Trying New Things

It's Sunday and I didn't write anything all week, so it must be time to say hello to whoever is out there reading. Not a great deal of knitting happened this week, thanks to having a lot of other stuff to do--and that is a good thing, of course! Much of my time has been spent doing things with my spiritual community, where we are looking for ways to connect outside of weekly services. So far, so good!

One of the things I have tried is a new group that meets at my church on Saturdays to create things for Project Linus. I haven't done any of that before, since I always have so many other projects to do, but since I am still feeling bad about offending people at the yarn shop and really missing the folks there, I can turn that energy into something positive. Seems to be a thing to do!

So, I went to the meeting and discovered that other than me, everyone else is a quilter. Oops. Yes, I certainly have made quilts (and have one unfinished waiting for me to find a place to put the sewing machine), but while I love choosing patterns and colors, I don't particularly love sewing. I stuck around, since I do like talking about quilts, and they invited me to stay. One woman said she'd bring knitting next time, since she envied the fact that I knitted during the meeting, and the others all said they'd like knitting workshops every so often. One or two even wanted to learn to knit. Hey, I like to teach knitting! So, maybe a new door is opening.

I started a project for a toddler size blanket. I found a few errant skeins of Red Heart worsted (100% non-natural fiber!) that I hadn't given away yet and figured I could make a mitered square blanket. Here are the first three squares:


I figure I will make a square a day, then work on my other stuff, until this is done. The yarn does feel a bit plastic-like, but it is not as horrible as my exaggerated memories make it. I even went and got a few more colors, since I need to make it 6 x 8 squares to approximate the right size. I'll keep using this yarn until it runs out, but think I will switch to good ole Vanna's Choice or one of the Caron acrylics that are a bit more supple in the future. Ah well, this will certainly be a sturdy, washable blanket and make a child happy.

The Litla Dimun shawl has made progress and is a lot bigger--it's just slow going. I love how it is constructed, though. I will wait until next week to share another photo of it, though. I am oddly enjoying the feel of the rough yarn.

I hope you are enjoying your winter knitting. Feel free to share any of your favorite charity knitting patterns. I have enough simple things memorized that I can do quite a few (ripple, granny square, etc.) but ideas are welcome.