Gifts for Little Girls

Girls outnumber the boys in my family - I have 2 nephews and 6 nieces! Three of those nieces have birthdays this weekend, and one niece-to-be is being celebrated in a baby shower tomorrow, so I have some girly gifts to show here. On the right is the baby's shower gift, a simple cotton-silk lace blankie (the Baby Chalice blanket on Ravelry). On the right are some plain cotton totes I got from my new favorite store Muji; I embroidered the birthday girls' names on them and filled them with some budget-friendly store-bought gifts (crayons, sticker books, etc.). A shortage of time and money prevented me from going all-handmade, which I feel rather guilty about, but reportedly the girls were happy with their bags, so I should be happy too.

It's been too long

Well, I have been absent for too long - I have a long list of excuses but no really good reasons, so I'll skip the lame justifications and just get right back into it. I completed the cotton throw blanket well after Christmas, but I'll count it as a holiday gift anyway. I'd have made it all one color if I'd planned ahead more, but I'm still happy with the result. The granny square blankie is my first charity craft of this year; it's for a program that assists young mothers in New York, and it's my contribution to the crafting group at my work. I made it using the odds & ends of yarn from the group's stash. I've done a few other small gifts recently which I forgot to photograph, but I'll be sure to remember next time because I have a brand new camera that I can't wait to try out. Now I just have to tighten up my gift crafting plans for the year and start making!

The last of 2008

The three bags above were a holiday gift that I forgot to photograph all together before sending them - but here they are now. And here also is the last holiday gift of 2008 - the in-laws' cotton blanket. I'm optimistic it will be finished by the end of the month; I have high hopes for completing a big chunk of it during the Golden Globes tonight!

Knitting update

I have finally finished a simple knitted blanket, the Plush Throw from Lion Brand, for a late wedding gift. At least the weather is finally turning chilly enough for the recipients to use it! My cat certainly approved of the finished blanket and was very unkind to me when I had to take it away. The blanket caused a slight delay in my holiday knitting schedule, but I'm doing alright nonetheless. The brown wool vest is over halfway done, as are two pairs of socks, and I should be starting another project today or tomorrow. So, not panicking yet.

Tree of Life afghan, at last

After languishing for a few weeks while I read the whole Harry Potter series, the Tree of Life baby blanket is finally done. Here it is all pinned out for blocking; I did an applied I-cord border rather than the leaf border called for in the pattern. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and now that this project and Harry are both out of the way, I'm hoping to focus and pick up some steam in my gift-knitting agenda. I still have another small blanket and a sweater vest on the go, but should be starting two new gift projects over the long weekend, and hopefully making progress all around.

What I learned from a group charity crafting project

My boss and I are both on the Community Service Committee (CSC) at the university library where we work; last year, my boss became the chair of the committee. I had once told her about my wonderful Mom's tradition of making warm knit hats and beautiful crochet-edged flannel baby blankets for charities in her area, and my boss was inspired by the idea, so in the fall we bought a bunch of yarn on sale and put out a call for volunteers to make hats for the Bowery Mission. We ended up getting about a dozen participants, and donated 28 hats to the Mission just before Christmas break.

We were pleased with the project, especially because we had many volunteers who didn't normally participate in the CSC's regular activities. Sometime in January, I think, my boss heard that the university's main community service office offered grants to assist university groups with their community service initiatives. This really got my boss going! Again taking inspiration from my Mom, she contacted the Children of Bellevue, an agency that provides layettes to newborns whose families are in need, and asked if they could use some handmade blankets (they answered "yes" enthusiastically). She then whipped together an application for one of the grants, to cover the cost of materials to make 50 cotton flannel blankets with crochet edging. The grant was approved, and as of last week we reached our goal - 50 blankets completed by 24 volunteers! The blankets need a final wash and then they will be sent off to the hospital.

