If You're Wondering Why

Sixty days from today, I'll be hopping a plane (several, actually) for the Ukraine. It is going to be here before I know it!!

In the fall of 1994, I was starting my senior year of high school. My church and our local association of churches had (and still has) a sister church and a sister association in the Kherson region of the Ukraine and I found out through our youth minister that the following summer, the association would be sending a group of youth and young adults to the area to do some missions work. They were going to be interviewing youth from throughout the association and putting together a team of 10 young people and 3 adult chaperones. I knew as soon as I heard about it that I wanted to go so I put together all of the application and did the interview and in the end, as you may have guessed, I made the cut and spent the months leading up to the summer of 1995 preparing for the trip.

That was a very difficult spring – including getting head lice while volunteering at the homeless mission – but somehow all of that only reinforced the rightness of going. There have been few things in my life that I have been as certain of as I was about going on that trip. I never doubted for even an instant that this was something I was called to do. You know how when you are making a decision about something major, how you weigh the pros and cons and consider the sacrifices versus the benefits and you contemplate if it is what you really want/need? I am usually big for making a list and thinking things through like that but this decision was nothing like that. As soon as I knew I had been accepted to the team, I knew it was the right thing.

I had always wondered what people meant when they said that God had called them to do this or that. I wondered how they knew. Different people had told me different things...one man I knew said that when he was called to be a pastor, it was as if a voice had spoken to him, like a loud whisper directly into his ear. Another person told me that it was like a warmth in her heart, like a rush. I guess for me, it was just a sense of peace, of right-ness and pure joy. I can’t explain it better than that; just that I knew and I never doubted it was where I should be and what I should be doing.

When at last the time came to go, we flew from San Francisco to Odessa, via New York and Vienna. It was a long trip (if I remember correctly, it was about 50 hours from leaving SF until arriving in Odessa.) We were tired and a little anxious, uncertain about what lay ahead. When we landed in Odessa, our plane stopped in the middle of the runway for no apparent reason. Ray, who was our associational director of missions and had been to the area several times, explained to us that the land amidst the runways and on the airport property was used by airport employees for growing fruits and vegetables and for raising livestock. We were stopped in the middle of the runway because someone was herding sheep from one grassy patch in the middle of the runways to another across the way. It was the first of many odd little things none of us had ever experience in the US.
The Ukraine had become an independent nation in December 1991: from communist state to independent republic literally overnight. All of the sudden, people were free to come and go in ways most of them had never experienced. People were able to worship in new ways and talk openly about politics and religion and whatever else they saw fit. In the summer of 1995, politically, things were still largely unsettled and the people of the Ukraine were still finding their national identity (still are to a degree, today, from what I understand. I can’t even imagine what it is like to wake up one day and be a brand new country.) In the midst of all sorts of uncertainty, the people I met there were some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met. If you were to press me for one single reason I want to go back to the Ukraine it would be the people.
At that time the economy was really unstable – for instance, a hand embroidered table runner I bought for my mother in Kherson cost more than 1,000,000 Ukrainian coupons…about $11US – and there was a pretty good chance that if you were exchanging money on the streets, you were probably dealing with the mob. The international airport we flew into had chickens and dogs wandering around loose in the terminals and pay toilets consisting of a large tiled room with a series of holes cut in the floor lined up along the wall. (As you might imagine, your thigh muscles get strong fast when you have to literally squat every time you have to go.) Each place we visited, we stayed in the homes of church members in that particular town. Most of the places we stayed didn’t have any electricity or indoor plumbing but the people were wonderful and kind and generous.

We spend one Sunday afternoon with a church group in a small town where, after worship service, we all walked down to the waterfront and watched some people being baptized in the Black Sea. In another village, we met a man who’d spent 30 years in Siberia because he had been caught conducting a Christian worship service in his living room in the early sixties. When I met him in August of 1995, he had been back in his hometown for about a year and had only just met his grown daughter, who was 3 when he was arrested and had lived her whole life thinking her father was dead. A few days later in a different town, we visited a Russian Orthodox church that had been built by Catherine the Great but during Soviet years had been used as a meeting place for visiting KGB officers.

