Blankets, Babies, and Buttons

A few weeks ago on Ravelry, Mokihana said her east side group needed yarn donations for blankets; they knit for sick children, chemo patients, hospice, etc.   The west side knitters took this as a cue to clear out their stashes.  I also needed some yarn for premie hats so I volunteered to the the "dumping ground" for both charities.  And I do mean "dumping ground"!  Even after consolidating, packing bags and boxes as tight as possible, and pulling out enough yarn for a year (or longer) of premie hats, our car was bursting at the seams!  The back seat was full of 5 large garbage bags and a couple big shopping bags.

And the back was full with a big box and another trash bag or two. 

You know how when you get something that's been vacuum packed and you open the plastic and it expands?  Well, ToolMan and I had squished those bags to fit in our car and it expanded when we took them out!  Mokihana thought I was kidding when I said we had a car full of yarn, but we had no trouble filling the back of her van nearly to the ceiling.  I'm betting there's a good 20 blankets or more in those bags; enough to keep those Damascus knitters busy for quite a while!

In the meantime, I was busy knitting a little blankie myself.  I finished the blankie for Maryanne's new grand baby.  I had intended to do an applied I-cord binding on this, and actually started it.  Then I realized that applied I-cord on a 36-inch square blankie would take approximately forever to finish.  And by the time I got the last strip on this knitted, I was pretty much sick of it.  So, I resorted to . . . . crochet.  I know, I could hardly believe it myself!  But it was so fast that it was satisfying to see it appearing as I worked along.  Just a single row of single crochet and then a row of 5-dc shells with sc in between, fudging a bit to make the corners all come out alike. 

I found out that yet another girlfriend, Carolyn, is having a grand baby, too.  Her daughter is due to deliver on her birthday; how lucky can a grandma get?  That meant another BSJ to be knit.  After doing so many of these, I've almost got the pattern memorized.  I finished the knitting on this, but haven't sewn it up yet.  Rachel has never done one and wanted me to do the sewing up at Westside Wednesday.  I went searching for the perfect buttons today at Joann's and found these.  I searched through the package and found a 1, 2, and 3 that looked good, so I'll use those. 

Our neighbors are also expecting a baby this summer, in August.  I must have been a cold winter as we seem to have a pretty good batch of July and August babies coming.  ;)   I've talked our neighbors and found out what colors they're painting the nursery and that her mother is knitting sweaters and booties and hats already.  I dove into the stash and pulled out some odd balls for another Moderne Baby Blanket.  And I'll do the applied I-cord on it.  Promise! 

But before I do that, I've got some hat knitting to do.  My younger brother Joe (that's him facing the camera), has been diagnosed with Chronic Lymphoma Leukemia and just started a 6-month course of chemo.  He's going to lose his hair so I'm working on some knitted caps for him. 

Toolmans' been busy as well.  Karen found a small plank of black walnut at Rocker a couple weeks ago.  She gave it to ToolMan and said she'd like a couple of shawl pins out of it and he could have the rest.  Needless to say, he jumped at the offer and has been working on her pieces all week.   

These are Karen's; he'll give them to her at Westside Wednesday.  I think she'll like them.  And if she doesn't, then I'll just have to add them to my collection!