know Glenn very well personally, but I'd like him to know he's changed my life. The hat is only the beginning.

Sock Status.

Still working on the hat for Caps For Kids, but hooray! Got word from my LYS that a nice new skein of Austermann Step sock yarn is on its way to my eager little hands. As you'll remember, this is the extra yarn I need to finish the Promised Socks for my husband, who's been patiently waiting for them for... many months. I don't remember how many exactly. And neither does he. Which means these are overdue. But c'mon... who wears wool socks in the summer (A.K fans in Iceland, Siberia, and the Arctic Circle excluded)?

Here's the answer to the question I posed on the last post. My absolute favorite musical ever.

Finishing The Hat.

So next weekend is Knitter's Day Out here in Central PA. I learned about it at my knitting Meetup, and I'm sorry I didn't know about this sooner. It's like a 2-day YA meeting (Yarnaholics Anonymous, natch). They're holding classes on tons of great knitting subjects, and they're setting up a Market for those of us who are easily separated from their hard-earned wages. I'm meeting some of my knitting pals for breakfast on the Saturday, then, since none of us registered for classes before the deadline, we're going to shop the Market and I CAN'T WAIT.

The KDO website mentions that they're accepting contributions for Caps For Kids with the admission fee (I'm pretty sure this is the right website. I Googled a few different Caps For Kids organizations, and the KDO website isn't specific and doesn't give a link (trying hard here not to be nit-picky, but c'mon, I'm a Web developer, I notice these things. Should really have a link.), so this is my best guess.). Having quite a lot of yarn in my yarn stash, and awaiting the arrival of another skein of yarn to finish my husband's long-awaited socks, I figured, how hard can this be? I'll knit a hat for a child who really needs it.

Which yarn to use? I had some leftover Zara from a baseball cardigan I made for my friend's son, but I'm not convinced I have enough. I had a lot of crazy odds and ends, but nothing really stood up and screamed "ME! ME! ME! USE MEEEEEE!!!". Then I found it - I have so much yarn left over from the Disastrous Baby Blanket (again, I'll blog about this another day. Oh, the shame...), the only way I can make amends with myself is to use this leftover yarn for a needy child. It's quite nice, too - lavender, super-soft acrylic... perfect.

What pattern to use? I need this to go quickly, so lucky for me, Caps For Kids had their own patterns for both knitted and crocheted hats. So I casted on, joined my stitches in the round, and I'm off and running. Interestingly, the pattern doesn't mention knitting this hat circularly. And uses the word "row", not "round". Please, please, PLEASE let these strange oversights be the fault of some overworked proofreader and not my inability to read a pattern... please!

What do you think? Looks good so far on Baby A.K., so how wrong can I be?

Bonus points to anyone who knows where the title of this post came from.

Craftsters Of A Not-So-Different Stripe.

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone. My husband, Baby A.K. and I spent an agreeable afternoon at the home of our good friends Erich and Deb, who supplied us with BBQ and a final dip in their pool before closing it up for the season. Whenever we're at their house, I try to take a few minutes to walk around and admire Deb's beautiful quilts - all handmade, the majority by her. Sadly, my camera phone doesn't do these justice, but here's a few examples:

This one is called Diamond Shimmer.


And this one is called The Block Less Travelled.


This is a work in progress - the blues and greens are incredibly striking in person. I really need to get a good digital camera.


Before Baby A.K. became too restless, Deb told me how a few of the women in her guild offered to teach her how to crochet and/or knit, to give her something to do while she waits for her son to finish his various extracurricular activities. It kind of got me thinking about how creative types have a natural affinity towards different crafty endeavors, like these quilter-knitters in Deb's guild. Quilters have amazing sewing skills and an eye for color - I wonder how many are also painters, or sew together their own wardrobes? Or maybe some other wonderful and completely different hobby. And how many knitters have other crafty habits? Well, that's easy: a lot. Crochet, anyone (gasp!)? Or felting? Or how about scrapbooking? There's thousands more, of course, and anything we do or see or experience can only make us better artisans. But even if you have only one crafty skill, it's pretty much impossible to not at least have an appreciation for other people's artistic ventures. I see other people's creations and can't help but draw parallels to my knitting; seeing Deb's pieces expands my horizons artistically and inspires me. How can it not be the same for all of us?

So... Craftsters, Unite! We're not so different, after all.