Please Help...

A Family friend of Donna's had a little boy yesterday. The wee soul is only 4 pounds. Donna has asked if anyone would be willing to knit for him. If anyone could spare some time and yarn to knit up some items for him they will be very much appreciated.

58 Squares and Counting!

Not a lot of finishes this week. Most people are working on large projects just now. We did have one though. Ginnie knitted this lovely rose pin. She knitted this especially for Linda for taking part in this years moonwalk. The moonwalk takes place every year in Edinburgh and raises money for breast cancer. Our Linda will be one of the many women taking part on June 19th. She has said that if people make things to attach to her bra for the event she will wear them. The rose is her first one so far. So if you want to make her something she will appreciate it. Linda also has her sponsor sheet with her at all times should anyone like to donate a little money.

Speaking of charity, I will be sending the first batch of squares away this week. I decided to bring them all along so everyone could see all the squares knitted so far. We have an astounding 58 which is brilliant considering we have been knitting them for two months. Plus there are about four members who have a collection of squares still to bring in (they will be sent away in July along with any others collected). The lovely Joyce is unable to knit squares at the moment. It's too much strain on her hands. Instead she donated 12 balls of lovely striping DK yarn. They were handed out to others in the group who will use them to make more squares. It was very generous of her to donate it as this yarn looks lovely knitted up.

Quite a few people were working on the squares on the night. June, Isabel, Monika and Roberta were all knitting/crocheting squares at some point. Roberta was also working on a scarf. She has been commissioned to knit/crochet 11 for someone who wants to give them out as gifts. She is now onto scarf 9. I bet it will be a while after that before she will want to knit another one. Joyce was working on the edging for a shawl. Donna was working on a tatty ted cross stitch. The design is a wedding one and is for herself as she will be married in July. Dawn Marie was working on a baby blanket. Knitted rather than crochet this time. Alison was working on her cross stitch. It turns out it's not just of a house but has birds round the edging. Ginnie was working on a pair of socks using a lovely yarn by tofutsies. She finished the beige socks and the green ones she had been putting off. No photo though as they have been wrapped up to go to her niece in Tasmania. Stephanie was knitting some baby hats and Ada was knitting some baby shoes. Margaret was working on her second pair of socks (Ginnie was very proud). Magdalena was knitting her beautiful green shawl. Elaine was working on her lovely white wrap and Linda was knitting a scarf for her shoe box charity (also in white). If anyone would like to knit hat, scarf and glove sets for the shoe box charity I am sure Linda would happily take them.

On Tuesday the last of the Gartmore payments were made. The last cheque will be handed over this week. This makes our little weekend away seem more official. I am still deciding what project I want to take along. Does anyone else know what they are taking?

Ginnie now has next months newsletter just about ready. She is still looking for articles on future newsletters. If you enjoy other crafts and would like to write something about them just let her know. Or if you have an article in mind about knitting or even a book review I am sure Ginnie would be happy to receive them.

Lastly, I interviewed Joyce on Tuesday. She is Aprils member of the month. So look out over the next few days for our speed knitters' interview.

There's always one.

It seems that every week there is always one person who has a lot of finishes to show off. This week was no exception and this time it was Helen's turn. The first photo Helen is wearing the lovely blue jacket she knitted. It turned out beautifully and Helen says it is very cosy. Almost makes her wish it was winter again. The second photo is Helen's first attempt at fingerless gloves which also look lovely. The striping yarn is subtle which gives the lace pattern a chance to shine. Helen loves wearing them when reading in bed. Lastly we have a pair of socks Helen knitted for her niece. The colours are not to her taste but her niece will love it. She also handed in a large pile of squares for the charity and was working on more.

Linda also got some lovely finishes. She knitted a hat, scarf and fingerless gloves set. These will go into her shoe box charity. I love the colours and I especially like the fingerless gloves. Linda was making a set of juggling balls also for the shoe box charity.

Margaret got some baby clothes finished. A friend in her work is expecting and so Margaret has been knitting quite a lot for her. The above photo is just the latest of some lovely cardigans she has been knitting. She was also working on hats and bootees to match.

I finished the socks I had been knitting the previous week. These are a birthday gift for a friend. On the night I was working on yet another throw. This time using sock yarn.

We also had Elaine working on a lovely white wrap for her holiday in Jamaica. When it is finished she plans to add some beading. Can't wait to see it. Ginnie was working on a pair of beige socks with a lovely spiral pattern. Donna was working on some of her crochet squares for her throw. New member, Nicola, is learning how to knit and she is knitting some cute bunny, egg cosies. Dawn Marie was also working on some lovely egg cosies. Ada, Isabel, June and Janette were all working on charity squares.

In case you don't know the next meet, 20th April, is the last payment day for Gartmore. It really isn't long away now. We have about 15 people going now.

Ginnie has been working on the next news letter. If any of you have any interesting articles or reviews you would like to write just let Ginnie know. She has forms just for that.

Lastly, our next member of the month is speed knitter Joyce. Looking forward to interviewing her.

New members show what they can do!

If you remember new member Stephanie came along in order to learn how to crochet. Whilst she is a beginner in crochet she certainly isn't when it comes to knitting. All of the above photo's are her work. She had much more with her but was shy in showing off her work. With the help of Linda I sneakily took some of these photo's. Stephanie was working on a lovely babies hooded, one piece coat in the shape of a bear. She was using pink and red chunky yarn rather than the snowflake as shown in the pattern.

Josephine joined us a couple of months ago now. She came along also to get some help with her crochet. Last week she brought along some of her recent finishes. She did both gorgeous blankets and added the ribbon and motifs. The lovely crochet cardigan is for her niece and it's her first attempt at this type of project. Josephine was working on another crochet blanket.


Donna finished her fingerless mitts on the night. The pattern is from a magazine and called for the use of striping sock yarn. Donna wanted to keep her sock yarn for her sock knitting lessons from Ginnie on our weekend away. So instead she used this lovely pale gray yarn. It really brings out the pattern of the lace.

Ginnie has also been busy. In her determination to use up some of yer sock yarn stash she knitted these socks for her niece. Funnily enough she was working on another pair of socks (whilst putting off a green pair she started a while back because she doesn't like the colour).

We also had another lovely finish from Dawn Marie. She crocheted this lovely baby blanket using self striping yarn. This uses quite small stitches but Dawn still managed to finish it in no time.

We also got another large pile of squares. These were from Elaine, Roberta and Alison. Ginnie mentioned that a magazine has asked for squares to be sent in. Those who donate could win a prize. I found the article in Knit Today and the squares are actually being sent to the same charity that we are sending ours to. Ginnie thought we could send off what we have done so far to the magazine so that our group has a chance to win some prizes. So, tonight I will get a list of yarn types people are using and pick up any others that have been done before sending them away. I will also attach a letter (and possibly a photo) with some info about our knitting group.

In case you missed it last week Ginnie has produced our second news letter. Lots of good items in there. There is an article by Donna describing the crochet class she will be giving at Gartmore, an article by Linda describing the moon walk she will be taking part in, a book review from myself and an article from Ginnie describing her stash addiction.


Oh, we did have one more finish. Elaine knitted a lovely teddy bear for Linda's shoe box charity. She made the pattern up herself. I did take a photo but it's too blurry to post. Which is a shame as it really was lovely.