From the start, this project was such a great experience for me - I learned so much, and it was great fun. I thought it would be useful to sit down and really think about what I got out of this project, to share what I learned, and to show off what our group accomplished (link later). So then, here's a list of What I learned from my group charity crafting project:

*How to work with people
I used to look at my employer's lunchtime seminars about managing different personalities or working with a team, and I always dismissed them as irrelevant to me because my department is quite small and we all get along. When the blanket project got underway, I realized I was wrong. A couple of the volunteers were often very negative - they complained a lot, and at first it was a huge downer. This is where I could have used those team management skills! When I took a step back, I was able to see A) that I shouldn't take their remarks personally - it's not about me; B) that their intentions were good - after all, they were volunteering for this, and were invested in making the project a success; and C) they had amazing skills, and turned out to be among the most productive volunteers we had. Everyone has something to contribute.

*Planning is key - but just do it, and be flexible
My boss really struck while the iron was hot and managed to get the grant application together in a short time, but it was still very well researched, and she made sure to contact well in advance the people whose assistance we would later need (to book meeting rooms, disburse grant funds, etc.). This planning provided structure for the project, so that any snags along the way (such as a long delay, due to backordered fabric, in the start of the project) were not catastrophic. In such situations we had to be flexible and stay focused on the project goal, rather than just following our plan for the plan's sake.

*It feels good!
-It feels good to create. Many participants often remarked that our crafting meetings were their favorite part of the day.
-It feels good to give. To know your creation will keep a little baby warm - what better feeling is there?
-It feels good to share and connect with others. One of my favorite parts of the project was meeting other library employees who I'd never had a chance to meet otherwise. So many smart, fun, giving, talented people!
-It feels good to be inspired, and to inspire. I'm now making plans for my own charitable crafting project, and I know of one other volunteer who has continued making blankets on her own. The energy generated by this group was really infectious. Oh, and did I mention that some of the participants had never crocheted before? We must have taught 7 or 8 people to crochet, and their blankets all turned out beautifully.

*It doesn't cost much, and it can be green
Our goal of 50 blankets was fairly big, but I think that even without the grant we could have come up with a way to fund our project. When we did the hats, we shopped carefully for good deals and each pitched in a bit of money to make it happen. Because one of the CSC's objectives is to "be green" we are considering ways to "green" our crafting projects, such as holding a materials drive inviting people to contribute from their stashes. One woman collected flannel scraps from the blankets and made a few adorable puzzle balls to send along with the blankets.

Here is a link to the CSC's Flickr page, with photos of every blanket. The photos are a bit washed out, but oh well. I also took some snapshots of the stacks of folded blankets because they looked so cute. You will notice many different skill levels and styles. There are also some blankies with super-tight tension in the crochet borders - this really bothered some participants, who wanted everything to be "perfect." In the end we decided that because babies are lumpy, some blankets could be too. The puffy blankets with tight edges were made with just as much love and care as the "perfect" ones, and will lend themselves well to wrapping up a squirmy baby.

And for more inspiration, check out Lion Brand's and Interweave Press' lists of charitable crafting opportunities - there is need everywhere!

Tree of Life, continued

Here is the Tree of Life blankie (with supervisor) as it looked yesterday; I've added another row of flowers since then. I just joined the third and last skein of yarn; I feel pretty confident I'll finish the body of the blanket but I might have to come up with a different border option if I run out of yarn, which is likely. I'm considering lining it, a la Rita.

Audubon card + blankie update

These are poor pictures, so take my word for it when I tell you these things look much better in person. Anyway, on the left is the card I made for my Dad for Father's Day, using some card stock from my bin of saved paper and a lovely Audubon image from an advertising supplement in the New York Times (there were a bunch of beautiful Audubon images - I cut them all out and added them to the paper bin). I also happened to have a little brown envelope that fit the card perfectly! My gift to him was a CD of folk & blues (Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, etc.) which I didn't take a picture of because I just printed the insert with iTunes.

On the right is the Tree of Life blankie in its current state. I'm just starting the first "flower garden" section.

Tree of Life blanket

I have begun knitting a gift for a relative's baby, expected in October. I wanted to make the Tree of Life Afghan from Lion Brand as soon as I first saw it many months ago, but waited until I had the right occasion. I am using some Wool-Ease Sportweight yarn that I've had in my stash for ages; since its gauge is much smaller than that specified in the pattern, this blankie will be super tiny and just right for a newborn. The cabled tree motif is definitely challenging!