Peggy's article to read

Peggy Gordon of Fairmount (near Philadelphia) sent me the article -- "Global Warming ... In a Positive Sense," Home News -- from their local paper that tells the story of her knitting group making blankets for Afghanistan. I found the online link so you can read: Fairmount Knitters Keeping Afghans Warm.

The online version does not include the print version photo of Peggy at her home surrounded by their group blankets on the sofa, so I am posting this Basement photo we have that features Pam holding one of their blankets from earlier this year --



Great job, Peggy, on getting the story in the press and the blankets!

(Very smart, too, to ask the public for donations of wool for your group.)

Peggy told me that Margaret Tobin does all their crocheting and has the great color sense for the assembly. And, small world, I think Elizabeth mentioned that she knows these folks in her local knitting world.

(That's Mary-Ellen on the left. Unfortunately, she no longer works for AFSC cause of budget-cut layoffs. We miss her. We wish her the best, and her next employer is going to be very lucky.)

Sue? Pearl? Cti? What do you think?

Ok here's a small shot of the blanket I've been working on.
I measured it and it's 32" X 38".
I think the minimum size is 30" X 40".
Should I try to add to the border?
If so, what's the best way?
The current border is sc skip two sc 5 dc in next sc repeat.
Thanks!
Shirley

Here's a colorful blanket in progress! I'm glad I stopped and took a picture - I didn't realize how wobbly the edges are. I'm backing up and fixing one of the problems and hoping the rest will get evened out with the border.

The hexagon blanket for the last campaign didn't work out very well - it ended up too long and the half-hexagons didn't make a straight edge. It can be fixed, I think. By the time I had it all put together, I realized what I should have been doing! It should be ready for the next youth campaign, whenever that is.

Gwyneth

More blankets

This is the blanket I made with the yarn donated by Shirley. I wanted to do something special with her yarn - not just the usual stripes or 10" squares - so I found this free pattern on the internet. It's called "City Blocks Afghan". (Free Crochet Pattern 90174AD City Blocks Afghan : Lion Brand Yarn Company ) I had to adjust the pattern to make a baby afghan, but it came out a little wider than I expected. Thank you Shirley for the beautiful yarn - I really enjoyed making it.

anybody making blankets?

The A4A blog and ads

Hi, everyone --

I need to bring up a subject that some may not have seen when I last posted about it in the comments section. Ann and I have decided it's necessary to bring it up more visibly now, but I hope doing so does not make anyone uncomfortable.

A few weeks ago, in the comments section, I noted that that we wanted to keep this blog totally noncommercial. I had hoped to avoid writing a featured post like this one. When people come here, from links on the A4A site, or when they do a search for A4A, it's so much more inspiring for them to see all of our beautiful work and enthusiasm. This blog is intended as a community of knitters working together to aid the suffering civilians of Afghanistan, especially children, and that's what the focus has always been intended to be.

I know that the people who post info about the sales on wool yarn are doing it purely in a spirit of sharing, and hope you all will understand why we're asking that the blog pull back a bit to its main focus. The enthusiasm of the last few weeks as we raced the deadline for the youth campaign was so exciting -- I'd love to see us all keep feeling that way!

When I asked, before, that no further sales be mentioned on this blog, I did mention that all of the "big box" craft stores offer email newsletters that you can subscribe to. They'll send you advance notice of what's on sale next week, and they often (some of them always) include a pretty good coupon. That's an even better way to find out what good deals are around.

So, does that mean you can't ever mention a store by name? A gray area, indeed. If your local store is having a knit-in for A4A, by all means say who and where they are! If your local store is a place that carries great wools, has a nice owner, and you really think everyone should try to shop there -- no, that's an ad. If a local yarn store gave you all the yarn you used for your afghan, that's even grayer -- but I think a public thank you would be OK.

--Elizabeth

Yarn Sales

Apparently, we are not allowed to post messages about yarn sales on this blog. Has anyone else heard this information? It seems I've seen quite a few references to sales in the past.

