A Scarf For Lewy

 A while ago now I saw a thing on social media asking people to knit a scarf for Lewy.  The Lewy Body Society want to raise awareness of Lewy body dementia and to do this they are going to wrap a massive scarf round the Royal Albert Hall in London this autumn.  But they need people to knit the scarfs...

How could I not accept this challenge?  And what a perfect way to use up some of my stash too.

I had a bunch of lovely colours from the hats I knitted last year, the cream and green from Januarys cardy and blues from the Driftwood jumper from earlier this year, so I collected them all together and set about making a scarf.  

I kept the design simple.  Just 6 rows to each stripe and the only rule being the same colour couldn't sit next to itself, but otherwise I just made it up as I went along.

 

I couldn't believe how quickly it grew (it ended up about 8 foot long!).  6 short rows was really fast to knit and by the end of an evenings knitting I might have added 3 stripes!  And it was perfect to take on holiday.  No pattern needed, just to count the stripe rows to make sure they were all the same.

And I really enjoyed thinking about what the next colour would be.  It was such an easy project to work on.  The hardest bit was adding the tassles and deciding on the colour combinations! 

So here it is ready to be sent off to join the other scarfs people are making.  I hope I can see it in the photos from the event this autumn.  And I hope whoever receives my scarf after finds it warm and comforting.  I send it with love. 

Stash Busting Hats

 

 I'm sure I'm not the only one, but the last couple of months have been expensive so I'm trying to save money where I can.  This means no new projects, so I've been stash busting instead.  

The first of these projects has been a couple of hats for whichever charity will be taking them in the autumn.

Using my basic hat pattern, instead of the snowflake/star that I used last time I borrowed part of the design from the cardigan I knitted at the start of the year as I was using up wool from this project. 

I'm not sure how many more hat's I'll knit.  I've found another charity project for my stash so I'll work on that for a bit and see what's left over.

Needle Felted Dogs

 Just before Christmas I attended a virtual workshop on how to make these tiny needle felted dogs.  The workshop was run by The Makerss for the Dog Trust, so half the fee went to the Dog Trust and half for the kit which had everything I needed to make a little dog.

 

I've only done a little bit of needle felting before and wasn't that happy with my end creation, but these little pups were too cute not to have another go at it!

 

And they really are quite simple to make.  I've found it takes about an hour (and they are pretty good for those meetings where you just have to listen - nothing to look at and no comments expected.)

 

The workshop itself was run over Facebook and our lovely host ran through everything nice and slowly so we could all try it as she showed us.  She also showed us different examples, for instance if we want floppy ears or pricked ears.

 

I very much enjoyed the workshop and the little dog I made, and now I find myself making more of them to see what the next one will look like.  I haven't quite decided what to with them next though...

More Little Hats

Simple crochet hat

I can't call this post more little knitted hats, as I have started making the crochet patterns too now!

They are all starting to get a bit more involved, so I'm not sure how many more I will manage.  After all Christmas making needs to take priority for a bit.

Post box hat

Ear flap hat

A sheepish sheep hat

Sombrero hat

Sheriffs hat

Shark hat

More Little Knitted Hats

Monster hat

In-between everything else I've continued to knit little hats for The Big Knit. They are fun to do and I like that you can change the pattern slightly to make it your own, for instance I made my monster hat out of fluffy wool as that seemed to suit a monster better.  Plus I gave him a smile.  Why can't monsters be happy?

And I found some yellow wool I'd forgotten all about, so was finally able to make my banana hat!

Banana hat

My only disappointment is that some of the patterns aren't written very well so they miss out important instructions about casting off, or how to join things etc.  As a reasonably experienced knitter that hasn't been too much of an issue for me, but I imagine new knitters might find this a problem.