I met people there who had suffered heartache and persecution and need that I cannot even fathom. People who had never even experienced electricity much less had it in their homes. People who used outhouses and didn’t have refrigeration and grew most of their own food and drank their morning milk just minutes out of the cow. Women who made all of their family’s clothes – and not as a hobby, but as a necessity. People who generously opened their homes to us, because they believed in the work we were doing, even when they were barely able to make ends meet without extra American mouths to feed.

I have been a Christian since I was 8 years old but I have never lost a friend because of my faith. I have never witnessed anyone being persecuted for their faith. I have never had to lie about my faith in God in order to save my life or the life of someone I loved. I have never had to memorize scripture for fear that I would be imprisoned if caught with a bible. I’m not sure that, faced with such situations, I could boldly profession my love for Christ. It was humbling and inspiring and truly life changing.
The purpose of this trip was for us to help with building and improvement projects these churches had going and to share our faith and knowledge of God with the people we encountered there. And we did do those things; but more than that, we were the ones who were blessed. My life was changed by the quiet faith and love I witnessed in these peoples lives. By the sincere joy people took in their families and their churches and the little freedoms and blessings we so often take for granted. I was moved by the people who came to the revival services we participated in and shared their stories. It was humbling to see men who walked miles to work in the morning, worked 10 hour days in a factory and then walked home, happily exhausted, to play with their children and carry water up from the river so the family could cook and bathe.
So the short answer, and maybe the cop-out answer in some people’s minds, is that I believe in my heart that this is work that the Lord is calling me to do. I believe that maybe, just maybe, this kind of work in this place, are the reason I was put on this earth. Never for even one moment in the last 13 years have I doubted that I would go back to the Ukraine. Ask anyone who has known me for more than just a little while and they will tell you that I have always talked about returning. I believe that by going there I am serving the God I love and – I hope – making some small difference in the lives of his people. I don’t know what exactly this trip holds in store for me but I hope that by going, the lives of the orphan children or some of the people in the village or some of the people I meet while I am there will be better for my having been there. I do know that whatever happens, I won’t regret going.

A lot of people have asked me why I am making this trip to the Ukraine. And every time anyone asks, I think the answer has probably been a little different. Not because I don’t know why or that the reasons have changed…just that I have found it nearly impossible to articulate. I hope maybe now I have been able to.

Today's Quote

“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” Robert Browning

(All of these pictures are from my last visit, with the exception of the Lenin statue. I couldn’t find a picture of my own – though I know I took a million of them – so I found that one on Google Images. Everywhere we went, there were statues of Lenin and on little hillsides and grassy knolls, you would see wooden or metal letters: “Ленин с нами” …. “Lenin is With Us”. Echoes of the Soviet era. That particular statue above is in the main square in Kherson.)

How Many Mashed Potatoes Do You Have?

The other night I dreamed that I was on a plane flying to the Ukraine. And (in my dream) I had that unsettled feeling. The one when you are two blocks from work and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you left the curling iron on at home, right next to a box of kleenex. That feeling that you forgot to do something but can’t quite put your finger on it….unsettled. And so I was flying and looking out the window and it went from day to night several times (after all, that’s how dreams are) and we finally landed and we were getting off the plane at the airport (though it was the Houston airport, but we were in the Ukraine – again, dreams). We were standing there at the baggage claim when I realized – in one of those horrifying moments of clarity – that I had forgot to pack the hats. And I sat down in the floor of the airport and cried like a baby. And I kept telling some stranger standing next to me, “What am I going to tell all the knitters? How am I going to explain this?”

Then I woke up with a start, in a cold sweat, feeling sick to my stomach. I got out of bed and went in the spare room and opened up the box of hats, made sure they were all there. Reassuring myself, I guess. I sorted through some of the new hats that I haven’t put in the box yet because I haven’t photographed them for ya’ll yet. (I’m working on it.)

Apparently I don’t have my neuroses quite as tightly controlled as I’d like to think. I mean really, as if after all these many months of planning and preparation, I might actually forget the hats! Of course, it is more deeply rooted than that.

