Our Summer of Adventure Continues with Socktopussy

The summer programs have been full of James Bond adventure, and August’s program was no exception.  With the help of Diana and Joel, we were able to tackle the pressing question of the day – to knit socks toe up or cuff down?   I’m not sure we received a definitive answer to the question, but we sure enjoyed the show.  We received some great sock-knitting pointers, including a favorite cast on for to-up socks and how to avoid the “noose” when transitioning between the leg and the instep.

Diana clearly enjoyed her role as Soctopussy . . .

Please don’t forget that we have wonderful resources in our AKG library, including books about sock-knitting.  I especially enjoyed Socks A La Carte by Jonelle Raffino which uses flip charts to create your own sock pattern.

Trauma Bear Project.  On a separate note, we’ve done an amazing job making sweaters for our Trauma Bear project.  Over 52 sweaters were donated in August alone!  Needle Nook has joined the AKG in its quest for sweaters, and it has produced over 30 sweaters.  Keep ‘em coming!

Show and Tell.  As usual, our members create the most amazing knitted projects.

I hope my version of Wingspan looks have as pretty as these FOs.

BTW - the yarn over variation on Wingspan is found on Ravelry.com in the AKG forum.

The picture does not do justice to this beautiful jacket . . .

or this sweater.













And I am in love with these beautiful scarves:

I keep hoping that this sweater is available in my size. . . .












And that I can wear the sweater while curling up in this blanket . . .

See you next month!

A Trauma Bear's Personal Trauma

You probably remember Ford.  He’s one of the spokesbears for our Trauma BearProject.  After the August meeting, I volunteered to take him home and watch him until next month.

Someone in my house discovered Ford the next morning. 

Initially, Ford got lots of love, and even enjoyed watching cartoons with the boys.

I don’t know what happened after I left for work, but when I came home at the end of the day, I found this.

Our president, Eve, received a formal request from Ford’s representative requesting hazard pay.  I hate to admit it, but I think he might have a case.   

Scarves for Special Olympics

Jennifer Daniell, Program Services & Grant Manager with Georgia Special Olympics has asked for AKG to help with the knitted scarves given to each athlete at the Indoor Winter Games which will be held Jan 20-22 in Cobb County.  They are looking for 2,400 scarves by January 10, 2012.   The size of the scarf is  6" by 4-5' long in cherry red and soft navy and the pattern is your choice.  Visit the website - www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org, then click for sample colors, under "States" pick Georgia and it gives you all the details.  The website will also list where to mail (for out of town knitters) or where you can drop off your scarves in the metro Atlanta area.  The shops where you can drop off your completed scarf are: Needle Nook, Cast-On Cottage and The Whole Nine Yarns.

Community Service Update

Guild members are enthusiastically participating in our Community Service projects. Last week, Whit sent off the most recent set of Helmet Liners. This brings us to a total of 500 liners knitted for US troops.

We continue to have a good response on preemie hats and other items. Elizabeth Halberstadt showed a selection of hats at the October meeting. We have updated the Community Service page with links to four other sites offering patterns; Bev's Country Cottage, P2Designs, Carewear, and Lorraine Majors

In December we will be presenting this year's group of Trauma Bears to the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. Jean Guneysu showed her new design for a bear dress at the October meeting. That pattern and other designs are also available on the Community Service page.

The folks from Georgia Mountain Fiber were so impressed with our Community Service projects at the September meeting that they donated 20 skeins of their 100% alpaca yarn to the Guild. We thought it would be great for hats for the ladies at the Atlanta Day Shelter for Women. If you would like to knit a hat with this luscious yarn, sign out a skein at the November meeting and turn in the finished project at the December or January meeting.

The Helmet Liners require wool yarn in specific colors, but the Preemie Hats and Trauma Bear garments are great projects for using up stash and trying new techniques on a small scale. If you have spare knitting time, consider knitting for one of these projects.

A Top Volunteer

We are thrilled beyond measure that our own Jean Guneysu has been nominated for WXIA/WATL 11 Alive's Community Service Award. She was nominated by LaVann Landrum of the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. Jean has been a tireless advocate for dressing trauma bears. Just this decade, Atlanta Knitting Guild has given over 1500 trauma bears to the advocacy center and its predecessors. Hundreds of those bears were the work of Jean, who never ceases to pour her creativity into her work. She has knit chef bears, beach bears, sporting bears. The bears are presented to the advocacy center at our December meeting. But Jean doesn't take a rest during the year. For example, Jean and Elizabeth H. will be setting up a table at Stitches South so that attendees can donate bears.

A heads up to our membership: There will be a news team at our March meeting. They will be videotaping Jean and the bear project. Since you might get caught on camera, be aware to come dressed as you would like your neighbors to see you if they watch the evening news.

Hansen's bandages made easy?

Knitting Hansen's bandages (Hansen's is the disease formerly known as leprosy) is something AKG has done in the past. The downsides of this particular type of knitting include small needles, threadlike yarn (#10 crochet cotton), and long time commitment.

