Labours of love ...

Another busy, happy group at the Library, today. We were very pleased to see Gina and Lesley back with us today, looking very well. And JEN! It was good to see you.

Another two beautiful rugs were finished for Wrap With Love:
The first was made by Indrani - this is Indrani's second rug and a major achievement as she only learnt to knit in the group, and to complete this rug, learnt to crochet. Congratulations, Indrani - it looks great, and the green you chose for the crocheted joins looks really good.





The second is a wonderful example of how nothing is wasted. Amongst the wool donated by Cecilia was a large piece of knitting. Rather than frogging this to reuse the wool, Genni who has an amazing eye for colour, took it home and knitted coordinating squares and strips of knitting to make a complete rug. It looks amazing: And the third - knitted by Jen for Winter Warm. We all want to get some lesons on the construction of this rug - made from "leftovers", the squares are knitted together into strips - the strips are grafted together, and the rug is finished with a knitted border done on a circular needle, with mitred corners - not to mention the way the colours go together so well. In the first photo, the rug is displayed by Elizabeth, the voluntary JP who is available on a Thursday morning at the Library. The second photo is a closer view of the detail:


We also today, passed a number of knitted items over to Brigid for delivery to Mahboba at West Ryde. A container is going to Afghanistan shortly, and these will be warmly welcomed by the mothers and children. A feature of Mahboba's work is helping women to establish their own cottage industries to help lift them out of poverty. This help is conditional on the attendance of children at school - education being the key to breaking the poverty cycle and to economic independence. Some of the items:




That's all for today - more photos to come!

Busy fingers .... and Tip of the Day

Busy fingers are visible all around our table at the moment. It is really interesting to see how the different members of the group develop their knitting skills. Each week we seem to learn something from each other, regardless of whether we are experienced knitters or beginners.

Tip of the Day
Caroline has been frustrated by the "wrong" side of rugs looking like a "wrong side" when new colours are added. Searching through the books on the library she came across an ingenoius solution. When joining a new colour in a garter stitch rug, the first row in the new colour should be knitted in k1p1 rib. The rug then continues in the new colour and garter stitch. This leaves a a very subtle, neat pattern on both sides of the rug. The first two photos below show the" front" and "back" of the rug using this method. The last photo shows how the colours meld together as the rug grows. Genevieve is using a similar method in a slightly different way - I'll try to post photos next week.













































Another rug has been completed. Amanda took the squares from our pile of ready-to-be-sewn-together wraps and brought the completed wrap today. She has used a very pretty join on these squares - taught to her by Chris. At first glance it looks like a feather stitch. There's no close-up but here's the completed rug - it looks really good:



More news soon.

Feral wool on the loose ....

Today we extend a big welcome to Chris, another new member. We are looking forward to getting to know her and to hearing about her homeland, Korea, as we knit.

It was business as usual this week - knitting and chatting. However, once again, the librarian's office had become over-run by rugs and bags of wool. Genny and Kris decided to tidy it up, and as I left I could barely see them for feral balls of wool and rampaging rugs. I hope they lived to tell the tale! :-)

Today I spent a few hours with Patricia of the knitting group at Pennant Hills Library, helping her to set up a blog for that group. I'm not the best teacher, as I've learnt through trial and error - but I discovered today how much of what I do is automatic now, as I couldn't think without the mouse in my hand! This group has very good links with others in the local community, and Patricia told me they have taken 144 rugs to Wrap With Love this year! So go over to their blog and check them out.

I'll be posting some photos of our knitteds for children in Afghanistan, as soon as the camera batteries recharge - stand by.