Next Meeting

I know I haven't been keeping up with posting in awhile - for that I apologize!

Our next U-Knit meeting will be on Tuesday, December 16th from 7 to 8:30 pm in Bridges. Hope you can make it! I'm really looking forward to it myself.

Support Our Troops Project

Sorry I haven't been able to post in awhile. One of our members suggested this as a great project to get involved in:

"HELMETLINER" KNITTING INSTRUCTIONS

(Known as a "Wooly Pulleys" by our Armed Forces)

Materials:

Any soft, worsted (100 grams/3.5 ounces) wool yarn that will knit to gauge, such as Cascade 220 or equivalent. The label should state that for size 7 needle, 5 stitches per 1 inch, and for size 8 needle, 4-1/2 stitches per 1 inch. Approx. 175 yds.

Only 100% soft wool yarn will be accepted, because our ground forces are not allowed to wear synthetic fibers. Wool is inherently non-flammable and won’t melt against the skin in the event of an accident and is warm even when wet.

Colors:

Only black, charcoal, brown, tan, gray or combinations of these colors are allowed by our Armed Forces.

Size 8 – 16” circular needle, or size to get gauge

Size 8 - Double point needles

Size 6 - 16” circular needles for the ribbings

1 stitch marker.

Gauge: 4.5 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch

Be sure to check your gauge to ensure the helmetliner will fit properly when worn.

Neck Ribbing: With smaller circular needle, cast on 84 stitches loosely. Place marker. Join in round and knit in 2x2 (meaning knit 2, purl 2) ribbing for 6 inches.

Cap: With larger circular needle, knit 32 stitches off smaller needle onto the larger size 8 circular needle. Leave smaller circular needle in the rest of the stitches. The smaller circular needle will just act as a stitch holder while you complete the cap portion with the size 8 circular and double-point needles.

Cast on 59 additional stitches, place marker to mark beginning of round, join in round, knit even for 4”. ("Knit even" means to knit every stitch).

Be sure to check your gauge. Even being off 1/2 stitch per inch will make the helmetliner useless, as it will not fit properly.

1st decrease row: *Knit 11, Knit 2 together,* repeat to end of round.

Next row: Knit even.

2nd decrease row: *K10, K2 together,* repeat to end.

Next row: knit even, meaning to knit every stitch. Change to double point (DP) needles when necessary.

Continue decreases as established until knit 2, knit 2 together. After this, decrease every row until a total of 7 stitches remain on the double point needles. Cut yarn 8-9” long, feed through remaining stitches and weave in.

Face Ribbing: With size 6 circular needle that is still in neck portion, pick up the 59 stitches that you cast on when starting the cap portion. Increase 1 stitch, so you now have a total of 60 stitches. Join in circle and Knit 2, Purl 2 ribbing for 1 inch. On last row of ribbing, decrease about 4 stitches by purl 2 together in 4 locations around the face. You may need to increase or decrease the number of times you decrease (purl 2 together) so that it isn't too tight or too loose in the face ribbing. This keeps the wind from whipping underneath it.

Cast off. Weave in ends.

(The original pattern was designed by Bonnie Long, Knit Wits, 3419 Chatham Rd. Springfield, IL 62704. 217-698-6100. Revised 1-19-05. All rights reserved. Copies may be made only for the purpose of donating helmets to our active service personnel. In any case design attribution must remain. Operation Helmetliner, Inc. has made changes to the original pattern for clarity and to incorporate suggestions from our Armed Forces).

Ship to Operation Helmetliner, P.O. Box 104, Dahlgren, IL 62828.

Website: www.geocities.com/helmetliner

Questions: helmetliner@hotmail.com

Felted Bowl Pattern

For those of you who'd like to try felting and/or contribute to a UUC project (the gift of a felted bowl to the young people who've completed the Coming-of-Age program) here's a basic pattern. It's from Leigh Radford's book, One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit and Crochet - a great addition to your library.

Basically, using yarn that's not meant to be washed, you'll make something which will look a like a little hat. Throw it in the washer and voila! You've got a bowl.

This pattern requires that you know how to knit in the round - an easy skill and one I'm happy to share at our next meeting if you need any help.

