June 20, 2008

Linda, our nurse, has become quite a knitter. She just finished a shrug in homespun yarn.
Our socklady is into tiny baby socks! How cute! She says they knit really fast.

This is Jean. In the photo above she is teaching some of the ladies how to knit flowers. I have photos below of some of the baby items she has knitted.
This is Lucia, above, our volunteer. She made the vest she is wearing and is showing some of the ladies granny squares.
Above: a blanket in chenielle squares. Below: a blanket in homespun yarn.
Above: one week and look at her go. Below: she is starting the bottom of a handbag.

Above and below. the everything blankets. growing each week.



Above: this is our one week knitter already changing colors.




Above: she is making a blanket for her sister. And below: a first time knitter.

Above: to be felted.
Below: Leslie, our volunteer, knitted this baby sweater. We are all inspired to make baby blankets, sweaters, and booties.



This is Katie telling the ladies about the lemon hat fundraiser. We are going to do it again next year. But we are going to start earlier! It is a great way to learn how to knit hats and help a great cause.

June 13, 2008 - Passing it on

We had visitors today: three teens from another program came and our ladies and volunteers taught them how to knit. It worked all around for the teachers and the new knitters and they hope to come back.



Above: some of our bags this week and below is our first elizabeth zimmerman baby jacket finished! (with sock yarn)




This lady above is working on a shawl and a strap for her handbag. She inspired Zelphia who came in today with a shawl! Below: here is Jean one of our volunteers.


Not only is Jean a patient teacher she also makes the best cream puffs and chocolate chip cookies ever! Thanks Jean!


Above: the blanket grows each week. She is ready to bind off. And below is Zelphia, one of our volunteers.


This is Emily who came with the girls.
Above, Leslie, one of our volunteers, showing her latest project.
Above and below: more blankets.



Here is Lucia and Jean. We went around the group and welcomed the girls.

below: she finished her blanket after working on it for weeks. And below that is a baby blanket in a basket weave pattern that she completed.



Above: a homespun blanket, below a blanket in shades of grey.

Here is a shawl made by our socklady out of sock yarn!

Above and below: blankets in progress.

June 6, 2008

Above: more socks from our sock knitter proudly showing them off with her clear shoes!
Below: this bag felted beautifully she will show it off friday and I will photo it.

Above: a shawl, below, a new knitter.

Here is Lucia our volunteer telling us about her knitting. Below: one of our ladies is finishing off a blanket for her grandchild.

Above: to be felted, below, a blanket with lots of yarns.

Above: Zelphia, our volunteer is showing us a shawl she made.
Above: a lambs pride tote, not quite high enough, and below a bag to be felted.

Here is Jean, our volunteer, working with our new knitters. Below: jen, a therapist here, working on her lemon hat.
And SHE FINISHED IT! YEAAAA JEN!
Leslke, our volunteer, is showing us handbags to knit.
Above and below: this pink blanket uses lots of yarns.

Above: a new crochet lady and below, a blanket for her mom using homespun.

Above and below: two more blankets made of everything.

Above: a new knitter's first project. Below: the handbag gallery.

May 30, 2008

We are finishing our Hats off to Alex hat knitting service project but we are going to keep making lemon hats so we have an early start for next year. It has been a rewarding project for the school and helped them raise money for the fight against childhood cancer for Alex's Lemonade project. I have a photo of our wall with our latest send off of hats and some bags. It takes a bit of time for a new knitter to make a hat so each hat donated was very special.
This is Jen , a therapist here, who is finishing up her hat to be donated. It is her first knitted hat! Yeaaaa Jen. She persisted throughout the weeks and learned how to knit and purl.

This is the purple blanket and pillow to match, a present for her mother, getting there!
Here is our handbag gallery in various stages of completion, some with before and after felting.







This is Leslie, one of our volunteers, showing us a sweater she is almost finished.


We have two red blankets being worked on. Both different and beautiful.


This is Zelphia, one of our volunteers, showing us a shawl she is working on using cotton and big stitches. I think we are going to be seeing a shawl gallery soon!

We have a granny square crochet lady now!
Above one of our newest knitters, below an everything blanket in pinks.


Above: here is the almost done scarf and below is a blanket in shades of grey and black.



Above: this is a blanket with doubled homespun. It has turned out to be beautiful!
The above scarf is a present for a daughter and and last but not least is our sock lady. She continually reminds us how much fun it is to make socks and knit with double pointed needles.

