Synthetic yarn knitted *with* wool?

I have a question, as I am new to this group and to the charity as well.

I knit my first vest from a pattern recommended on the A4A site, using all wool. But, I had a bit of extra synthetic yarn, the kind that would make a fuzzy scarf, clearly not wool. So, I used it along with the wool for a couple stripes, using knitting with both strands.

Is this acceptable?

Mittens and socks

There's a discussion on the Ravelry A4A group that I thought I'd bring over here. The report on the 72 boxes certainly shows a lot more mittens - 500 pairs more - than socks. Of course each cozy garment is wonderful warming gift, but I wonder -- does A 4 A want us knitting more socks?

Here’s the count of items for children, ages 7-14 years: 633 sweaters 600 vests, 800 pairs of socks 1,320 pairs of mittens 1,050 hats 132 blankets
4,535 Total garments and blankets (for next winter 2010)

Elizabeth's wonderful tutorial would be great for any sock beginner. Socks are my favorite thing to knit -- I do them two a time on magic loop, with a Fleegle heel and a quick beaded ribbing cuff.

All Hail Kid Mohair, bantamweight champ! ;-)

I have always admired yarns like kid mohair from a distance. But my knitting instincts tend toward practical/serviceable garments and yarns, so I doubted I could do justice to these fine yarns (and accompanying fine prices! ;-) )

But I recently received a donation of lovely lilac Jo Sharp fingering-weight kid mohair yarn, so it turned out to be the perfect opportunity for an experiment (Bwahahahahaa! evil rubbing of hands)

As it so happens (I am absolutely staggered by the frequency of these yarn coincidences!) I was JUST about to embark upon a super-bulky yoke-style pullover sweater using Ester Bitran hand-dyed wool yarn in violet and terracotta (I would not have chosen this combination of colors, personally, but who am I to second-guess an artist's vision? ;-) ) so I decided to carry-along the kid mohair strand throughout (except collar and cuffs; I didn't want to inadvertently irritate the sensitive skin at the neck and wrists).

Unlike regular mohair, which 'blooms' immediately on the fabric surface and makes its presence known, the kid mohair added just a faint 'peach fuzz' effect (you can't even see it in the photo). But its effect on fabric thickness and warmth factor were immediate - in fact, it got so hot I couldn't even work with the sweater in my lap (well, if that isn't a qualification for a4A sweaters, I don't know what is :-) ) So by all important measures, I am declaring this experiment an unqualified success!!

For my next project, I am going to switch it up and try to improve my nascent crochet skills - a high-neck double-breasted cardigan-vest with wooden toggle buttons using double-stranded worsted-weight yarn and a 6.5mm (K/10.5) hook (I want a chunky/sturdy fabric - I hope this will do the trick).

Stay tuned!!

Piggy-back on Previous Post

Is there a sure-fire way to know if a yarn is wool or mostly wool?
I sometimes get yarn given to me without a label and I'd love to use it for an a4A garment. I don't want to send something that won't meet our goal of keeping a child warm.

Question re: basement 'Quality Control' on wool content

I am wondering how best to communicate the wool content of the garments I send to a4A so as to minimize guesswork/wasted effort. I always enclose a note stating the wool content of each garment, but is this sufficient to assure you? Should I also (where possible) enclose the yarn labels of the yarns that I have used for each garment? Or is there some other method that I have not thought of? I am thinking this must be an onerous (but necessary) part of evaluating each garment that is received, and I would like to do whatever I can to make it as un-painful an activity as possible!

Youth Campaign, part 2

In case you're not signed up for announcements direct from A4A,* Ann has just announced that they've been able to add another youth campaign, starting now, with a due date of early May (I'm telling myself May 1, so I get things done). I love this second chance! I have the back of a vest finished, and a sweater that only needs sleeves. The trick is to start right in on those, rather than letting them drift again. Target audience and items needed are the same as last time: boys and girls aged 7-14, with sweaters, vests, socks, and mittens the items that are most needed.

If you're knitting sweaters and vests, remember: (1) Afghan kids tend to be tall and slim, so you'll want to make things longer; and (2) especially for girls, there are stringent requirements for modesty. Sweaters and vests must come well below the waist, and necklines must be discreet. If in doubt, add a couple of inches to sleeves and sweater body -- the sleeves can be rolled up, and a longer sweater is always better than one that's too short. In fact, if it's too short, there's no point in even sending it.

What does everyone else have to finish up? We've done campaigns with lot less lead time, so I expect great and wonderful things this time too. (Have I mentioned recently how truly terrific all of you are?)

*If you're not on the list to get direct notification of new campaigns, you can sign up right on the front page of the afghans for Afghans web site.

So glad to hear the campaign will continue...I will get to finish my vest (it is....so....close....) and I can knit more mittens on the plane when I travel later this week.

So May 1 sounds like it is far away...but let's all get cracking! Best to you all and happy knitting...Sally

General complaining and whining.

Hmmph! Looks like, according to Canada Post, my parcel didn't arrive at its destination until March 4th.