MATERIALS:

1. Chunky weight non-washable wool. I recommend Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky. When it comes to felting, this yarn is a sure bet; it felts beautifully. If you're going to experiment with other yarns, BE SURE TO KNIT A SWATCH AND TRY FELTING IT FIRST. Otherwise you may find that you've produced something which maintains its textural integrity. In other words, you won't have a felted bowl, but you will have a very cute little knitted hat. :-)

2. Size 15 24" circular needles and a set of double-pointed #15 needles.
NOTE: Some people find the 24" needles too tight for this project. It's true that the cast-on and first rows are a bit tight, but the work does loosen up as you go along. However, you can also easily start right off with double-points if this is more comfortable for you.
ANOTHER TIP: I finish my bowls with a smaller needle (#11). In my experience, the smaller needles produce a tighter result for the bottom of the bowl. It doesn't seem to affect the way the bowl felts, and I find the smaller needles less awkward to work with.

3. Stitch marker

4. Tapestry needle for finishing

Exact gauge isn't critical for this project - that's the beauty of felting! These directions are for a smallish bowl.

DIRECTIONS:

Cast on 45 stitches. Place marker and join for working in the round. Work even in Stockinette Stitch (knit every row) until piece measures 5 1/2 inches from cast-on edge.

Shape bottom: Decrease as follows, changing to double-pointed needles when necessary (I usually do it here, before the work gets too tight.):
Round 1: *Ssk (slip-slip-knit), k5, k2 together; repeat from * to end of round (35 stitches remain).
Rounds 2 and 4: Knit.
Round 3: * Ssk, k3, k2 together; repeat from * to end of round (25 stitches remain).
Round 5: *Ssk, k1, k2 together; repeat from * to end of round (15 stitches remain).
Round 6: *Ssk, k2 together; repeat from * to last 3 stitches, ssk, k1 (8 stitches remain)

Break yarn, thread tail on a tapestry needle, gather through remaining stitches, pull tight, and fasten off. Weave in loose ends. Felt and shape as desired.

FELTING 101:

Some experimentation may be required to actually get your bowl to felt to your satisfaction.

To begin, wash your bowl on a warm setting with a small amount of detergent, adding either a couple of pairs of jeans or tennis balls to the washer to speed up the felting process.

It's important that you check on your bowl every now and the to see how it's doing. (This will save you from the unpleasant experience of pulling something out of your washer that looks like a leprechaun's yarmulke.)

It could be that the warm setting will felt your bowl; it could also be that you'll need to set your washer to "hot" to really get a good tight felt.

In addition, you might find that one wash cycle isn't enough. Washers do vary.

DO NOT DRY YOUR BOWL IN THE DRYER. Simply remove it from the washer, wring out any excess water, and shape it by placing it over an appropriately-sized, overturned bowl or tupperware container. It will air dry within a day or two.

If you want to get fancy, you can add stripes and/or beads.

If you want to boost the colors a bit, you can give your bowl a haircut by trimming the fuzz. Or leave as is.

Felting is such a forgiving art form; any mistakes come out in the wash. It's also a process that's full of surprises. I've used this pattern with a number of different yarns and no two of my bowls are completley alike!

Have fun!
kpkppkkpS

November's Meeting

Hello Everyone!

I was soooooo incredibly excited to come to our last meeting and see so many people there. Fantastic! Hope to see all of you again soon.

Our next meeting is THURSDAY, November 6th from 7 - 8:30pm in Pennell.

If you're making blanket strips and they're finished, bring them with you or drop them off at the church office. Claire has 2 and Stevie and I are making them as well. (18 inches by 4 feet, three strips make a blanket). Also, if you've got one in the works, would you mind letting me know? I'm curious as to how many blankets we'll give out this winter!

Stevie wanted me to share this idea with all of you as well: the Pacific Fabric Store in Northgate is once again collecting knitted hats and scarves for the homeless as part of the Warm Up America project. A few of our knitters did this last year.

Other knitting ideas:

Based on the number of students enrolled in OWL, it looks like there will be 35 kids in Coming of Age this year! WOW! The "graduates" organize a service in the spring and in the past, the U-Knitarians have made felted bowls to give to each youth as part of the ceremony. I hope we can do the same this year, so it might not be a bad idea to start early.  The pattern is posted as another entry to this blog.

Also, I passed on 2 lap blankets to Alicia and the Care Ministry Team to give to members of our congregation who need comfort. She LOVED them (I'm sure you can picture her excitement) and many more such things would be GREATLY appreciated.

