More Charity Knitting

I have several charity projects that I knit for.

There are

• prayer shawls for our church ministry,
  
• hats & mittens for the international families -- also part of our church ministry,
  
• hats for www.knit-a-cap.org,
• and recently I started making wool mittens for Macuwita-Sni (on Yahoo) (and here on Ravelry) a project for the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota

The hat that I started on my way home from TNNA is one of these pictured. I had some made before the show and I have made others since then. These are really easy and fast to make. Some of them will go to the internationals and some will go to knit-a-cap.

The red mittens in my last post are planned for Macuwita-Sni, as are these red and blue stranded mittens. These have been a fun but frustrating exercise. I do not have a pattern to work from. I just thought I should add a simple stranded pattern to make them a little thicker and warmer. HA! The first mitten didn't work out too badly but trying to make the second one match was really a challenge! As my husband likes to remind me, "It's easy to make ONE of anything alike!"

I have ripped out many, many times! But I think I finally have it. Now to see if I can figure out what to do with the thumbs!!

TNNA Knitting

Of course I had to have some knitting to do while at a trade show that was focused on Needlearts!!

On the way to Ohio we were trying to finish up some of the display projects. I made several rosettes for the green Pillpi/Chiri hat/scarf/wristwarmers set that was displayed. We needed 20 rosettes so as we took turns driving we also took turns knitting them.

Then I started a pair of adult women's size socks in our new Magi sock yarn. These went with me each day so I could knit as I had the time while in the booth. It was also a great display item so people could see how this brown/gold colorway knits up. I would set it down next to the display of Magi when I wasn't working on it. Very pretty I might add!

Back in our room in the evening I started some plain wool mittens for a charity project. These also made for easy knitting to do on the way home in the car. I also started a charity hat on the way home and knit on it until it got too dark to see to do the decreases at the top. More on that later...





Need to get those last tails woven in on these mittens!

TNNA 2008

I have been very slow to report about our trip to The National Needle Arts Association trade show. I went with Arnhild from Arnhild's Knitting Studio and her other helper Linda. They are still setting things up in this picture. It was exhausting but great fun! We have been very busy since then trying to fill all of the orders.

The day we set up was very hot and humid in Columbus, Ohio. I remember hearing or seeing it was about 96 degrees. Hauling things in and getting it all set up was miserable in that heat! We finally managed it quite nicely though and then we retreated to our hotel to rest up for the opening of the show the next morning.

After 3 days of the show we had to pack it all up again in the heat. I wasn't quite as bad though because they didn't open the big doors behind us until the end of the day. The convention hall stayed a lot cooler. It took us about 3 hours to disassemble and pack everything up and then we were out of there looking for a good meal and a cool place to relax!

I also went looking on the internet for reports of the flooding situation back in Iowa to make sure we would be able to travel home safely. Fortunately, we didn't have a problem then, but later in the week interstate 80 was closed due to flooding near Iowa City. My heart goes out to the many, many people who's homes were flooded with muddy river water.

I had a great time meeting people at the show. There were so many people there whom I had read about but had never imagined being able to meet in person. Book authors, pattern designers, magazine editors, yarn company owners, lots of yarn shop owners, etc. It was wonderful to be able to say hello to them and get to know them a little bit.

We had a great show, though it was a little slow the first 2 days. The orders were very good there and we have had more orders since we got home. We also have about a dozen new stores which will be carrying some of the Rauma Yarns and Patterns. Check out your local yarn shop and see if they have it!

Arnhild and I have been very busy printing up more patterns and translations and packing the orders that we had on hand. There will be a large order coming from Rauma in Norway soon. Then there will be yarn to send out for the back orders too. We have gotten so many orders within the past week that we may need another order from Rauma very soon! Business is good!

Summer Knitting -- Mittens of course!

Nice warm wool mittens! These are for charity. They will go to the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota through the Macuwita-sni (which means "I'm not cold.") group.

In other knitting, the Chiri baby sweaters are drying after their final wash. I will try to get pictures of them up later. I think all of the knitting I needed to do for the trade show is finished! Now, I need to start planning and packing my stuff.