So big news: I’ve decided to raise the hat goal to 400. (If you’ve been over by the Ravelry group, this isn’t actually big news to you.) We are making great progress and I am beside myself excited about this. Every time new hats arrive in my mail or someone drops one off to me, I am inspired all over again. We have “declared” knitters/crocheters from 23 U.S. States (including the absolute myriad of super cool ladies down at the LYS) and 15 other countries. I’ve received hats from 37 different crafters. We are 72 days into the project with 70 days to go until I leave.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my coworker Mary had gotten her mother on the hat knitting bandwagon. A couple of weeks ago her mom, Maxine, game up from Arizona for a visit and brought with her twenty hats that’d she been working on over the last couple of months. And during her brief visit, she has continued knitting hats but I’ve yet to convince Mary to bring her to work so I can thank her. Wednesday Mary brought me two more lovely lids (for a total of 30 from Maxine!) and she told me that her mom needed to take a break because her arm was tired! Well, I would think so. I gave my whole-heartedly blessing to Maxine’s well deserved break. (as if my blessing mattered!!) Thank you Maxine!

This week I’ve received hats from all sorts of fabulous people and places.

Erin in Sunnyvale sent a package which was fabulous – I made my coworkers try on her hats when they arrived but I didn’t have my camera with me.

I received a package from the always wonderful Trixie in Alaska…10 fabulous hats (brims lined with cashmere!!) and two beautiful, perfect, heavy glass jars of blueberry jam, handmade by Trixie and her children, from blueberries handpicked in their very own backyard. Thank you Trixie, so much. You are just lovely. If I show up on your doorstep one day, will you let me sleep on your couch for a few days and take pictures of your beautiful surroundings?

Hats came from Lynn in Florida. Richly-colored, thick lovely hats. She made mostly rolled brim hats and when she packaged them in the box, she rolled them up and stacked them. When I took them out, they looked like delicious, wooly candy! (Lynn, did you mail these quite a while back? If the postmark is right, it took them nearly three weeks to get here. Crazy!) My co-worker, Judy, also brought me more hats. They are crocheted and just as cute as can be. I missed Wednesday night knitting this week because I went to San Francisco to pick up my SIL at the airport so I’m guessing Kaylee probably has a hat or two over there for me. (Every time I’m there, she seems to have something lovely that one of the “day time knitters” has dropped off. Have I mentioned a flippin’ awesome it is to have an LYS?)

Kim, whom I “met” so many moons ago through a scarf exchange, sent me four soft and lovely hats. Reds and greys.

If you’ve sent hats and I haven’t mentioned them or emailed you, please please drop me a line so a) we can make sure I got them and 2) so I can thank you publicly. If I’ve neglected to email my thanks, I pray that you will forgive me. People email or message me asking for the address to mail the hats to and yet, when the packages arrive (at the very address I so recently provided) I am surprised and excited. I get them out of their various packages and I ohh and ahh and admire them as a group and then I look at each one individually and admire the craftsmanship – because the artistry in each of these hats is endlessly varied and inevitably stellar – and then I hold each one and admire the smooshy softness and touch them too my face (ya’ll know…) and I almost always find someone standing nearby to try them on so I can admire them from afar. And then for the next several hours, I show them to anyone and everyone who will stop to look. I’m like a child on Christmas.

If ya’ll will humor me for a moment, and forgive me a little philosophizing, I’ll tell you something. Here’s the thing: If you were to ask me, I would tell you that I am a pretty cynical person. That I don’t have a lot of confidence in the goodness or decency of people in general. I would tell you that I have a very strong faith in God but very little faith in humankind. I would tell you that I can be mean-spirited and I am sort of a hard-ass. But the reality is, if I told you all of that, I’d mostly be lying. People who know me best would likely tell a very different story. I can be realistic about people’s nature when I need to be (professionally, for example) but as a general rule, I am about as soft-hearted as they come. I’m probably not cynical enough, really, and I am too willing to expect the best of people. Some might even call me a bit of a goody-two-shoes. I am generally a rule follower and a peacemaker, and usually expect people to do the right thing and be good and decent, even when they’ve made it clear they can’t be trusted. In fact, I have so much faith in human decency that I am (not shockingly but still shockingly) disappointed on a regular basis. I know this about myself and I try to tell myself to hope for the best but expect the worst but it never works out for me. It is just my nature. I take things personally even when I shouldn’t