Calling all Blanket Strips

Claire wanted me to post this message:

Are you knitting strips for blankets for homeless children? (This is our current U-Knit project see the September 17th post called "9/16 Meeting Update")  I now has 2 strips and needs more since each blanket will be made of 3 strips. The strips should be 18 inches wide x 4 feet long and can be of any yarn or pattern as long as it's machine washable.  I will put them together. I can't be there on this coming Tuesday. Call me and we can arrange to get the strips to me or I will be at the next meeting in November.

Many thanks,

Claire

Expand Your Knitting Skills

I'm sure many of you already know this, but you don't have to know how to knit to join the U-Knit group. We've got a number of people who would be happy to teach beginners what they need to know to get started.

And if you already know how to knit and purl and want to get into more fancy things, I'd be happy to teach knitting in the round (both on circular needles and double point), making socks, making pattern adjustments to have your garments fit better, lace, cables, and fair isle (that's knitting with multiple colors to make pretty pictures.)

Baby Yarn!

Hi all,

UUC's amazing new administrative assistant, Donna, was helping her friend clean out her house and they discovered a whole box of baby yarn they didn't want.  

It's currently sitting in my office and I'll add it to the rest of our growing donated stash next meeting. So if you like making baby stuff, come check these skeins out next meeting and take some home with you!

Next Meeting

Hello Friends,

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 21st in Pennell from 7 to 8:30 pm. Hope to see you there!

Starting in November we're going to add a second meeting. We plan to knit on the 1st Thursday and the 3rd Tuesday of every month - also in Pennell and from 7 to 8:30 pm.

Happy knitting!

Pink Scarf Project Update

Hi all!

There was an article in the newsletter for the Valley Medical Center. This was the place where they were collecting pink scarves (Katie was coordinating that project and a few UUs made some lovely scarves for the cause!)

Thought you all might be interested with how things turned out:

Thank You For Outstanding Scarf Donations! Your donation of time and pink-colored scarves has already made a meaningful impact to those touched in their lives by cancer.

Christy Snavely, a Valley Breast Center technologist, recently envisioned providing such scarves to breast cancer survivors at the Breast Center as an extra comfort to their days. Such a thought - just one per week in a possible drawing - blossomed into handmade scarf donations that, when placed end-to-end, could stretch for a city block!

"I am so proud of this project and everyone involved in bringing it to life," Christy says. "This project has brought so many people together - young, old, sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts, and men , too. We are bringing awareness to the cause and showing our patients that we do care about them and they're just as special and unique as the scarves are."

At last count, nearly 250 pink knitted and crocheted scarves had been received by project organizers - all thanks to VMC team members who responded to the request that was also published in This Week at Valley. During the month of October, each patient seen in the VBC, Radiation Oncology, ATU and Southlake Clinic were offered the opportunity to choose a scarf.

"For many who donated, it was a time to remember friends and family who have been touched by breast cancer," says Rose Guerrero, Cancer Services.  "For others it was a time to give thanks that their families have been spared a cancer diagnosis." 

Donations came from a variety of VMC departments, and at last count, more than 50 team members contributed handmade scarves or donated money and/or yarn.

"For some, this was the first time they ever knit anything," Rose says. "Team members passed along the word to their spouses, mothers, sisters, grandmothers, friends and knitting clubs to join in. And the scarf traveling the longest distance for this project is from our own Ginny Concannon's sister in New Hampshire."

"Each scarf is unique and beautiful," says Sherry Kuzan, Valley Breast Center. "Each provides a very special way to remember our breast cancer patients and survivors. Our patients will truly feel cared for with these handcrafted gifts; we want them to know there are many hands working together to support them through their cancer journey."

While some of the scarves today appear in display cases in the MAC and Present Place locations, none are for sale - but stay tuned to This Week at Valley to learn about an opportunity to purchase similar scarves at the upcoming Craft Fair event next month.

Can't Come To Our Meeting But Want To View Donated Yarn?

Hello!

I just wanted to let you know that even if you can't make it to our meetings, you can still participate in the strip-blanket project! Just drop off your finished strips in the church office - you can leave them on the counter there if they don't fit in my box.

Also, we do have lots of donated yarn that you can rummage through. Stop by the church office Monday - Thursday from 9 to 3 and ask for me and I'll be happy to show them to you. Please avoid coming on Wednesday from 11-1 because that's when Wednesday Forum is in the Knatvold room and I don't want to disturb them.

