Monkey off my Back
No, I haven't been knitting the Monkey socks. But I do have a finished object to report! Actually, I have two finished objects to report, but only one really counts. I finally finished the border on the mitered-square blanket my class started at camp this summer, and it's blocking right now.
To review, I spent a week up at Camp Unistar over the summer with my family, and I (mostly) paid for our trip with my job there teaching knitting to the campers. The camp is run by and for the Unitarian church, and Unitarians are really into community service, so I planned ahead and brought a bunch of Plymouth Encore in a striping colorway. Any camper who wanted to could knit up a mitered square to go into a baby blanket for charity.
I knit up a couple of squares to start them off, then the rest of the campers pitched in and made enough to complete the project. Then, I was stuck with the "fun" part of sewing it together and knitting on a border. I put this off long enough, and as soon as the December gift knitting was done, I jumped back on it. I have to say it's a little psychedelic - not quite as beautiful as I'd hoped. But it is nice and warm, and this afternoon as I was knitting on the last few rows of border, Julie told me she wished I'd make her a blanket like it. So it must not be all bad.
I'm going to make a call or two next week to find this blankie a home. I definitely want to give it to a local charity - there are plenty of babies in our area who don't have enough warm things for our cold winters. I was originally thinking of the Minneapolis crisis nursery, and I think they will be my first call - but I see on their donations page that they don't want blankets - or maybe they just don't want *used* blankets. We'll see. A second option may be the Minnesota Visiting Nurses Agency - I think I remember having donated something to them through the Guild a few years ago, and I know they visit moms with new babies.
In any case, it's a feel-good finished object, and I feel like I'm finally fulfilling my promise to my campers who worked so hard to help make this blanket for some special baby who needs it.
Oh, and the not-so-feel-good project recently completed...
Here are the clogs I was working on for Joe. It turns out I *did* knit the size bigger than he needs, so I will be whipping up another pair for him right away. Also, I ran them through the dryer in an attempt to get those last unruly spots to go ahead and felt already. You know, every time I've made a felted project, it seems there are always one or two little spots that just don't want to shrink down and give up their stitch definition. That was certainly the case here. I thought the dryer might help get those spots to shrink, but it didn't. And now they're dry and lumpy looking. I need to run them through the wash one more time and stuff something in there to keep their shape while they dry. I may keep them for myself around the house, or more likely, I'll put some soles on them and give them to someone next Christmas. They are quite cozy - I was wearing them around last night.
I have to say, though - as nifty as these clogs are, and as popular as they are among recipients, it's a pattern that I just don't really enjoy knitting. It's too futzy. Not an interesting kind of futzy, like color work or something flashy. No, just futzy of the kind where you're always counting your stitches, picking up stitches, doing three-needle bind-offs, and sewing up seams. Bleh. Still - worth it if it can make someone you love happy, I suppose.
To review, I spent a week up at Camp Unistar over the summer with my family, and I (mostly) paid for our trip with my job there teaching knitting to the campers. The camp is run by and for the Unitarian church, and Unitarians are really into community service, so I planned ahead and brought a bunch of Plymouth Encore in a striping colorway. Any camper who wanted to could knit up a mitered square to go into a baby blanket for charity.
I knit up a couple of squares to start them off, then the rest of the campers pitched in and made enough to complete the project. Then, I was stuck with the "fun" part of sewing it together and knitting on a border. I put this off long enough, and as soon as the December gift knitting was done, I jumped back on it. I have to say it's a little psychedelic - not quite as beautiful as I'd hoped. But it is nice and warm, and this afternoon as I was knitting on the last few rows of border, Julie told me she wished I'd make her a blanket like it. So it must not be all bad.
I'm going to make a call or two next week to find this blankie a home. I definitely want to give it to a local charity - there are plenty of babies in our area who don't have enough warm things for our cold winters. I was originally thinking of the Minneapolis crisis nursery, and I think they will be my first call - but I see on their donations page that they don't want blankets - or maybe they just don't want *used* blankets. We'll see. A second option may be the Minnesota Visiting Nurses Agency - I think I remember having donated something to them through the Guild a few years ago, and I know they visit moms with new babies.
In any case, it's a feel-good finished object, and I feel like I'm finally fulfilling my promise to my campers who worked so hard to help make this blanket for some special baby who needs it.
Oh, and the not-so-feel-good project recently completed...
Here are the clogs I was working on for Joe. It turns out I *did* knit the size bigger than he needs, so I will be whipping up another pair for him right away. Also, I ran them through the dryer in an attempt to get those last unruly spots to go ahead and felt already. You know, every time I've made a felted project, it seems there are always one or two little spots that just don't want to shrink down and give up their stitch definition. That was certainly the case here. I thought the dryer might help get those spots to shrink, but it didn't. And now they're dry and lumpy looking. I need to run them through the wash one more time and stuff something in there to keep their shape while they dry. I may keep them for myself around the house, or more likely, I'll put some soles on them and give them to someone next Christmas. They are quite cozy - I was wearing them around last night.
I have to say, though - as nifty as these clogs are, and as popular as they are among recipients, it's a pattern that I just don't really enjoy knitting. It's too futzy. Not an interesting kind of futzy, like color work or something flashy. No, just futzy of the kind where you're always counting your stitches, picking up stitches, doing three-needle bind-offs, and sewing up seams. Bleh. Still - worth it if it can make someone you love happy, I suppose.
Labels: FO
posted by Shelly Kang at 9:48 PM
4 Comments:
I hear ya! I usually love my results on the felted clogs...but I've got 1 and 75% of a pair to finish for my husband's boss, and another 1 to finish for the bosses' wife. And the one that has been felted so far hasn't felted down as shapely and nicely as my husband's did:P
Have you thought about calling the church that sponsored the camp? They might have a preferred charity, or they may have their own crisis nursery.
You might try hand felting the spots that are too big...get an old fashioned wash board with a metal surface, wet the areas with warm to hot water with a little squirt of dish soap mixed in. Cover the sock with a SYNTHETIC fabric and begin rubbing the sock in the direction that you want it to shrink. Rub back and forth until you see that the sock is beginning to shrink, and then rub more vigorously over the surface of the wash board until it reaches the size you want. I find felting by machine to be SO S L O W and don't have the patience to wait. Give it a try and see the results. Good luck.
Good for you - blanket-wise...
and I do love those clogs.
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