Preemie hats

One of my good friends just started a new job working in the NICU at one of our local hospitals. She knew I was a knitter, and I jumped on the chance and asked if they needed any knitted preemie hats/etc. She said YES and that the hats they did have were a bit "ugly" looking. I think I knew what she meant (pastel red heart yarn, anyone?) and immediately set out to whip up some cute more modern hats. Of course I asked my designated knitter Cynthia to join, and she even got one of HER friends to knit up some as well!!! I just delivered the first batch of about 8 hats (i think) to my nurse friend!!!! Of course I forgot to get pics. Jeez.

I am still making more though, so here are a few of my "round 2" batch of hats!

2nd pair of gloves, and FLS progress

Here is another pair of fingerless gloves I made for that charity auction:

Pattern: Evangeline Mitts
Yarn: Patons Classic wool

Other than that I have been chugging along on my February Lady sweater!!!! I am on the 2nd sleeve and I hope I can get this done SOON! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

Fundraiser auction

One of the blogs that I follow, Before the Morning, is about a family with a little boy who has a skin condition called Epidermolysis Bullosa. Recently, the sweet mama Patrice who writes the blog found out about another little boy with that same skin condition in Russia - only that little boy is an orphan! The orphanage in Russia won't even take him since he has the skin condition (link to a page with more information about all this: here). Anyway, Patrice felt moved to try and help out the little boy, so she started a blog (Hope for Anton) to try and raise money to offset the cost of his adoption if a family decides to adopt him!

The reason I am talking about this is I felt like I could do something to help raise money, so I am knitting some things to donate that she can auction off! First up, I made a pair of my fav fingerless glove pattern:

Pattern: 75-yd Malabrigo Mitts, modified to add a thumb
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool

They are up on the blog (here) and already getting bids!!!! I am so glad that people actually want to buy them!

Anyway just wanted to share what was going on. Let's raise some money!!!!

Lots of knitting!

Whew, my needles have been busy lately. I keep getting distracted by small quick projects and procrastinating on my sweaters! Sheesh :)

First, I had a commissioned project for my friend Larissa. She had a mess of knitting gifts to get finished by a set date, and wasn't sure that she was going to make it, so I jumped in and knit up this "batman" mask on her behalf! She paid me for the yarn, and it knit up in 2 days!

Pattern: Zsa Mask  (Rav link)

My friend Candace said her and her mom were knitting preemie hats for charity, and I wanted to help out. I just finished knocking out 4 teeny tiny hats to contribute!

Those are from my own pattern:  Baby Cables Preemie Hats

These are modified versions of this hat: Pixie Hat.  I CO 46 stitches to make it more of a preemie size!

I also got in the mood to make a little something for Norah. Well actually Greg saw the tiny pixie hats I was making and said Norah needed one too :) So here's the "big girl" version for her! (CO 66 sts)

I added an applied i-cord tie to keep it on her head. I also had to make matching mittens to go with the hat!!!

So cute :) I improvised the pattern, just some 1x1 ribbing, then some stockinette, then decreases like at the top of a hat.

Next post: I finally knit something for MYSELF!!!!!

Mad Hatter

There seem to be lots of random knitted hats scattered around my house these days! Let's see what we have....

Just finished this simple brown beanie (kind of a small adult size or child) to donate along with an unused scarf I knitted awhile ago to my friend's church. They will hopefully be given to someone who needs them!


This is a warm wool kiddo hat, might be going to a lucky nephew of mine! I am pretty happy with how it came out, I was just making it up as I went along. I knew I wanted a warm thick brim though! (and stripes of course)


Preemie hats! Besides the original blue one I knitted while creating my cabled preemie hat pattern (link), I knitted an additional one in pink, and then 2 more hats using a different pattern, then a light blue hat using my own random pattern. Add those to the cute white preemie hat that Cynthia donated, I have 6 hats so far to give to charity!!!! I hope to have at least 10 before I mail them to the lady in Indy, and I think Jess is knitting me one, so doing pretty good! The more the merrier really.

November????

Wait, its November??? Where did the year go! Wow!!!

Well my Baby Cables Preemie hat (my first official written pattern) is up on Ravelry (linked here) and is in 5 people's (strangers!) queues so far!!!! Jessica has it cast on in her projects (thanks Jess!) too. A good start for me! Anyone reading this, feel free to knit one up and mail it to me (leave a comment with your email and I'll email you my snail mail address). Why do I want preemie hats? Charity! I am collecting them for a person in Indianapolis who puts together kits for families who have premature babies in the NICU. Isn't that awesome? So please feel free to use my pattern or any other preemie hat pattern (head sizes for preemies are like 12-14 inches I think!). It's for a good cause, uses up tiny balls of yarn you have lying around, and knits up super fast! I love instant gratification!

Dishcloths!

Cynthia and I finished our dishcloths for charity, and we got some dish soap to include with the cloths for a nice present for some needy person!!!!

We even got matching ribbon to make it all pretty:


Nice, eh? I hope someone enjoys them!

Not much to show for the shawl, although the other day Cynthia and I each knit 6 whole rows in an hour! Thats a pretty good lace shawl speed, if I do say so myself! :-)

Have a great friday!!! TGIF!!!!!!!!