Yet another reason to go to a guild function is that you might discover something new. In this case, Patti brought her Hansen's bandage loom to Whit's block(ing) party. This is a special loom that produces a double-sided fabric. It is worked in a way similar to French spool knitting. The thread/yarn is wound around the pins, then old stitches are pulled up over new. Patti's loom is stamped with the words "www.dalooms.com". I haven't ordered anything from them, so cannot vouch for them, but provide the link for anyone interested in exploring. Also, quick searches on Google and Ravelry bring me back to this blog. They seem to be the current active distributors of bandages in Vietnam.

So, how cold is it in Afghanistan?

It is winter in Asia, too. This means that American and other coalition forces are now dealing with below-freezing temperatures. A quick check of the weather report for Kabul shows overnight lows in the 20s. There are several folks here in the Atlanta area who continue to be interested in getting warm wool helmet liners onto the heads of the troops.

At our December meeting last week, Kay from Rare Purls not only brought shop goodies -- including beaded Artyarns and Opal Harry Potter sock yarn -- but also a special deal. She sold Cascade 220 in helmet liner colors at a very good price. This was Kay's way of encouraging people to make helmet liners, as one skein of Cascade 220 will make one helmet liner.

If you are on the north side of the city, The Whole Nine Yarns in Woodstock is also encouraging patrons to make helmet liners. In this case, a customer named Doris knit one last year for a soldier serving in Afghanistan. He recently wrote her a thank-you note about how wonderfully warm it is and how very much he appreciates it. He also asked if she could make enough for the dozen soldiers in his unit, as he will be home for Christmas leave and would like to take some back to share. Debi has stepped up to encourage us. Buy a skein of helmet liner appropriate Cascade 220 at The Whole Nine Yarns and keep your receipt. Bring the completed helmet liner and your receipt back before 28 December. The shop will give you a store credit equal to the cost of the yarn.

And, of course, if you live in the Roswell/East Cobb area, Cast On Cottage is also knitting helmet liners. Their ambitious goal is to make 201. This is for Claudia who is the mother-in-law of a serviceman overseas. Cast On Cottage has a helmet liner knitting night from 6-8 PM on the 2nd Thursday of the month, the next of which is tomorrow the 11th. As motivation, Theresa will hold a drawing for a gift certificate from the names of those who complete helmet liners. The more you make, the better your chances of winning.

Thank you to Kay, Debi, Theresa and everyone who has/is participating in this cause. If you need a pattern or more information, you can find it on the AKG website over here.

Tomorrow Night

Since holiday season can be busy, many people are tempted to skip the December meeting. There are several reasons to attend. This is our annual presentation of the Trauma Bears to the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. The range of creativity on the bears is always inspiring. This is your once-a-year chance to see and participate in this important Atlanta Knitting Guild tradition.

Also related to charity knitting, Rare Purls will be attending with a special offer on helmet liner yarn. This is a fun knitting in the round pattern and a great way to show your support -- regardless of your politics -- for our service men and women overseas who are putting their lives on the line.

Needle Nook will be bringing great holiday gift ideas. Gale's Art will be bringing pretty rovings. You can get some of the stuffing that you want for in your stocking -- Santa will thank you for saving him the trouble of shopping!

There will be a raffle to benefit the women's shelter. You may bring items to donate as you like. There will be kits and patterns to pick up for the Stitches South centerpieces. You may donate yarn and other craft items to that cause. There will be opportunities to sign up for Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer classes. There will be opportunities to sign up for The Mountain. And there will be food since this is our annual holiday potluck. If you can, please bring something tasty to share and possibly show off your culinary skills.

See ya'all at the party!

Follow Up

Last week there was a post about some of the many upcoming shop activities in the area. I thought I'd follow up by posting the picture of one of the afghans made by The Whole Nine Yarns. A number of yarn companies generously donated pink yarn. Customers were encouraged to take a ball of yarn home and knit it up into garter-stitch squares or single-crochet squares. They were then sewn together and a border crocheted around the edges. This one and the other afghans will be raffled off at various breast centers around the metro Atlanta area. Proceeds will be used to fund local breast cancer support groups.

In addition to this being a lovely community service project, I thought I'd point out artistically just how great this worked! Many of us are looking for ways to keep knitting in this sour economy. A simple afghan made from scrap yarns can be a great way to use up leftovers. One or two skeins of something fairly basic can be used to visually unite the whole work. Even squares that change halfway through provide interest. A whole blanket of novelty yarns might be a little too crazy, but you can see that a patch here and there lends just the right amount of interest to the composition. A good work on more than one level.

Happenings

There's a lot of good shop news going on in the area. To that end, here are some of the highlights of upcoming special events.

This weekend on Sunday 12 October at 1PM, The Whole Nine Yarns in Woodstock will be hosting their 3rd Annual Breast Cancer Awareness/Research "Kit/Crochet-a-Thon." Donation at the door of $5. All proceeds go to the sisters of Support breast cancer support group in Marietta, Georgia.