Tiny zion lion hat

A berry fancy hat

With love hat

Dinosaur hat

Juicy pear hat

Woolter melon hat

Little knitted hats

A heart bobble hat

Over the last 4 or 5 weeks of lockdown I've started to feel that I could be doing more to support the community.  We are doing a weekly shop for our neighbors, but maybe I should be doing more?

A simple bobble hat

However I am one of the lucky ones able to work from home and still on my full hours, so I don't have as much time as some.

A stripe hat

Then I saw that innocent were supporting Age UK again this year with their big knit.  They want people to knit tiny hats for their smoothy bottles.  Then for every bottle they sell they donate 25p to Age UK.

A chunky bobble hat

On their website they have 41 knitting and crochet patterns that you can use and I've decided I'm going to have a go at as many as I can using my stash and my 'commute' time.  Of course the banana hat might have to wait as I don't have any yellow wool right now, but I think I can try most of them.  So far the basic one's haven't taken very long and I look forward to trying the rest.

A beginner hat (accidentally Christmas)

Crafty fox hat

Fez pattern

Apple hat

The Loch Ness Marathon - part 4

 

Look what arrived today!  A package from the Salisbury District Hospital Stars Appeal team, which included a certificate, a letter and a lapel pin.  

Having run the Loch Ness Marathon to raise money for their Burns Unit a couple of weeks ago, I'd sort of put it to the back of my mind, so it was a massive surprise.

It was so nice to hear how much their appreciated the time and effort I'd put in and I include the letter here as I think everyone who sponsored me deserves their thanks as well.
The certificate will sit in my study where I can see it to remind me of what I've accomplished.  The pin is already on my bag, the perfect reminder.

St Mungo's Woolly Hat Day

After the success of my first real knitting project I was wondering what to try next.
I wanted something that would be interesting to do, while helping me to learn more about knitting.
Then I stumbled upon the St Mungo's Woolly Hat day where they are supplying 3 hat patterns for you to make, all they ask is you send the first one you make to them to sell to raise money for the charity.  Perfect!
I loved 2 of the three designs so made two to send them, which meant I tried double ribbing and tried following my first patterns.  Both good learning experiences.  I liked the purple hat best, but the grey would have been fine if I hadn't made it a tad too long (I now have a row counter on my phone).
Now I am free to play with these patterns - I can feel some stripes coming on.

Operation Christmas Child

Its that time of year again where I pack a box of goodys for Operation Christmas Child.  These boxes go out all over the world to give a child, who would normally get nothing, a gift at Christmas.  I love this idea much more than just giving money.  I know that some little girl somewhere is going to be given my box and find inside a lovely soft teddy, all sorts of art supplies and a nice warm hat, amongst other things.  Maybe she won't like all of it, but maybe she'll be able to swap some of it with someone else, or share it with another child.  I just hope that she will realise that while I can't do much, I do care.
If you want to make yours the deadline isn't until 18 Nov.

Save a t-shirt

Every spring, even if it doesn't feel like spring, I like to take some time out and have a bit of a spring clean.  In this case going through my wardrobe, and sending the stuff I don't want any more to the charity shop.
But I have a better destination for an old t-shirt this time - I'm sending it on to 'do the green thing' who save unwanted t-shirts (they also rescue single gloves matching them up with other single gloves).  The 'saved' t-shirts are then sold helping the green thing to continue its great work.  I love this idea.  We should be happier to reuse things rather than just chucking them away.

Cancer, we’re coming to get you!

This June I’ll be going pink!  I’ve just signed up for my first running race – a 5k Race for Life, with Cancer Research.  What better way to start my racing career than by raising money for a fantastic charity?

I’m hoping that this will be the start of something exciting and new, that will push my running a bit further.  And maybe it will fill a little bit of the gap left by finishing my degree?

I’m not expecting to have an amazing time for this race, I’ve agreed to run it with my little sister who is new to this running lark and understandably isn’t quite as fast as me, but I think it will be fun to go round as part of a team.

If you’d like to sponsor us you can on our Just Giving page.