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Posts Tagged ‘charity’

A personal plea – Donors Choose

August 8th, 2009 No comments

My daughter’s former kindergarten teacher has a proposal up on Donors Choose.
More about her and the proposal.

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FO: Toddler hat

May 13th, 2009 No comments

knitcolhatsideknitcolhattop
FO: Toddler hat
Yarn: 3/4 of one ball of Adriafil Knitcol
Needles: US Size 4/3.5mm
Pattern: CO 84, 2×2 rib for base, 12×7 decreases.
Gauge: 6 sts = 1″
Ravelry project page here.

Notes: Modeled on a McCann’s Irish Oatmeal tin. Man I love that stuff. The hat was going to be for Afghans for Afghans, but I’m skeptical that I can get it there by the Friday deadline.

The reason it’s so late in getting done is that I had to remake most of the hat twice. The first time, I used size 5 needles and wasn’t satisfied with the fabric. Too loose. The second time, I was knitting on it during the trailers at a Star Trek IMAX show. In the darkness and conversation with the non-Trekkie friend I brought with me, I lost a stitch in the ribbing. I didn’t notice until the decreases when the stitch count was off. Pulling it up with a crochet hook just puckered the fabric oddly. Rrrrip!

Fortunately, now it’s just fine. I could have gone down to a three, but this is good enough and I’m not doing it again.
Knitcol
I really like this yarn, Adriafil Knitcol. Click the link for the yarn description. You can tell it’s an Italian company because English is definitely not their first language. It’s all correct, just stilted, which makes me smile. I picture lots of fashionable people wearing black and smoking cigarettes and gesturing. My mental image of Italy may be just a wee bit stereotypical, but at least it’s “Roman Holiday” and not “Godfather.”

I never would have bought this yarn based on the way it looked on the ball, but I saw a shop model knitted up last time I visited The Needlecraft Center in Davidson and I really liked it. It’s superwash and sport weight, so it would be great for baby things, socks, or little legwarmers. I’d use this yarn again.

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FO: Lorna’s Laces baby hat

May 6th, 2009 2 comments

LL a4a frontLL a4a top
FO: A4A Lorna’s Laces baby hat
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces worsted in denim and Lorna’s Laces Shepeherd Sock in Lakeview
Needles: Size 9 US/5.5mm
Pattern: CO 42, 1×1 rib four rows, stockinette until piece measures about 3.5″
decrease round 1: *k4, k2tog*, round 2: K1 plain, round 3: *k3, k2tog*, round 4: K1 plain, etc.
Ravelry project page

Notes: This is essentially the baby spiral hat pattern I’ve got up on Ravelry. Although I noticed yesterday that it has a typo and I accidentally overwrote the original, so if you use it before I recreate it, just remember that 8×8=64 and not 65. Ahem.

The hat is modeled on a grapefruit. I didn’t omit plain rounds near the top so it’s a bit peaked, but that’s intentional. It’ll make it easier to pluck it off the top of the head. The yarn is about 40-45 yards leftover from a baby sweater a few years ago.

This is going to Afghans for Afghans, which has a deadline of May 15th for baby through child items for their Spring campaign. It’s a cause I’ve wanted to contribute to for a while now. Sometimes a quick and easy project is just what’s needed to raise one’s spirits, and if it also clears clutter from the house, so much the better.

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This ‘n that.

February 27th, 2009 6 comments

Had coffee this morning with the lovely and charming Katie Bisbee, who is VP of East Region and Mobilization Marketing for Donors Choose. Basically she covers an area from Maine to SC, but since her home base is Charlotte, she thought she’d take some time with some local donors. Looks like a lot of coffee for Katie today, since she met with me at 8 and I know she’s meeting with my mom at 9:30. Pace yourself, Katie!

Hey, have I mentioned the Jayne hat Donors Choose challenge in the last five minutes? No? Well, consider it mentioned. The reading comprehension project for Em’s school only needs $210 now, so it’s very close to being fully funded. Yay! Maybe it’s time to do another Knitters Choose raffle. That raised a few hundred bucks last time and got some yarn out of my house at the same time. Everybody wins!