So this project…it really does my tender little heart good. I’m not really sure I can impress upon you very how much this hat project means to me. I think it is maybe one of the greatest things I’ve ever been a witness to. Maybe that is silly, but hear me out. I know that these hats are not for me (heck, I don’t even like hats – for me, I mean) but there is something so heartwarming and uplifting about watching this come together. To have a simple idea (These orphans are cold. I know how to knit. The orphans need hats) and to see other people – friends, strangers, coworkers, neighbors, friends-I-haven’t-met-yet – join in to help warm the heads of these children – children I haven’t even met yet…children most of these knitters will never meet this side of heaven – it is probably one of the best things I’ve personally ever known. There is something so purely decent and kind and selfless about it all. I feel vindicated. I feel like all the times that people have ever disappointment me are washed clean and that maybe I was right about people after all. It makes me think that in the midst of all of the screwed up goings-on on this earth, there is hope for us all. No one objects to making handknit (excuse me: handcrafted) hats for children who, by no fault of their own, have had a tough go of things in life. People who are usually hard-nosed and uninterested find a smile and a kind word for this hats-for-orphans project. I cannot tell you how many people from all corners of my life have, upon hearing of this project, told me “Oh my aunt (mother, brother, cousin, sister) knits. I’ll ask her to make a hat.” Or “I don’t knit but can I give you money to buy yarn to make something from me?” Or (maybe best of all) “I don’t knit but I’ll makes hats if you’ll teach me how.” It is humbling and wonderful to be a part of this. After the rather trying time I’ve had of things in the last couple of years, it is wildly comforting and refreshing to see so many people so willing – and enthusiastic! – to make hats for these kids. So thank you – all of you – for every stitch and every email and every kind word and every contribution. Long before these hats ever make that long trip to the Rivne orphanages, goodness has come from this undertaking.

When I first started this project, someone said to me, “That’s a lot of hats. Do you really think people will want to do that? I mean, that’s gonna be expensive.” I told her my thoughts: most knitters I know are generous people and most knitters I know are willing to dip a little into their yarn budget to do something good for the world. And every single day, someone out there proves me right. Thank you for that, too. I came across this quote and I think it is apropos.

“Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.” -Norman Vincent Peale

In more fun news, the ever fabulous, ever generous Susie has volunteered to dye up a couple of skeins of prize yarn especially for this project. I won’t tell you what they’ll look like but I will tell you they will be in colors related to the project.

Also, I have been working on this for a while but wasn’t ready to tell anyone. I’m going to have a “Participation Prize” for every knitter who has sent hats by the time I leave. (Not per hat, just per person.) See, for the last several weeks. I’ve been making sets of stitch markers for each of you. My ever lovely (still sockless) SIL Lori is helping me and they are going to be so cute. (If I do say so myself….) Anyway, I tell you this because it wasn’t until after the hats started arriving that I decided on this plan so, while I have kept note of every person who’s sent me a hat or hats so far in order to put their names in the prize drawing at the end, I hadn’t been keeping up with mailing addresses. If you’ve already sent in hats to me, please email me at crickitleighhotmailcom with your snail mail address so that I can make sure you get your stitch markers in October. Also, FYI, as you probably know, RC is handling the logistics of the prize part of this project and she and I have been trying to decide if we should draw for and mail prizes while I am gone (which would be sometime between September 20 and October 8) or if we should wait until I come back (which would mean prizes would go out sometime during the last two weeks of October). Obviously, the advantage of doing it while I am gone is that everyone gets their stuff sooner but if we wait there is the dual advantage of me being here (which is really only an advantage for me) and secondarily, that we could include a picture from the trip with all of the prizes and stitch markers. I’d like some participant input on this.

Side note: There has been some discussion over at Ravelry about fiber content. The plan was to have hats from natural fibers or natural fiber blends. This is not a matter of yarn-snobbery but simple a matter of function. These hats, while intended as gifts to brighten these children’s lives, are primarily gifts of necessity. It is very cold there and the goal is warmth. I’ve received several hats that are acrylic or other synthetic fibers. One Raveler mentioned that acrylic hats are largely decorative outside and provide little warmth; this is very true but I know that they can be used so I’ve made the decision to take these hats along anyway. I’m keeping them separate so they will know that these hats should probably be mainly for indoors or layering but please know they will go to a good home. If someone brings you a synthetic fiber hat or mentions that they have made them, please go ahead and send them to me. While wool and animal fibers are still best all hats will be lovingly received.