I Didn't Even See It!

I didn't even see the new info that Ann sneaked onto the blog page early last week -- the due date for baby blankets has been set! November 23 in the U.S., November 16 if you're mailing to the Canadian collection point. Clearly I need to stop procrastinating on weaving in ends and get those squares seamed together.

--Elizabeth

I didn't know that.

First of all, congratulations to everyone for the 50 cartons for CWS. And in such a short turn around time! Those hooks & needles were really flying to accomplish all that. A special thanks to the Basement Crew. What an awesome job they have.

Well, here's what I didn't know:

To eliminate 'ladders' on socks or mittens, when you reach the end of a double-pointed needle, always work two or three stitches from the next needle onto the working needle. Doing this will move the boundary between needles and will help prevent a line of loose stitches between needles.

The next thing I didn't know is to help eliminate the holes at the base of the thumb. Pick up a couple extra stitches, then when knitting the first round, decrease to the number your pattern calls for.

I read about these hints on Knitting Daily. I haven't tried them, but will, the next pair of socks or mittens I knit.

The last thing I didn't know comes from ACECO or Afghan Children's Education & Care Organization. If that sounds vaguely familiar, it's because they were featured on the NBC Nightly News: a young Afghan woman has opened an orphanage for 150 Afghan children. What I didn't know is that it's equally important to sponsor boys in Afghanistan. In my knitting, I've always favored styles & colors that I think girls would like. My perception is that girls are severely disadvantaged & I want to support them. But what I learned is that by including the boys, they are being taught tolerance & that girls have value. That does make sense to me.

See? You can teach a semi-old dog new things.

circular blankets?

Hi all,

I see on the a4A website that for square baby blankets, the dimensions should be 40 X 40 inches. Is a 40 inch round (circle shaped) blanket acceptable or not?

Thanks,

Tory

Our wool gifts have left the Basement

Our 50 cartons of wool blankets, sweaters, vests, mittens, socks, and hats shipped out yesterday. Stephen (Associate Director at AFSC in SF), me, Elizabeth, Val, and Pam had the honor of final labeling, inventorying, seeing the truck loaded ... and holding up this beautifully scripted sign in Dari that says something like "handmade with love for the kids."

Where did I get our banner? On Sunday, I was at a Bay Area conference about rebuilding Afghanistan. (Rene, the moderator of the a4A friends group on Ravelry, kindly joined me at our info table.) We visited with many Afghan-Americans, and Fareed wrote the sign for us. I will email our photo to the CWS staff in Afghanistan, and I think they may share it with the children.



I will inform our whole email list with an item count and total when I get a chance. I also need to read all the notes that came with packages and send back the SASEs. Plus, we will pick new stash drawing winners. I may not get to this for a few days. I have a few things to catch up on. For now, I thought you would enjoy this photo -- at street level -- and knowing that our winter collection for youth has started its journey to Afghanistan.

Tashakor,
Ann

Volunteering has all kinds of benefits

I was on my way to Ninth Street in order to help pack, using a November Fastpass on October 30. I thought you could use it for three days before it started. Turns out it's three days AFTER the first that you can use the PRIOR month's pass. Checking everyone as they exited, a very nice police officer asked me for my proof of payment and I casually showed her the fastpass. At which time she told me it was not good; I'd failed to pay my fare and it was a $75 ticket. Well, she then asked me where I was going, and I told her I was going to the American Friends' Service to pack sweaters and afghans for A4A. She asked me what that was, and I explained--people send knit and crocheted items from all over North America and we pack them for sending to families and children in Afghanistan. She then called the other officer over and told me to tell her where I was going. So I explained it again to her. They looked at each other, looked at me and the officer took my driver's license and sent me around to pay the $2.00 fare. I then traded my proof of payment for my id, and went on my way to pack with a bunch of nice people. Volunteering is great for all kinds of things!! Come join us.