New Years Update and Charity Knitting for 2017

Happy New Year!

I hope this January finds you all in good health and able to do a lot of knitting! I wanted to give you a quick update on what's been going on here at KnitOasis HQ over the last couple of months as well as announce this year's charity focus.

Thanks to what I'm calling "that wind and rain event" (the rest of you might know it as Hurricane Matthew) we had to move out AGAIN while repairs were made to flood damaged portions of HQ. It wasn't as bad as LAST year, but still. Ugh. Needless to say, we are really hoping we are all finished with natural disasters here for a while! 

We have managed to put everything back together again and even as I type this, our favorite handyman is here to touch up a few things that the sheetrock contractors should have fixed but since they were so nightmarishly horrendous we had to send them away early before they could do any more damage (but that's a whole other story--live and learn!). And YES, the county we live in has been addressing the drainage issues that have contributed to our flooding, thanks be to God.

Because of being displaced during the Fall months again, I have now missed the mailing deadline 2 years in a row for the Red Scarf Project. Isn't that horrible? I mean, honestly. After designing patterns for it and promoting it, the least you'd think I could manage is sticking the things in the mail. This just gives me the proper motivation to make the Red Scarf Project my charity focus for 2017, which is where YOU come in!

I would love to be able send a great big box of scarves to Foster Care to Success this Fall and I will need your help to do it! 

Here are my goals for this year's charity knitting focus:

1. Bring attention to the Red Scarf Project.
2. Design a new pattern.
3. Find all the scarves that people have given me that should have been mailed already. (!)
4. Encourage all my knitting friends (YOU!) to knit at least one scarf for the Project in time to be mailed September 20, 2017.
5. MAIL THEM ALL BY SEPTEMBER 20, 2017!!

Here are the patterns already available as free downloads. (For techniques you'll need for Take the Trolley, there are some tutorials here.)

Pictured clockwise from top left: 1) Take the Trolley, 2) Brickworks, 3) Thousand Mile Journey, 4) Altimeter

So how about it? Who's ready to help me knit some red scarves?

Hey, Hey It's a Dalek Beret!

Inspired by the Daleks from Dr. Who (ok, maybe scared silly by them would be more accurate), I created this bobble beret. It makes use of three different bobble construction techniques, because, being the teacher I am, I wanted to give my students a lot to learn. Combined with the bit of cable and the seed stitch, this hat has texture aplenty. 

And if you want to walk around saying "Exterminate" in a cyborg voice while wearing it, I'll totally understand.

You can find my Hey, Hey It's a Dalek Beret on Ravelry here and if you're a savvy shopper you'll snatch it up now. To celebrate the release of this pattern, I'm having a sale on all patterns in my Ravelry shop. Just use the coupon code DALEK from now until the end of June and receive 40% off any pattern. 

Around here lately...

Since it's been quiet here on the website, I thought I'd update you on what's been going on at KnitOasis HQ. 

Plans have been mulled for workshops and retreats, socks have been finished, swatches for new projects have been knit and re-knit. The hubby and I took a couple of lovely days off for our anniversary and went to watch sunsets at a lake.

Another year of homeschooling finished for one kid brought the realization that he only has two more years of this before I will retire my title of Homeschool Mom. When that happens I will have performed that job with varying measures of success for 18 years, and leave that position with no severance and no future prospects for a job in the same field. This may be the point where some would think of forming a union...

With the help of an awesome friend I conducted a very fun indigo dyeing demo at the Georgetown County Museum, during which I dyed, among other things, a hank of wool a gorgeous blue to use at a later date (neck warmer? hat?).

I had some minor surgery which kept me from doing much besides knitting for a couple of weeks. Well, that and watching a lot of movies and TV programs based on Victorian literature.

Then, just as I was returning to normal, it rained a lot at our house and the storm drains backed up and our house flooded again. It was not as bad as last time, but it was a pretty sad thing to watch your pretty, 6-month old flooring get removed and thrown out because it was ruined by floodwater. We didn't lose walls or contents, only floors and baseboards, so despite the mess and inconvenience we are able to live in our home while we wait for new floors and some storm drain maintenance.

In the meantime...classes, events (Charleston Knit in Public Day!) and knitting will continue. We picked out some lovely floors that will, we hope, get installed before the summer is over and last for many, many years to come.

Stay tuned for pics of restoration and new fun knitting patterns, since it seems need to do both simultaneously. Again.

A hat pattern fit for a kid (or a grown-up!)

When children are small, they love the idea of being able to match a favorite person. A hat just like Mom's or Dad's or Aunt Sue's or even big sister, is a fun way for a child to feel connected. (I remember wearing a lot of hand-me-downs as a kid, but I don't think it's the same thing AT ALL.)

This pattern comes in two sizes and is quick to knit--partially because it's a hat, and hats are fast, partially because working the twisted stitch patterns is all at takes to make the cute "carousel" design, the bulk of the project being stockinette stitch in the round!

My thinking is this: Wouldn't this make for an adorable Mommy/Child project for Mother's Day? Two matching hats gifted for a wee one and mommy, or even a fun project for a mother and child (grown or otherwise) to make as a knit-a-long. Cute, right?

Well I have good news and better news; I just can't decide which is which!  I'll call them News A and News B.

News A: I'll be teaching the techniques to make this hat in class on Saturday, April 30 from 2-4 pm in North Charleston.

News B: The pattern is a free download from Red Heart Yarns.

Also, pompoms are super cute on top!