So, anybody interested in knowing how many hats we have now?

Including the 120 shown in the previous post, 12 hats at RC’s house and these

91 additional hats, we’ve reach (drumroll please)

224!

Only 176 to go!

Disclaimer: It has been approximately 150F degrees here for the last couple of weeks so my brain is cooked and I've been running a fever, too, so please forgive me if any portion of this post is incoherent.

*ETA correct number

Today’s Quote

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." -Henry Ford

In It for the Long Haul

You know when you’re really busy and you have about 500 chores to do…so many things to do that you don’t know where to begin? That’s like this post. I have so much to say that I don’t know where to start. How about we just dive in, ok?

I know I tend to prattle on and on, even on my best days, but this time I may have outdone myself. I tried to break it up into two posts but without any particular success. Oh well…it’s Friday. We’ve got the whole weekend ahead of us. There are hats and pictures and pictures of hats and updates and non-knitting content and made up words and flagrant misuse of punctuation…we’ve got it all. So sit back, relax, get comfortable and enjoy. On second thought, don’t get too comfortable. I’d hate for you to doze off before you get to the picture of the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge at the end.

Mile Marker 95

I leave for the Ukraine in 95 days.
I’m taking note of this because I know how these things happen…I know that right now (to me at least) it seems like this trip is a long way off. I also know that I am going to turn around twice and it will be time to pack my things and go. And I am going to wonder where the time went. So I guess this is sort of like verbal breadcrumbs. More than three months. 95 days.

Contain Yourself

As this project grows, so must the receptacles in which I hold the hat-tasticness. When I very first started this, the hats I received fit nicely in my regular knitting bag but as time goes on and more and more hats come my way, the hats have, of course, taken up more room. I had to find a different container as they started to overwhelm my knitting bag.

At first I moved them to this green-grocery bag. (Green, of course, in the sense that it is reusable and saves us from the brown bags and plastic bags. Obviously, I'm not doing too well on that front if I am using it to haul hats around in and still getting paper and plastic to bring home my groceries.)
Later, they grew into this upholstered bag provided to me by my friend Molly’s main squeeze, Rob (he made the bag himself) and some stayed in the boxes they arrived in.

Now that I’ve got them all consolidated, they won't fit into the upholstered bag anymore so they have moved into new digs. The box my suitcase came in. There is still room in there for more hats. See, not quite full. They are going to hang out there for a while, next to my crutches.

Survey Says

Several people have asked me in the last couple of days what the current hat count is and I didn’t really know the number. I knew it was over 100 maybe 120. I was guessing 117, after going to knitting night Wednesday. For the sake of hat knitters everywhere (and because I hate not knowing exactly), last night I got all of the hats out and counted and photographed them. My kitchen table isn’t that big so I can’t get all of the hats laid out at once (which is pretty dang cool). Here they are, in three acts.

These first two pictures show 60 hats and 53 hats, respectively. That put the count at 113. That didn’t sound right to me for some reason but I can admit when my facts are fuzzy. 113 it is then. A very good number. So I gathered all the hats up and put them away and then I turned around and saw a small bag of hats on my couch. Damn. My best efforts to take a picture of all of them at once had failed. Whatever. I didn’t want to get them all back out so I photographed the last 7 separately.
The intrepid RC also has 4 hats (and 20 some pairs of mittens!!) at her house. (See pictures here.)

Which puts us at 124 (knitting has made me better at math). This count includes only those hats I and/or RC currently have in possession. I know there are others out there…Two that my co-worker Judy crocheted, which she is showing around to some of her family and friends before she relinquishes custody….Two that my friend Deb is doing, the first is completed and its “negative”/fraternal twin hat still on the needles, both done in the Fake Isle fair isles pattern. They are both beautiful. (She has pictures in this post.) She’s holding on to them until she shows them to the knitters at her Monday knitting group. There’s also one that I knit that is hanging out at Hooks & Needles for a while. And one that Katy finished and still has at her house plus one that my co-worker Yo has. I let her keep it for a little while longer. After all, it is her first hat and her first knitting ever. She deserves to hold on to it a bit longer. Oh – and 15 that my friend Mary's mother has done in Arizona.