In another community service project, Cast-On Cottage is asking patrons to knit helmet liners for the troops. Their goal is to knit 201 -- enough for the commander and his unit. This is an ongoing project that meets on Mondays from 6-8PM. As additional motivation, every finished helmet liner is another chance to win a $50 Cast-on Cottage gift certificate.

And the community service bug extends to Main Street Yarns in Watkinsville. From 6-10PM on Friday 14th November, the shop will host a knit for preemies night. For every hat turned in that evening your name will be entered into a drawing to take place at 10:00 pm and a $50 gift card will be the reward. Dessert and coffee will be provided. The knit-in benefits Bundles Of Joy, a local group that puts together gift packages for parents of preemies and distributes them to both Athens Regional and St Mary's hospitals as well as one in Augusta. The 'bundle' includes products and information for these tiny babies and their parents and Main Street Yarns would like to include hats for them.

Only Ewe and Cotton Too still has just a few spaces left for the SAFF bus trip. This is a great opportunity to ride up and back with other knitters. Somebody else will have to find the gas, read the maps, and locate the parking. This is on Saturday 25 October leaving at 7AM and returning about 10PM.

If you would rather stay in town, Needle Nook is hosting a SAFF knit-in the same day, from 2-5PM. This month the shop has focused on one-skein projects, which are great for using up leftovers or those speciality, "I just had to have it" purchases. And don't forget that Needle Nook will host a Jojoland trunk show from 21 November through 2 December. That gives you a reason to visit during Thanksgiving.

Of course, there are many, many classes available from our local shops. But of special interest on Tuesday 28 & Wednesday 29 October, Knitch will be hosting superstar Leigh Radford of Alterknits fame. Workshops include jewelry making, needle felting, and shibori. These are interesting techniques for working with fiber in a non-knitting way. Many of these techniques are great for embellishing knitted garments and bags, or giving a garment a special handmade touch.

Generosity out and back

One of the activities at this month's meeting was a raffle to benefit the Atlanta Day Shelter for Women and Children. Becky is the committee chair for raffles. She also got help from Susan. Together, they did a great job setting up tables full of goodies. There were many donations to the raffle. Notable among them was yarn from the Yarn Grove, including some Himalaya silk that drew many chances indeed. Other yarns included Joslyn's Fiber Farm, Lorna's Laces, Jitterbug, and Paca-Peds (see photo above). At 50 cents per chance, the guild raised almost $200 to donate to the shelter. Additionally, guild members donated clothing, household goods, and school supplies. It took two car trips -- one from Diana and one from Debra -- to get all the donated goods down to the shelter the following morning. Many thanks to the Yarn Grove, Becky, Susan, Diana, Debra, and all the guild members who donated items or bought chances in the raffle. Your generosity is helping women and children here in Atlanta get their lives back together and get themselves back on the right track.

Community Service

Valerie is our Community Service chair. For the July meeting, Valerie and the community service subcommittee chairs took a few minutes to tell us about what projects are in the works and what is needed to make them happen. Valerie also wrote up and ran off a nice handout that summarizes the projects.

Whit spoke about the helmet liners. The guild has been knitting these for some time, and we've donated almost 300. Earlier this year, we received a certificate of thanks for the first 250. Helmet liners are knit in the round out of wool. A link to the pattern is on our website. A typical liner can be knit in just a couple evenings. The military requires drab colors only, with black being the most desired. Wool in the appropriate colors is welcome.

Jean (photo at top left) spoke about the trauma bears that are donated to the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. The guild has been dressing teddy bears for about twenty years. This is a great opportunity for creativity. We've seen beach bears, sailors bears, even chef bears over the years. And it's a great way to use up scrap yarn or to try out a new technique. There are bear clothes patterns on the website. Jean also had a bear clothes pattern published in this year's Knitting Pattern a Day calendar. And our own library has several patterns for adorable bear clothes. New or very gently used bears are welcome donations.

Diana spoke about the Atlanta Day Shelter for Women and Children. This is another project that the guild has been doing for quite some time. In this case, we donate money or household items, toiletries, clothes, baby items, blankets -- whatever someone setting up a new household with children might need. As school is about to start, school supplies such as notebook paper will be needed. These items are collected at each meeting and Diana graciously delivers them to the shelter.

Julie was not available to discuss stoma covers. These are small, bib-like items with adjustable ties that are used to cover the stoma (hole) left after a tracheostomy. The yarn cannot be anything fuzzy, because the fuzz could be inhaled. Cotton is great for this. Men prefer neutral colors, but the women patients are not afraid to have some fashion style. Again, patterns are available on the website. These are very quick to knit up -- just an hour or two. Donations of cotton yarn for this are appreciated. Even leftovers work well, as these items are not large.

Ro, who also could not attend the July meeting, is our contact person for preemie hats and blankets. Patterns for these items are also available on our website. Again, these are often small items that can be made from leftover yarn and that can be finished just in one evening which watching television.

Thank you to the many guild members for all you give to the wider world. We know that not everybody will want to participate in every project, but we hope that there is a little something for everyone.

(Photos credit: Randie Cowan)