July 21 & July 28 Together

My vest in progress!
A new client's first project: a dishcloth.
Scarves from one of our program graduates who comes back to knit/volunteer.
This client has been here for two weeks. She was having a little trouble because she kept adding stitches but this time she has figured it out!
A new crocheter is very proud of her afghan.
This is a scarf with hearts. It is from a pattern posted on Knitty.Com for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and one of our clients followed the pattern and is ready to join the two sections together.



Here is Leslie our volunteer showing the clients how to put together a sweater she is in the process of knitting.
One of our clients who comes back to volunteer created the handbag above.


We have to put two weeks together again because I forgot my camera (again). To sum up the past two weeks for the words of the day it is LEARNING NEW THINGS. Whether it is purling, yarnovers, crocheting, ribbing, cables, vests, we can all learn something new. Thank heavens we have our great knitter volunteers who come to be with us each week: Leslie, Lucia, and Zelphia.
Many of the knitters are now purling and making scarves with ribs and even cables. People are always completing their six months and that means new admissions/new knitters. There are many women crocheting and that means many afghans. New crocheters are always so thrilled when they see the afghans they are able to create with all colors of yarn.

Thanks to all of the people who have sent yarn, needles, and magazines to us. We love talking about where the packages come from. And we appreciate the good wishes and notes on the blog as well.

July 14, 2006

Crocheted above and knitted below baby blankets.


Pillows are In here at Interim House!
Here is a scarf made by casting on 150 stitches on a circular. Our client's first try at this.
Another knitted blanket in progress.
Lucia our volunteer working on a cable sweater and giving instructions on How To Do It.
More scarves!
Here is Zelphia modeling a scarf that one of our clients knitted using a vey fine yarn.


The Word of the Day: Gratitude

During today's group I brought the computer into the group room to show everyone our blog. Because people are continually admitted and discharged there are always new people and I wanted everyone to know that we at Interim House have a blog for our knitting group. I also wanted the clients to understand how so many people are seeing what we are doing and how sometimes yarn comes to us from all over the country. There was much appreciation for what we have received. Thanks Melissa for your contest and thanks to all who have been involved in it.
During the group today we continued our ongoing talk about learning new stitches. We have just about all of the knitters here casting on and binding off. The triangle washcloth is a good way to learn yarn overs and several of the clients are working on that. We also have several clients working on purling. Two of the clients are working on cables, thanks to Lucia and Zelphia for the inspiration there. And we always have one or two clients working on felted handbags. There are several crochet pros here and they are teaching the others in the community how to crochet. The crocheted blankets are so beautiful and many are made from scraps of yarn that I put out in a yarn basket.

July 7, 2006

A client has been working hard on her second bag. It just got felted and turned out beautifully.
Here is Toby again with a knitted ball.

This is a felted bag that needs straps. The client who knitted it is new at circulars, and accidentally added stitches as she went around toward the top. The fun thing about felting is that it didn't matter. It gave it a flared look around the top.

The words for the day: "how to"

Leslie, Lucia, and Zelphia are the Interim House Volunteers who can knit just about anything. They are kind enough to come every week to knit with us and answer all of our questions about knitting. Today's lesson was about gauge but some of the ladies learned how to cast on, bind off, and purl. Many of the women want to learn how to make cable stitches and fancy designs. Many have mastered crocheting and there are many beautiful afghans. Every time I walk into the community room, there are several women sitting together knitting. I forgot my camera today and don't have any photos from today's group!

We got great news in that Melissa our friend from Michigan who found us through Abby (one of our volunteers whose job hasn't worked with our Friday afternoon group lately) is having a contest for us. She did this once before and it was a wonderful help with keeping up with yarn and needles, educational in that we learned about different parts of the country, and just fun because many people sent us their knitting ideas.

June 23rd and June 30th, 2006

The word of the day: Graduation!!!

I am combining two weeks together again. The weeks go by too quickly. Our graduation was June 30th and ten of our clients graduated. This means they have completed one year of treatment! The ceremoney was inspiring as each of the clients spoke about how much their recovery means to them. All of the graduates were part of the knitting program and now have knitting/crocheting as a coping skill/hobby. One of the graduates comes back as a volunteer/teacher at the residential group. Even though the graduation was in the morning, we still had a knitting group today! All of the photos are showing the work of the clients.

Thanks to Abby, Barbara, Zelphia and Lucia for the yarn you brought to the clients. We want to thank Abby's mom's knitting group for gathering yarn and needles.