That’s 22 more but my self-imposed rule is to only count those hats I actually have on hand and the ones that RC has on hand. Yippee for 124!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. A Thousand Times Thank You

This is fabulous news, ya’ll. I can’t say thank you enough. As usual, the knitters are awesome. I must admit, not even begrudgingly, that the crocheters are pretty dang marvelous in their own right. The generosity and kindness…the diversity of the hats… ya’ll never cease to amaze me…ya’ll rock! 300+, here we come!!

Just for the fun of it, here are some individual shots for your viewing pleasure. (Dial-up users, forgive me. Please.)


These hats were made by the fabulous Katrina and are the latest additions to the collection.
10 from her, all in a row. Katrina sent me the sweetest email when she mailed the hats, in which she told me that this project has inspired her and she has started knitting hats for her local Salvation Army. How cool is that? Thank you, Katrina!

Kim knit this hat. It was one of the first to arrive to me in the mail. I love the pattern and it is super soft. I’m guessing it is made from the Patons SWS. (Kim, correct me please if I am wrong.)

Ahh, look who it is. This is the hat that started it all. It isn’t a great hat. In fact, it is a little awkward. If I were to set you up on a blind date with this hat, I would probably tell you it has a great personality. That doesn’t matter, though. It’s beautiful on the inside. See, the weekend after I found out about my trip to the Ukraine, I went to the Bay Area to do a little shopping with Katy and my mama. I was in a rush the morning we left so I just grabbed my knitting bag and a ball of Icelandic Wool I had in the stash. I had in mind to knit a hat for an as-yet-unborn-baby of a friend. The needles I had in my bag and the yarn I took along weren’t a perfect marriage for a baby hat but they were all the knitting I had with me so I just kept knitting that hat. And as it grew, so did the idea of making hats for these orphans. I guess it just goes to show that even a thoroughly imperfect hat can be perfect, too.

Here's the latest addition from Deb. Knit from a bulky Cascade in a simple foliage pattern (I think from Knitty.) Very pretty and cushy. It was Deb who set up the Ravelry group.

Come in under the “best use of hat topper decoration” category, this hat, which was knit by a lady named Lee who sometimes joins us at Hooks & Needles on Wednesday nights. Coincidentally, she was Katy’s psych teacher in college years ago. I’m super keen on that tassel/pompom action.

I love love LOVE this precious little hat. I need to get the pattern from Bea. (Coincidentally, I think one of the hats Colleen has is from the same pattern.)

This is one of Bea’s hats, too. I also want to knit this pattern. I’ve tried to just look at it and figure it out but I want the actual pattern. It is really cute and a very practical hat. I need to make a hat for my niece Tegan and I think this is a nifty pattern for her.

This hat is knit from di'Ve Teseo (the kind-hearted step-sister of the Autunno, which is still officially my favorite hat yarn.) This particular fall-colored delight was knit by the lovely Anita, who is not only a neat lady and big help to everyone at Hooks & Needles but also my supplier…of the best coffee I’ve ever tasted. Yum. Anita rocks hardcore.

My LYS proprietress-of-fabulosity knit this sweet little pastel hat from a pattern of her own making out of a new shade of Autunno. I’m showing you Kaylee’s hat as a reminder that she’s still offering a 10% discount on hat yarn to local shoppers and free shipping for knitters from afar. (Hooks & Needles)

Team effort hat, part the first: This hat was Kool-Aid dyed by crazy fast knitter Julie and then turned into an awesome hat by her daughter-in-law.

Team effort hat #2: My friend Mary knit this little hat from some leftover wool (the navy, top part of hat) but discovered she didn’t have enough to do a whole hat. Mary is a newish knitter and wasn’t sure what to do at that point so she just finished it off and decided it would just be a small hat. Unfortunately it was a little too small. So I took it to Kaylee and she crocheted that fancy little multi-color border and the hat is just right now.

Hats are super cool but so are prizes. One prize in the Super-Cool-Hat-Knitting-Contest-Pool is two skeins of Interlacements in the Alabama colorway. Each of these two skeins is 800 yards and 100% cotton.