Sorry if I’m a little rambly – Julia’s Coffee gave me my Thin Mint Mocha in a mug this morning, and it was delicious. So delicious that I really wanted to finish it so I chugged about half of it before leaving. Now my brain is buzzing around like a hummingbird.

cash iroha gauge swatch
At right: gauge swatch in Noro Cash Iroha. I bought 14 balls of this silk, cashmere, and lambswool blend for $74 when The Sewing Bird closed its brick and mortar storefront in 2006. It was an amazing deal. However, if I never knit it up, then it’s not so much an amazing deal as it is $74 spent but never used. It was purchased for Joelle Hoverson’s Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and that’s just what it’s going to be. The desired gauge is 19 stitches and 28 rows over 4 inches on a suggested size 7 needle. I’m a loose knitter, so I used 6’s and got 18 stitches and 28 rows, so I’ll call that good enough.

This’ll be a nice project to work on when I need a break from Jayne hats. Customers, don’t fret – “Craziness prevention knitting” is built into the time estimate on each order. Believe me, it’s better for your order to take an extra day than for me to go bughouse and stop making the hats altogether.

Casting spoiler for Dollhouse.

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Exercise, sleep, and yarn sales

September 11th, 2008 4 comments

Lately I’ve been getting to bed at a semi-reasonable hour, but last night I was up far too late. As a result, I don’t want to go running this morning, but I do want a bagel and a mocha so bad I can taste them. That’s how it goes – when I don’t have enough energy, my body craves the things it knows will give it energy, even if only in the short term. I’m okay with not running, since I walked Em to school this morning. On the return trip it was so misty that I had to take off my glasses. Back on the horse tomorrow.
CDyarncolor2
I’m contemplating a fundraiser for my daughter’s school. There was a Donors Choose proposal that didn’t get funded before deadline, mainly because I didn’t see it until a few days before the deadline. I’ve talked to the teacher since then and she says that no, it doesn’t have to be that exact press, and no, she doesn’t need all the varieties of ink she asked for immediately. I think this project could be brought in for under $500, easy.

I’m debating whether this should be another “Jayne hat proceeds go to this project for a limited time” or just a ginormous stash sale. The stash sale would have the bonus side effect of also reducing the amount of clutter in my home. And really, I do have some nice things. Sock yarn from Creatively Dyed (one skein pictured at right), Koigu, Lorna’s Laces, Noro, Debbie Bliss, Mission Falls… it’s almost criminal that it’s going un-knitted. The last stash raffle I did raised over $200, but I might do just a straight bargain sale this time.

I’m still mulling over options, but what do you think? Straight sale or $10 raffle? Shall I release some of my gorgeous stash into the wild?

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Once more with convenient removal handle.

July 4th, 2008 No comments


Another preemie to small newborn size hat, this time using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport Multi, 100% machine washable soft wool. It’s the same pattern – size 3 needles, 48 stitch caston, but this time with a little i-cord nub at the top. This is modeled over a large apple, and you can see it has to stretch a bit to fit over it.

I bought this yarn at Haus of Yarn in Nashville a few years ago on the way through Tennessee to St Louis for Simucon. It’s not my color at all, so I’m not sure why I got it. I last used it for a tiny pair of baby socks. It’s perfect for these little hats. I’ve got another pattern I want to write up, and I think this yarn will do just fine for it. When you’re making tiny little clothes, one skein goes a long way.

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Pardon my French, but…

January 15th, 2008 16 comments

HOLY CRAP. It’s a post-Christmas miracle! This is the proposal from my kid’s music teacher. She was asking for enough xylophones for her music room for all the students to use in a given class period. The Browncoats and friends raised about $800 smackers for that proposal, out of a needed $4000+. I genuinely thought there was absolutely no way the proposal would be funded. But there it sits, only $95 short of its goal with only nine days left to go.

WHAT HAPPENED? Did Bill Gates take up the marimba? Did the ghost of Lionel Hampton smile down upon Charlotte? Did some eccentric billionaire watch Em’s production of the Music Man and remember the school in his will?

I have no idea… but wow. Just wow.

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Donors Choose

December 13th, 2007 No comments

By the way, if you wanted to do something for my kid’s music teacher, she’s got a request up on DonorsChoose.com. I think it’s about time to get another yarn-for-donations raffle going. Hmm.



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And that’s when I started crying.

March 24th, 2006 8 comments
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A serviceman made my day!

February 3rd, 2006 10 comments
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