Alternatively, if you'd like to look at yarn on Sundays between services that's doable as well - however you'll need to make a plan with me to make sure I'm there! You can email me at:

larissa dot sheffler at gmail dot com

Questions on the child blanket project

Hi everyonte! I wasn't at the meeting on the 16th but I like the idea of the strip blankets for children. I work at the King County Bar Association and we have a small knitting group there. When I mentioned about the strip blanket project, some people were interested because it seems like a manageable project even for newer knitters. However, people asked: In terms of color, are we talking baby blanket or child blanket? Also, is this project really happening? If so, should I go ahead and ask the people at my workplace to contribute strips? It might only be 2-3 people but I don't want to ask them unless the project is really a go. Is there a deadline? And what are is the group of children, or organization that is receiving the blankets?
Thanks for the info! It sounds like a great project.
Ann Wennerstrom

Red Scarf Charity Knit

If anyone is looking for a quick charity project to get you in the swing of fall knitting, here is a project to tug your heartstrings. The Orphan Foundation of America has been running this project for three years now. They request donations of red scarves, which symbolize love, connectedness and family - these scarves are given to foster youth as they begin their first year of college, to let them know there are people out there who care about them.

The details can be found here: http://orphan.org/index.php?id=40

They are accepting scarves through Oct 31st, and request that no one send more than five scarves (last year they received so many that they could barely keep up with shipping!). There are lots of good, free scarf patterns on the website to tickle your fancy.

Hi Y'all

Hi there! It is NOT Larrissa, but Sara instead (the one on the left :)! I'm here to show you the wonders of blogging for Uknits. It is very simple, send Larissa an email and she will send you an invite. Follow the link, put in your email and password (this has been tested for gmail accounts... but it looks like there is a link for non gmail accounts). Set up your account and post photos of your ufos and completed projects, patterns, charity opportunities, etc. 

Currently working on: Chix on Stix breast cancer awareness pink scarf

Music: Norah Jones

Alternative 2nd Knitting Time

I'm starting to get some feedback about a second meeting time for the U-Knits. Seems like from the few replies I've received people like Thursdays. 

I also wanted to float the idea about a daytime session or on a weekend afternoon. Would anyone like either of those options?

We can have a dialogue if you click below where it says (# comments).  It'll send you to a different screen where you can post a comment and anyone can do so and we can all read them.

I'm also trying to figure out how to make posting new entries available to anyone. If I can figure that out, I will let you know!

9/16 Meeting Update

For those of you who couldn't make it last night, I wanted to give you a quick summary about things we talked about as we busily knitted and purled.

We began tossing around some ideas for projects this year and decided that a good place to start would be a variation on the blankets we made for the Habitat for Humanity family which we made awhile ago. Claire suggested that instead of making squares, we'd all make strips.  She offered to piece them together (or we can work on them as a group one meeting) and then we could donate them to shelters that house homeless children.

Here is what we decided, though your suggestions and comments are always welcome:

- Strips will be 18 inches by 4 feet (3 strips per blanket - child size)

- Machine washable yarn - worsted weight

You can use any colors, needle size, pattern that you like for your strips - just make sure they end up the size indicated and the yarn is easy to care for.  I figure, if we have a lot of strips even with the variety of colors we could piece together several blankets that match well enough.

Chris had a neat pattern for a chemo turban that she made and said her friend really liked a lot. If you are interested in it, we can get that for you. I also brought some patterns I printed for prayer shawls, a 6 hour lap blanket and some children's sweaters.  We'll probably make felted bowls again for the Coming of Age youth early next year and the Care Committee would greatly appreciate anything we make too!

Unfortunately, I also received some feedback that Tuesday nights aren't good for many people. I'd love love to get together with you all twice a month if there is an interest - on a different day of the week. Let me know what your preference is, and if we get a nice consensus for a second day we'll add that to our schedule.

Welcome Back!

Hi everyone!

On behalf of myself, Jan and Stevie, we wanted to say we're really excited that U-Knitting is starting up again. We hope you are too and are looking forward to tonight's (9/16) meeting.

Since I couldn't publish on Stevie's first blog, I decided to give us a fresh start and begin a new one - if there was a pattern posted on the original blog that you'd like to see here, let me know and I'll be glad to post them again. Also, contact me anytime if you'd like me to post a pattern or announcement for you or if you'd like me to set you up as an author too.

I hope to update this site frequently so that it becomes a useful tool to get announcements and information to the group - so please check back regularly!

Happy fall and happy knitting!!!

~Larissa