May 23, 2008

We are still working on our service project: lemon hats for Alex's Lemonade fundraising. Learning how to make hats is a great incentive to learn how to purl. Many of our ladies are learning to both knit and purl. Thanks to everyone for your good wishes on this project!!!! And I forgot to photo the hat gallery this week!!!!!

Below is our blanket gallery for this week. It is combinations of lots of skeins and part skeins of yarn combined together and knitted until it runs out or the knitter wants a change. It is easy, the ends are just knotted together and become part of the design.



Someone sent this part done blanket and a new knitter is going to finish it off.



This is a "recovery blanket" with squares of homespun combined together. It is very soft!
Above, Linda our nurse making a shrug with homespun yarn. Below, Leslie, one of our volunteers talking about a stitch she learned and she is making squares but is not sure yet what the final project will be.
Below: a new knitter.

Below: this lady once told me, "why should I knit socks when i can buy them at the dollar store!!!" Well she has become our official IH Sock Knitting Lady and she even has clear sneakers to show them off! There is no stopping her! And are they the best sneakers!!!!!!

And here she is again with another pair in the works.


This is Tiffani a therapist here who finished her lemon hat and below she is showing us a blanket she is making for her little nephew.


Zelphia, our volunteer, above is working on her shawl. Below: booties and she is learning granny squares!

Above: Lucia is wearing her sweater. She didn't think it would be done until fall.
Above: a new knitter and below: Jean, our volunteer is working with the ladies.
Jean showed our client how to put the squares all together.

Below: our handbag gallery in all stages of progress and in no particular order!

May 16, 2008

Here is my dog Guy modelling a hat. We are getting creative and quite fancy!

And further below is week's handbag gallery some without straps (yet) and some before felting






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Above squares for a blanket and below, our volunteer Jean is teaching how to stitch squares to make a blanket. Our client calls this her "recovery blanket."

Above: a new knitter finished a scarf.


Here is Neil, he is our first guy knitting group volunteer.
Above: Jean is showing us how to make bobbles and cables. What a lucky baby to wear this absolutely beautiful little sweater and bonnet.


Above: almost done! Below: almost done! Lucia our volunteer and her top.

I keep a basket of yarn available and our knitter above combined yarns and made a scarf. Below she is showing us all of her squares.
Below: an everything blanket - another of many being worked on right now by many different knitters, each so different!

Our blanket gallery this week:Even Linda, our nurse here, is working on a blanket inspiring all of us!



Above: this is Jen, a therapist, making progress on her lemon hat.


Above: Zelphia, our volunteer, is showing us a pattern for a shawl she is making.
And finally, we end, with a first project, a washcloth, and she has moved on to a handbag and has been working on it all week.

Week of May 9th - hats, slippers.........

Thanks to all of the knitters from Finely A Knitting Party in Swarthmore, PA. They chose Interim House as their service project and knitted slippers to all of the ladies here. This is Kathy Finely - on the left- and I outside of the shop in Swarthmore with all of the slippers in the window. The ladies loved all of the beatuiful colors and yarns used in the slippers and each has their own pattern so they can make them now. We too have our very own service project going to "pay it forward" where we are making lemon hats for our Hats off to Alex campaign to help raise funds to find a cure for childhood cancer.

Above: someone sent this on to us, a project started some thirty years ago and not completed - what a great wall hanging for our knitting area to inspire everyone.


Our lemon hats keep coming and going. Here are photos this week of our lemon hats and pink lemonade is included, bags too!


Above: we had a visitor who came with Kathy Finely to distribute the slippers. Her name is Renata and she told us a little about Germany. Come visit us again!Kathy is modeling some projects of hers to inspire us!

Above: a new knitter made a baby bootie and below: Look at one of our newest knitters get started! She finished it in one day!

Below: some of the knitting that Kathy Finely brought with her to show the clients. (Several of us want to make the Elizabeth Zimmerman baby jacket next).


Above: a belt. Below: many mother's day washcloths and potholders.

Here is Katie telling us about the lemon hat project. The school her children go to are having the fundraiser for Alex's Lemonade.

Katie is modeling a shrug a client proudly completed. As she would say: "It took a minute!"

Above: one of our clients is making her very own baby surprise jacket.
Above: belts in lemon yellow. Below: lots of blankets with bits and pieces of yarn.



Here is Jean, one of our volunteers. What a great knitting teacher we have. Thanks Jean. And we get a bonus with having Neil her husband help out as well.
Above: this scarf is a present for her daughter. Below: lots of squares to make a blanket.

Here is Zelphia, one of our volunteers, showing us her bag which will be felted. And below: photos of works in progress. Each has a story......... to be continued next week.