While I am working on my five interview answers for Susan in WA, (almost done, Susan!) I thought I’d post about the latest Gracious Parcel squares I’ve completed for Jackie’s on-going charity blanket project. When Jackie contacted me and told me she was coming up a bit short on squares for the next blanket I knew I couldn’t let her down. This time I did three different squares; two of each kind. In case you don’t remember, she asks for the squares to in some way represent the countryside where she lives. Since this blanket was going to be given in the spring, I wanted my squares to reflect things found in the spring and summer.

Lilacs are one of my favorite things, so it was only natural that one of the squares would be dedicated to those fragrant blooms. It took me some time to find the right yarn for representing lilacs, but I found the perfect fit. I experimented with different stitch patterns until I hit on the right one (the box stitch) to make it look like clusters of lilac flowers. It’s soft and smooshy-feeling to the touch.

I had some variegated blue yarn that came with my original “Learn to Knit” kit and thought it would do well to represent a river. When I started playing with the yarn, it just begged for the chevron stitch to make it look like ripples. (The chevron stitch forms a “v”.)

I also wanted to represent the fruiting bushes around her area and even though the yarn is not quite the correct color of red for raspberries, it works. The checkerboard pattern worked up to look like lots of small pints of raspberries (or at least to my imagination it does).

I enjoy doing the squares. They work up quickly and keep my mind and hands busy.  It’s a creative adventure from start to finish: picking out the yarn; choosing the pattern stitch; designing and making the tags. And best of all, it’s for a good cause. You can read more about how you can contribute on Jackie’s blog. She now has a photo up of the last completed blanket. Take a look—it’s awesome! I can see all three of my squares sewn into this work of art created by knitter’s hands from all over the world. It’s a good thing to be a part of.

Hey Mom, can you teach me to knit with my paws?
Sam, our Maine Coon helps me with knitting today.

Spring will be coming soon if last night’s deluge of rain is anything to go by. If you remember, a few months back I did three squares for Gracious Parcels, a charity knitting project headed up by a blogger friend of mine, Firefly. [See her link under Lynne’s Favorites in my sidebar.] Knitters from all over the world have contributed squares for her blankets that are distributed to families in need through a local Habit for Humanity. [If you follow the Gracious Parcels link above you will see a finished blanket.]

The colors and yarns I chose this time were inspired by spring and summer. The nubby lilac colored square is supposed to represent bunches of lilac flowers. The blue square is variegated like water, and I chose a chevron pattern to form ‘Vs’ like ripples in a lake or stream; and the square in progress is a strawberry-raspberry color done in a checkerboard which I hope will look like pints of those luscious berries when completed. This is all in my mind’s eye of course, and other people may see them as representing something else entirely.

I have fun choosing yarn and then a pattern to best represent what I want to portray. And, I’m constantly teaching myself new stitch patterns. So, it’s a win-win situation. It gives me a creative outlet, and at the same time I am donating my time and efforts to a very good cause. I like the thought of my stitches warming someone’s heart and lap. It’s a good thing.

I finally finished my set of Gracious Parcels for firefly’s Habitat for Humanity project. I’m pretty pleased with how they came out considering I had never tried these stitch patterns before. I made each one with a different stitch pattern, and made homemade tags to explain what they are supposed to represent.

I did Grass in a basketweave stitch; Autumn Leaves in a broken rib stitch [the easiest of them all]; and Bountiful Harvest is a combination of broken rib and rib-and-ridge stitches. I made this one up with the broken rib representing wheat fields in a taupey-brown yarn and rows of yellow “corn” for the rib-and-ridge stitch. It’s really fun how the “corn” rows stick up and form a rolling ridge.

I’m packing them off in today’s mail to their new destination. I hope they conform to what she wanted for her squares. I had to rip out and recalculate my stitches several times to get a 7 inch square, or as close as I could come to one. So, it was a learning experience for me all the way around.

Good grief. I guess my knitting dry spell is officially over. I have so many projects started I can hardly keep track of them. I really should settle on one, finish it, and go on to the next. Except I can’t. Each one offers different challenges, or states of mindlessness. I know my blog site is boring for those of you knitter-type-people who visit here because I am not talking about knitting much. On the other hand, all my non knitter-type-people will probably be bored by my posts on knitting. Or maybe not!

My newest project is one for a good cause. A blogger friend of mine, we’ll call her firefly, is collecting knitted squares to make blankets for Habitat for Humanity. She calls her project Gracious Parcels and you can read about it by following the link. I like her theme of squares that represent the countryside she lives in. My first square I call Grass and I chose a basketweave pattern to represent an open field. I plan on making two more squares. One to represent Autumn Leaves [yarn is Cherry Tree Hill’s Earth], and another using two colors of yarn worked in large ribbing to represent rows of either wheat or corn, called Bountiful Fields. If you have a pair of idle hands and want to help she’d be greatly appreciative. She’s trying to get a few ready in time to give by Christmas, but this project will go beyond Christmas in scope, so if you feel you can’t contribute a square or two by then, your contribution will still be put to good use in the future.

My favorite project in the works is Fetching, a fun pair of fingerless gloves; a free pattern from Knitty.com.  It’s my first try at cables and I think they are turning out pretty well. I think they’ll need to be blocked a bit, but I’m happy except for my thumb join. I think it ended up a bit messy. I’m using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. It’s soft and really nice to work with. Sorry for the slight blurriness of the second photo. It’s too hard to take a photo of your own hand and get far enough away. I tried multiple times and finally gave up.

Another project that is pretty mindless is a scarf done in double seed stitch. I bought this gorgeous handpainted, handspun yarn from a shop on eBay. I’ve bought other yarn through her as well and just love it’s natural look. It’s very wooly and knobby; spun with some thick and some thin.

Last by not least is the pair of felted clogs for my Sis S that I’m supposed to have done in time for Christmas. One is already done [except for the felting] and they go fast so I’m not too worried. Hey, Sis, are you out there? How does the size look [hahaha]?  [I’ve been trying to get my sister to comment on my blog, but so far no luck.] I’ve used this pattern a lot and it’s so much fun I keep trying to find people I can knit them for. It’s a fiber trends pattern and you can find it here.

Well, that’s about it. Oh, except for the second pair of Fetching in a lovely blueish-tweedy yarn [merino, silk and cashmere blend] from Italy. Not enough progress to really take a photo of. What? You want to see the yarn? Okay, okay. Here it is. But now I’m going to go and take a dog for a walk down to the pond. Bart walked in the boggy bits of the yard today [another inch + of rain last night] and it’s a good way to get them clean again. Plus, some exercise for me. It’s gorgeous out there today!