Two additional prizes: SCARVES!! These two handknit beauties were made by the ever-talented Kim. Each scarf will be paired with some not-yet-determined something else, probably yarn. Thanks, Kim!

Flat Knitting is Cool, Too

Back in the murky days of the early part of this year, when I was busy wallowing and not blogging or doing much knitting, my friend Molly decided she wanted to learn to do Entrelac. (I mentioned this in a post a few weeks ago.) Since I am a pushover, I volunteered to learn it so I could help her. Turns out that this technique, which was always very intimidating to me, is actually quite straightforward. Straightforward and surprisingly enjoyable knitting. So enjoyable, in fact, that immediately after completing the sample, I cast on for a pillow top. (After all, I had an 18” pillow form in my spare closet, just waiting to meet its destiny. And apparently its destiny is Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton Silk.)
I’ve got the fabric for the back. I wonder how long it is going to take me to drag out the sewing machine and make it into an actual pillow case…we’ll see. But the knitting was fun.

Excitement Afoot

If you are relatively new to this blog, this news isn’t going to mean much to you but it is great news, nonetheless. See this?
That is perhaps the best ankle brace ever made. Lightweight, thin enough to fit in most of my shoes, very supportive, comfortable…Best of all, though, today is the last day I have to wear it – or any brace – on a regular basis. I’ll keep it around for distance walking and playing badminton and other activities that are particularly demanding on the ankle, but otherwise I’m free of it. Third time is indeed a charm. No more ankle surgery on the horizon for me. My ankle is almost completely better. Not absolutely better yet, but well on its way. Per yesterday’s visit with the good doctor, the grafts are “fully incorporated” and the cartilage has “stitched together nicely”. I can walk and I can climb on rocks and I can go up and down steps and I can bend it every which way I please and – AND – I can even stand on my tiptoes. A very important thing at 5’2”. I can’t even articulate how pleased and relieved I am to be at this point.

I Digress

Remember earlier in this post, I mentioned about going to the Bay Area a while back with my sister and my mother? Well it was a really wonderful, peaceful, relaxing day. We did do a little shopping but then we got a wild hair and decided to do a little sightseeing, too. San Francisco is well-known for its many sights and activities but one of the less well-known is Fort Point. Fort Point is located directly under the southern side of the Golden Gate Bridge and was the only fortification on the Pacific Coast during the Civil War. It has had other functions since then but today it is a National Historic site. Interestingly, when the Golden Gate Bridge was originally planned, it included the destruction of Fort Point but the Chief Engineer redesigned some of the bridge elements in order to keep the fort intact.

Just a couple of pictures from there. Katy and I went up to the top and it was beautiful from there. Very, very windy and beautiful. Katy then me.
A murky shot of Mama and Katy in one of the alcoves where cannons were once mounted.
Even if you aren’t interested in the history of it, there are some beautiful views from Fort Point and no charge to visit. All and all an excellent stop for anyone visiting San Francisco.

As promised: the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge. (I think that is my finger there on the right. Umm.) Whew! I think that’s all for now. Do ya’ll feel caught up? I hope you have a wonderful weekend and thank you again to everyone who is knitting or has knitted hats. Please forgive the hit or miss links. I think I’ve run out of steam…

Today's Quote

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." -Harriet Beecher Stowe

Two Basic Hats

In case anyone is looking for a hat pattern, here are two VERY BASIC patterns I've been using. I know there are a bunch out there that are much cooler than these and you'll have to use a chunky-ish yarn (I've been using the Autunno as frequently mentioned) since these patterns are worked on US Size 10 or 10.5. If nothing else, these patterns can be used as a jumping off point.

***********************************************************************************

HAT PATTERN ONE – BASIC K2, P2 RIB

Abbreviations: K = Knit, P = Purl, K2Tog = Knit 2 stitches together, P2Tog = Purl 2 stitches together

On size US 10 or 10.5 needles, cast on*** 60 stitches. Join to knit in the round, being careful not to twist your stitches.

Row 1: Knit 60
Row 2: Knit 2, Purl 2
Continue repeating Row 2 until the piece measures approximately 6 - 6.5”.

