Diane's Fulled Afghan Carpet Bag

Diane -- one of our indispensable behind-the-scenes volunteers -- emailed me photos of her version of our Fulled Afghan Carpet bag pattern. Diane made such a beautiful bag using Lambs Pride (and she has some nice kilims, as you can see). Our pattern was designed by Marilyn King of Black Water Abbey Yarns based on a small pile carpet tribal bag.

Diane helps with responding to our incoming emails. Where does the time go? I have absolutely no idea. Here's Diane with us back in December 2010. I am grateful for Diane's support and very impressed with her Afghan Carpet Bag. I always think that felting/fulling takes courage.

The afghans for Afghans project has 6 Afghan-theme patterns that we sell to promote cross-cultural appreciation. One of these days I will turn them into downloadable PDFs. We're still sending out paper patterns in plastic sleeves.

Packing time in the basement

The deadline for the current campaign has just passed, which means that our corner of the AFSC basement was looking like this when packing volunteers arrived on two recent shifts. Packages needed to be opened, knit items needed to be sorted, then counted and finally repacked into boxes labeled for the long trip abroad.

Tiny or large, every package or envelope is exciting to us. Here's Carol taking that first step.

Since this drive focused on such a wide age-group, socks needed to be measured and sorted into two categories. Admiring your beautiful sock-knitting techniques is one of our perks, as Ardis demonstrates.

For more sock-gorgeousness, check out this two-tone beauty held by Sue.

Hats are not to be outdone by socks, mind you.

We all fell in love with this one, modeled by Rachel. It reminded of us of cheerful thrummed mittens.

Laura, Sue and Ardis take a (very short!) break from counting hats to pose with just a few of our favorites.

Someone didn't only knit this lovely hat and mittens set; they also embroidered it beautifully.

More handknitted goodness shown off by Rachel and Keiko, right before the socks get packed for Afghanistan.

Now, even though it is not nearly as colorful, this is the sight we volunteers love most of all: columns of sealed and addressed boxes, ready for shipping!

On Their Way...

Thanks to Elizabeth and Sandra for the yarn.  I had fun with these; they just sort of "happened," depending on whim.


When tying the mittens together, I like to crochet a long chain with the same yarn and use it to make a big bow.  That way, if the mitten ever needs darning, the recipient can unravel the chain for that purpose.  Or a little girl can use the chain as a colorful hair tie.  Fun!

Contributon to Current Campaign

Hi, everyone. Here is a picture of the hat, mittens, and socks I made for the current campaign.

The brown yarn is Lion Brand fisherman's wool in natural brown, and the red and orange yarns are leftovers I had lying around. I lost the ball bands long ago, so I have no idea what brand they are, although I suspect that the red is Patons wool. Anyway, I'll get these in the mail tomorrow.

Mailed a parcel yesterday

Hi all,

It's been a really long time since I checked in here, but I figured I'd just make a quick note that I popped a parcel in the mail yesterday.  Hopefully, it'll make it in time!  Not as much as I would've like this time (a hat, two pairs of mitts and two pairs of socks),  but every bit helps, I guess.

I'm looking forward to finding out what the next campaign will be, and enjoying seeing the pictures from The Basement.  Thanks to all the volunteers who put in so much hard work!
--Amber

Going for Gold in the AFSC Basement This Week

Susan, Carol (in Norwegian ski hat ... this isn't the Winter Games?), Jill, and Ellen beaming on the podium after a winning team relay race to open the pile of envelopes and packages that arrived from talented and generous knitting and crochet volunteers across North America and even a few bubble bags from Europe. We had a thrilling afternoon together! We all left pooped out and happy.

Did you know that yesterday was Swiss National Day? Ellen proudly waves the national food and (sort of) the colors of her ancestors' flag. Thank you to the volunteer who tucked the fancy chocolate bars in with their wool gifts! The AFSC Basement volunteers send their love!

Another volunteer tucked silver cranes in with her wool gifts. The birds enjoyed alighting briefly on Jill's top-quality mittens before we packed them into their cartons destined for winter use in Afghanistan. The pretty cranes stay in San Francisco.

Big thanks to all who have sent in packages for this Aschiana campaign. The quality has been terrific. The mounds of wool socks, mittens, and hats are building. We don't seem to have too much of a single garment vs. the others, so if you are still knitting and crocheting for the August 15 due date, please make whatever gives you the most pleasure. We haven't counted yet, but let's hope we are able to add some warmth to the lives of a few thousand Afghans this winter. Enshallah.

Afghanistan is competing in the Olympics!

Knitting not sexy? We're invisible?

I just read this. What if you knit with cleavage showing?

July 11, 2012, New York Times
Knitting My Way Home

Joy ISO Lafayette/Denver/Bolder a4A group

I am posting for Joy in Lafayette, Colorado, who would like to get together with a4A knitters and crocheters in her area. If you are interested, please email Ann at afghans4Afghans at aol dot com. I will forward your email directly to Joy for her to get in touch with you with details.

-- Ann

Due date

Do we have a final due date for the current campaign yet?

Happy 4th of July !

Yesterday, Emily (L), Sue (center), Rachel (R), and Jo (hiding from the camera) opened all the packages that have arrived to date for Aschiana. The in-flow of wool socks, mittens, and hats is starting to pick up. Gorgeous workmanship! Lovely items galore. Thank you! Please keep it coming and spread the word.

What are the ladies holding?

Emily has mittens and socks knit by Renee, the moderator of the afghans for Afghans' friends group on Ravelry. In the middle, Sue has items knit by Jean from Maine (they understand cold and wool!), a long-time volunteer and terrific online enthusiast for the project. On the right is Rachel with a4a blog moderator Elizabeth's popular 4-needle mittens (see pattern link here).

Jo came all the way from Fremont, via BART, to help out. This was the first time we met Sue, and hope she'll join us again. Emily and Rachel have been indispensable to the packing team for a long time. So appreciative of their taking time from their own busy schedules to help out.

We got into sizing the hats with our styrofoam wig heads or even our own noggins. Hats have to cover ears and be solidly sew at the top (the dominate variety). While we don't have to worry about armscye, torso, or sleeve lengths for this campaign, we're making sure all the socks, mittens, and hats are in fine form for their recipients. No one would want to be the kid or adult who gets a poorly made gift for the winter, especially with few or no possessions. So, this is what we have in mind when we open the packages. We're serious about the task at hand, but our Basement crew is great company -- and we love seeing gazillion examples of patterns and yarns and always leave tired and uplifted by the generosity and talent of all the contributors. A reason for fireworks, for sure!

In keeping with the spirit of the holiday, we went with American Hershey's.

Ravelympics and US Olympic CommitteeRead all about it!

Am I the last to know about this big news story? Thanks to Candace for alerting me!

What a doozy --

Knitters Outraged After U.S. Olympic Committee Squashes Knitting Olympics—and Disses Knitters

a4A volunteers have formed Ravelympic teams in past years. And, how about this 2008 photo of long-time, devoted (and fun) volunteers Ellen, Sarah, Judith, and Keiko at Stash in Berkeley!



Stash is sadly gone. However, the 4 of you under those rings might have put you at risk! Your defense could have been that this was for the good of The Cause.

This and That

A small collection ready to go. I'm also using stash yarn, but I miss knitting the sweaters. Actually I have 4 of my own sweater projects waiting in the wings. Since July is our deadline this year, maybe several of these will get finished. Just started another hat and then anything else I can accomplish before the final date.