Coming Up Next

The next few months have some big knitting related things happening. First it's time to start thinking about Christmas knitting. Actually, I should have started my Christmas knitting 2 months ago but I prefer the pressure of a deadline. Especially a fast looming, completely set in stone deadline. Who said I don't like to live dangerously?

The next big thing is another Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project drive. This is collection is to help a member of our Ravelry group, Teanne. She is going to Romania in December on a mission trip and will have the opportunity to distribute hats to gypsy children and orphans. Every member of the EEROP Ravelry group is encouraged to knit just 3 hats. So simple and quick but if everyone donates just 3 hats we could collect over 300 for Teanne to distribute! I'm calling it the "Hat Trick" for Romania campaign because in hockey a hat trick is when a player scores 3 goals in a single game. Clever, huh? I'm going to cast on tonight for this hat:

I think it's cute and yet isn't too "Little House on the Prairie." The pattern is from this book:

I picked this up using my birthday gift certificate from Rare Purls. I'm already in love with this book. I started a scarf from the book just the other day.

P.S. This yarn is too cool. It looks like Noro but is softer than Noro. It's Classic Shades by Universal Yarn. My only complaint is that it's a bit splitty but I can deal for those lovely color changes.

The final big thing is that EEROP is also starting a month of sock knitting called Socktober Madness! We're collecting socks in all sizes for distribution with various organizations that EEROP supports. The person who knits the most socks will win some prize goodies :) There are more details about all the campaigns on the EEROP web page. I kind of got a jump on things and started (and finished) a little pair of socks.

Going to get started on that hat now. Have the window open, listening to the end of a thunderstorm and enjoying the cooler (finally) fall weather we are having this evening. Perfect knitting weather!

Breather

I thought I might take a little break from knitting for awhile. Nothing more than just a few days. See, I've been working really hard lately. Doing what? Getting all this ready to ship:

Those are all items for the Project Hope Christmas drive. Some of the items I've had lying around for awhile waiting for an opportunity to come up to be shipped off. Lots of the items though, were knit with this campaign in mind. You'll notice I even managed to finish this guy off in time:

There are still some tweeks I could have made to the collar but after making this sweater I feel like I have a better grasp of raglan construction. Especially from the bottom up. I don't know that I will be trying my hand at design again any time too soon though. Well, especially not on something so complex as fair isle. But I was able to make the sweater wearable and it will go to a little boy who was going to miss out on getting anything because his designated knitter got carpal tunnel :( I guess there was a reason I made this too small after all.

So, like I said, I was going to take a little break from knitting. Work on the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages website and get ready for some up coming campaigns. Maybe organize all the donated yarn I've been getting.

I was going to do all that...

But my hands just needed something to do.

Knit On

It's finally finished and I'm ready to talk about it now. The sweater that is. That's going to Project Hope for a little Romanian boy. And let me tell you, I'm super proud of this sweater.

When I started it almost exactly a month ago, I knew this was the sweater I should have been making all along. When I first looked at the pattern I had thought, this is the perfect sweater to make for Project Hope. But time got away from me and I thought the pattern would take too long to make. And I wasn't sure I had the right type of yarn for the project. But the pattern didn't take too long to knit up and the yarn I used was just perfect.

This is my sweater for Daniel, created from the Intrepid Pullover pattern with yarn I picked up while I was in Peru last summer. It's super warm and turned out really cute. I couldn't be more pleased. I knit through a lot of difficult stuff with this sweater and I was afraid there would be bad vibes in it but actually I think there are nothing but good vibes. I knit a lot of hope for the future into this sweater and positive thoughts that things would turn out ok. Out with the old and create with the new.

I kept the good vibes rolling by immediately starting (and just a few days later, finishing) some socks for the same little boy.

I did these two at a time using the magic loop method (of which I have become a total convert) and, again, they turned out better than I could have hoped for.

There is still one project that I'm starting tonight that will need to be finished up quickly but I hope that my knitting mojo is back. It's funny that it took some set backs for me to find it again. But then I guess that's what this picture is all about.

Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to all my American friends! The day where we don't work in order to celebrate the fact that we do work (more specifically it's to celebrate the labor movement in the U.S.). I've been not laboring too hard all day. I did have to do some laundry and clean the bathrooms but I balanced that out by sleeping in and doing some computer work on the patio while enjoying this fabulous weather (highs of only 85 F/29 C today, it's starting to feel like fall)!

My knitting today has consisted of my stealth knitting project a.k.a. The Project That Is Working So Please Don't Talk About It Or It Might Disintegrate In My Hands. I'm officially Under A Deadline big time with this project and 2 more that haven't been started. Both are for the Project Hope/EEROP summer knitting campaign. I need to have the stealth sweater, a pair of socks, and a pair of mittens finished by September the 13th. I have faith that I can accomplish this since all the items are for a 6 year old boy so thankfully I'm not trying to knit a bunch of adult sized things in the next week. The official deadline for the campaign is the 18th and the really offical must-have-in-my-hands deadline is the 23rd but I want to finish a little sooner because, barring no unforeseen setbacks, I will starting my master's degree on the 13th! I plan to get my M.S. in Counseling Psychology. I've always had a heart for those who have been through difficult situations that have shaped their thoughts and behaviors. With this degree I hope to not only be able to diagnosis their disorders (psychological side of the the degree) but also to administer therapy and counseling to them (the counseling side). I'm really excited to get started in the program (which is all online so I can still work full-time) and see where this leads me. I didn't think I'd be back in school (ever) but I think it will really open up a lot of possibilities for me.

Today I also posted to the EEROP Ravelry group about the prizes for the Project Hope campaign. There are still a few weeks to get some knitting in so if you haven't joined in please consider it.

And speaking of EEROP...I have officially launched the EEROP website! There is a list of upcoming campaigns that I'm super excited about. I'm also hoping to post a special fundraiser to the website by the end of the week.

Ok, my hands are jumping to do something since I downed an energy drink a few minutes ago so I'm going to try and finish off this stealth project!