Work decreases as follows:

Decrease Row 1: *K2, P2, K2Tog, P2, K2, P2Tog*, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

Decrease Row 2: *K2, P2, K1, P2, K2, P1*, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

Decrease Row 3: *K2, P1, K2Tog, P2, K1, P2Tog*, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

Decrease Row 4: *K2, P1, K1, P2, K1, P1*, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

Decrease Row 5: *K2, K2Tog, P2, P2Tog*, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

Decrease Row 6: *K3, P3*, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

At the end of Decrease Row 6, cut yarn approximately 12 – 15”. Using a darning or sewing needle, thread yarn tail on to needle and pass through all stitches then pull tight. Weave in end inside hat to secure. Weave in cast on tail. Add pompom if desired.


***I use the knitted cast on but any cast on method will do just fine.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


HAT PATTERN TWO – SIMPLE ROLLED BRIM HAT

Abbreviations: K = Knit, P = Purl, K2Tog = Knit 2 stitches together, P2Tog = Purl 2 stitches together

On size US 10 or 10.5 needles, cast on*** 60 stitches. Join to knit in the round, being careful not to twist your stitches.

Row 1: Knit 60

Repeat Row 1 until hat is approximately 6 – 6.5” from edge when knitting is laid flat.

Work decreases as follows:

Decrease Row 1: *K4, K2Tog *, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

Decrease Row 2: K to the end of the round

Decrease Row 1: *K3, K2Tog *, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

Decrease Row 2: K to the end of the round

Decrease Row 1: *K2, K2Tog *, repeat from * to * to the end of the round

Decrease Row 2: K to the end of the round

At the end of Decrease Row 6, cut yarn approximately 12 – 15”. Using a darning or sewing needle, thread yarn tail on to needle and pass through all stitches then pull tight. Weave in end inside hat to secure. Weave in cast on tail. Add pompom if desired.

So Far

This blog really should be called "At Last Here's A Picture".

I have some individual shots, too, but this is the group as of last Thursday evening. (I really did TAKE the pictures when I planned....)

They are beautiful and I am just so amazed all over again at how wonderful the knitters (and crocheters and supports) are. We are so blessed and I sincerely CANNOT WAIT to see the children's faces. Thanks again everyone!

For all of you attending Potlucks and Knitting today - have fun. Take lots of pictures!!!

Watch This Space

As ya'll may have noticed, I seem to live by a pretty loose interpretation of time. Like, when I say I'm going to take pictures over the weekend, sometimes that means, not the weekend but sometime. You know, eventually.

This past weekend turned out to be strangely chaotic and I didn't get pictures done but tonight I have firm plans to conduct a Hat Photo Shot. I'm so excited. Please check back tomorrow (realistically, probably late afternoon/early evening) for pictures of the hats so far. I will also have a new accurate count....we are somewhere in the 80s now.

Not to be repetitively redundant but for informational purposes and because I'm not sure if everyone who reads here is on Ravelry, I am posting this update verbatim from the Ravelry group. People have been asking (and rightly so - hurray!) what I plan to do if I end up with more than 300 hats....

Thank you so much for asking. At the moment, I have 70 hats. If I receive more than the minimum needed of 300, I will take them with me to Ukraine. My reasoning on that is twofold:

1) 300 is the approximate number of children currently living in this particular orphanage. The number of residents at a facility like this can fluctuate from day-to-day and so by September, there may be more children living there. The maximum they can they can accommodate is 425 though they have not ever “reached capacity”.

2) If there are more hats than heads, I’d like to leave extra hats with the staff so when new children come to live there, they will be able to provide those children a hat as a sort of welcome gift. I can only imagine how frightening and intimidating it most be to enter a facility like that - with literally hundreds of other children - and I like to think that a little personal handmade gift might brighten a difficult day for those children.

Additionally, if we end up with more than needed, I’d like to include the staff of the orphanage in the handknit hat love. There are less than 30 workers in this facility (what a daunting task…can you even fathom what that kind of work must be like?) and I’m sure they would appreciate a special hat, too, if there are enough.

If you have any other thoughts/questions on that please let me know.

Ok. Just a quickie but I am all out of time at the moment. Come back tomorrow for the pictures!!


Today's Quote:

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” Gandhi