It was mailed February 18th, and took until February 25th to get across the border. It actually says on the tracking information that it left Canada on the 22nd, but somehow didn't arrive in the States until the 25th! So it took a full week to cross the border from the time I mailed it, even though I could have driven across the border from my place in under an hour!

Oh well, I guess I'll know better for next time. Hopefully, the "basement people" can hang on to it for some future campaign.

On a brighter note, I've very much enjoyed seeing everyone else's projects, and am very pleased that so many people are working together to make a contribution!

Missed the boat!

I wasn't able to finish either sweater in time for the March 1 deadline (but thankfully I had already made a bunch of other sweaters so I was not caught too short, whew!). Both the above sweaters are based on the recent yoke-pullover pattern requiring super-bulky alpaca. To get the right yarn gauge, I substituted with 3 strands of thinner yarn held together e.g. bulky + 2 WW. For the sweater pictured at the top, I used Lambs Pride Bulky, Brown Sheep Nature Spun worsted, and Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky, all randomly selected from my stash (I am amazed at how well they all go together!). The 2nd sweater pictured is actually made from scraps of wool yarn that I've accumulated over the past 20 years of knitting. As I knitted the scraps, I recalled all the good memories of the sweaters I had made from those yarns - sweaters and scarves for my dad, my sister, myself and others. I hope that the recipient of this sweater will somehow be warmed by all the memories that have been knitted in with the scraps!

As this is my first post on this blog (actually, on any blog :-) Welcome to the 21st century, my dear), I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Nandini, and I live in Brooklyn, NY. I've been knitting for a4A since November 2005, and it has been a wonderful outlet both for my knitting as well as for my charitable impulses - being from that part of the world, I feel the need and desperation especially keenly. I work full-time in the Financial industry, and in my limited free time I knit, read detective novels, knit, eat wonderfully tasty food in the local ethnic enclaves, knit, take long walks through New York City's various neighborhoods, and knit some more. It's a wonderful life!!! :-)))

I am so pleased that we all came through with 72 cartons of goodies for CWS. To think we had 'hoped' for (just) 50! Hurrah!!

Packing Up Our Wool Giftsfor Afghan Youth (7-14 years)

If you were stranded on a desert isle (or in the AFSC Basement), these are the people you would choose for company ...

Happy packers marveling at happy sweaters ... say hello to Elizabeth, Candace, Maggie, and Barbara --

Now meet Carol, Carole, AFSC's Pablo, and Jill --

Renee (mod for Ravelry's a4A friends group) joined us in meat-space with Edie on her visit from Boston and Ann (did you know the Basement is a magnet for Anns and Carols?) --

When not on quality-inspection duty (for sizing, fiber, and construction), Laura gets rewarded with the task of building boxes --

These socks and mittens were superbly knit by 10th-grader Abby from Berkeley, CA, with her wishes for peace --

Did you know that Trader Joe's now sells flash-frozen mittens?

Pam and AFSC Stephen with the Afghan national flag (Marsha MacColl of Afghans 4 Tomorrow brought this flag to us when she returned from her 2007 Kabul trip) --

On March 4, Ann and Stephen take a final glamour shot before our 72 precious cartons start their long journey to the girls and boys in Afghanistan --

We are guessing that perhaps half of this collection arrived in the 10 days prior to the March 1 due date. Dribble, dribble, whoosh! Just catching the breath (and soaking the tootsies), and then we'll send an update to our whole email list. Our heartfelt thanks to all participants for your lovely gifts for the kids in the programs run by Church World Service in Afghanistan. You are very talented and generous.

A Late Entry . . .

Hi Everyone -- I'm a newcomer to this project and am so excited to have found it. I really hope we can continue knitting beautiful sweaters for next year. I only learned of a4A about a month ago, so I only completed one sweater for this year. It was so luxurious to work with 100% pure Alpaca. Sigh. So soft. Anyway, I thought I'd share my photos. The zipper made it especially fun. I really enjoy seeing all the photos!! Keep on knitting and crocheting my friends!

Thanks to all...

I'm new here and was one of the happy recipients of Elizabeth's yarn for the March campaign. Elizabeth, I only wish I had a camera so that I could download a picture of what I made! For those of you who don't know, Elizabeth sent enough Brown Sheep superwash wool for me to crochet a hat and tunic-length sweater in luscious shades of Sea Mist, Sea Spray, and Galaxy (lovely green, aqua and dark teal), plus another wool in a coppery tan. The sweater was of a very warm nubbley texture and had decorative patterned stripes all around the collar, sleeves, and hem.

I was so grateful to have had the opportunity to crochet something for an Afghani child. I am disabled and crocheting for charity gives me much happiness, but I have to scrounge for yarn and rarely have the chance to work with wool. What a treat this was!

Now I am inspired to scrounge more rigorously because I am determined to keep contributing to a4A.

Thanks to all of you who put this organization together and keep it running. Yay! We'll change this world yet!