There's a group of crafters who get together every Thursday night here in Whitehorse, at our yarn shop. It has many goals, as a group - fostering new and growing skills, a support network, a great place to sit and knit. But they also try to Do Good for the community.
One of those ways is by either fundraising for individuals who need help, or donating crafted goods to the local women's shelter or the homeless shelters in town. I'm actually about 1/3 of the way through a pair of thick wool men's over-socks that will get to the men's shelter before our often-brutal winter starts. But those are hard to work on when it's warm and sunny, so they're tucked away for now.
Despite this, I've been wanting to make up something for our group, and itching to do a simple and quick project. So last week at knit night, I raided the group's donated yarn bin and immediately cast on. A solid day of knitting and I finished binding off this adorable little baby vest. (Here's my
Ravelry project page for this cutie.)
I added some embroidery because it was looking way too boring without a little bit of character. I think a more interesting wool would probably add some extra character - a tweedy yarn maybe?
It took me a few more days to find the right buttons - luckily our local fabric store supplied these sturdy little suckers - at 10 for $2 yet! They aren't what I originally pictured, but when you live in a small town with limited supplies, sometimes you need to toss those pictures out the window and open up your brain a bit. And sometimes you wind up with something even better - I certainly like these buttons better than my original plan!
 |
| This photo is the closest to the actual colours. |
Pattern:
Pebble by Nikol Lohr
Yarn: about 50 grams of Patons Classic Wool Merino, worsted weight.
Needles: 4 mm
Mods: None, other than adding a bit of embroidery.
I have to say, I really enjoyed the construction of this thing. It's knit bottom up, and the only time that you hold stitches off of the needles is on the one seamed shoulder. The rest of it stays on your circulars (and I imagine straights - but it was really easy on the circs), and you just ignore the back as you work back and forth on the front. Very clever! I definitely want to make more of these.
In fact, this may become my go-to knitted baby gift in the future! Got that idea from Kat over at
the Wayward Knitter - who
always knits the same type of project for wedding gifts, but customizes them for each couple. Cute idea, and one I think I'm going to steal!
And here's a shot of the baby's breath growing in the little garden next to the step where I was taking photos. I thought it was pretty appropriate! Isn't the colour lovely? It was a surprise to me, since the label claimed they were white - sort of messed up my garden "plan", but I can't bring myself to care because they're just so dainty and adorable. Each of those flowers are about
1/4" wide!
Do you do any sort of community crafting? No judgement here if you don't - this is new to me! If you do though, please share below. I'd love to hear what other individuals/groups do for their communities.
Mostly so I can steal ideas and sound really clever at our next meeting. :)
So adorable! We have a few groups who come into the shop to craft on Sundays - there's a crafty volunteers network, and another group who are making quilts for the homeless women's hostel, which is one of the causes I feel quite passionately about. And we did a big sewing bee a couple months back to make tabards for the local Rape Crisis Centre street collectors (fund raising collectors that is!) It's really cool to be able to provide facilities to support this kind of thing, and even join in sometimes :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds awesome! How great is that, providing the facilities for all of these groups. :) I love the idea of doing a big sewing bee for a good cause. That'd probably take a lot of organization, but would probably be a lot of fun too!
DeleteAw, thanks for the shout out! Some of the ladies in my knit group knit Angel Shrouds for stillborn babies at the local hospitals-they're basically preemie-sized baby sacks-it's a sad thing to knit and have a need for, but the parents are so grateful.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, that's a really thoughtful thing to create. The suggestion to make up wee hats and things for preemie babies for the hospital came up a while back, maybe we should gently ask if something like Angel Shrouds would be appreciated. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteI think I would like your town - I live in a place at the moment where there is limited activity of this sort - and if you go to a group, they charge and are very cliquey. I hate that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteChuckling at the reworked garden plans - gardens happen around plans. And then there is the trial and error factor - things don't grow that should, and other things grow that shouldn't. So in the end, a garden just evolves.
Love the little top - someone is going to love that. I agree, in a place with limited choices, you have to creatively think as you go along - using what you can find.
Thanks for your comment on my blog about photography. I've got a bit of white vinyl that I will throw over the fence - that might give me a good backdrop. Only when the weather is dry - which may not be for a while yet :)
(sorry about the late response)
DeleteIck, I'm sorry to hear abou the cliquey group. Do they really charge for access to the group? That's really stupid. Do you think there's enough people around who'd join up a group if you organize? Or are you even interested in that? It can be frustrating to organize at times, from what I understand, but smooths out with time and interest. If we didn't have so many groups, I probably would've organized one myself, but not everyone is as obsessed as me. :D
I hear you about 'best laid' garden plans. I really thought that some of these flowers would do better, but aren't. Ah well, trial and error. :)