Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Startitis Still in Evidence

Ok, so I couldn't resist starting another project but this one is for a good cause. The son of a knitter in a neighboring city asked that his Mom make helmet liners for his men when they head overseas in December (That's 130 liners that are needed). Since his Mom is a fairly new knitter she asked for help from the knitting community.

Our local yarn shop announced they would provide the yarn (Cascade 220 in colors of black, dark brown, grey, and olive green) for the liners. We signed up and started knitting away. It's a very easy pattern and such a worthwhile cause.

The original pattern was designed by Bonnie Long, Knit Wits and it was designed for the purpose of donating helmet liners to our active service personnel. Operation Helmetliner, Inc. has made changes to the original pattern for clarity and to incorporate suggestions from out Armed Forces.

If you are interested in making helmet liners for the military, you can probably email operationhelmetliner@yahoo.com for further information. As I mentioned earlier, it is a easy knit and is certainly for a great cause.

Just a note: this was only a slight detour on the road to finishing projects.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

So Finish Them Already!

I looked around the house yesterday and realized I have major startitis. I am great at starting projects but at some point seem to run out of enthusiasm for finishing.

So with that in mind, I am going to make a real effort (as opposed to a half hearted one) to finish some stuff. Putting this in writing is important so I don't "forget" about this resolution . Blinders might also help as there are so many things I want to try and a clone just doesn't seem realistic at this point.

Knit Picks Entrelac Tote
This was started in April at the Southeast Fiber Forum under instructor Lori Helms. Great class and lots of fun with a very relaxed instructor. I knit on it quite a bit on that trip but then found other things to do. I just finished knitting it . Now I need to make the handles and felt it which is always a fun part of the process. The kit was from Knit Picks and the yarn was very soft. I enjoyed knitting with it.

Yellow baby blanket of Peaches and Cream cotton
This has been on the needles since last summer. It's not for anyone in particular, just something I started and fell in love with the process. I don't have a pattern for this other than what I feel like making. I wanted each block to be slightly different but to also tie together nicely.

Blue vest
Only 2 pieces of the vest remain to be knitted but it has been sitting around for almost a year. (Do we see a trend here?) It is a simple knit so it should have been finished ages ago but I made a mistake on the last 2 pattern pieces and they have to be redone. Gggggrrrrrr. That's why it was put away for a while. I hate to growl at pieces when I am trying to finish them.

I'll post pictures as I finish the project. This is my motivational technique this week.