Crafting Charity of the month: June

I like to knit. I kind of like to knit things with inexpensive acrylics that have great universal color that keeps me from having to worry about dye lots, cause I only really worry about dye lots when it's too late and I am almost done with the project and I just ran out of yarn. I REALLY like to knit things that give me a lot of bang for my proverbial time buck as well, as in " oh look at what I made, and in only 4 hours!"  This brings me to a very fine example of this crafter's paradox of producing an awesome craft in a short time: the knit baby hat.  It's cute, can be made in any rainbow of color combinations, and I have never know anyone not to be completely overjoyed at the gift of a homemade knit item for their baby.  They think we slaved for hours over this gift of love for them, but I know the truth.  I swear I will never tell how fast these suckers knit up.  Non-knitters never have to know our secrets and actual time taken does not detract from the love worked into the item.
 I have knit so many of these over the years...I am not that old, but I do have some very fertile friends and co-workers.  My favorite pattern is in the book Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller.  It's the umbilical cord hat. I was a bit weirded out by the name, but once you have seen it all knit up in its glory the name works well and pearched on top of a fuzzy baby head, looks quite adorable.  This patterns knits up insanely fast and is as customizable as it gets.  You can add stripes, or duplicate stitch on patterns or letters, and I will sometimes leave off the cord and add in some hot pom pom action to top it all off.  Any which way you knit it this hat looks great on a baby's noggin.
With that chatty lead in I would like to introduce a new monthly event over here at the Beagle: The Crafty Charity of the Month.  I inherited some yarn from a relative that passed away, as I am the only yarny person in my family it all comes to me.  So with tons of odd yarns in hand I challenged a friend to a baby hat knit/crochet off.  She kicked my hiney royally, like 6 to 14 or something embarrassing like that.  But we decided to donate our competitive efforts to Caps to the Capital, a program donating baby hats to needy little ones.  Save the Children  identified simple, low-cost practices that can save newborn lives – like warming their heads with a knit or crocheted cap. They partnered with Warm Up America to help spread this simple message.  They collected caps from all 50 states made by all people from all walks of life, hundreds of caps all made out of concern for the saftey of a newborn life.  These little hats and any of the accompanying messages were taken to our Capitol as a sign that we are willing to do what it takes to save lives.  These wonderful gifts were then donated to tiny heads in need in Bangladesh and Malawi. 
I know I don't always know how to help when I want to do something more than just donate money.  Yes, a monetary donation is always welcome, but sometimes I want to get involved, I want to engage my skills to help others. Do you have a favorite charity that we could aid with our craftiness?  We would love to feature them here and get the word out so others can use their creativity to help. Let us know!

Keeping it moving forward,
Kelly, the origami ninja

Late Winter Fashions

In my next attempt at expanding my knitting knowledge I decided to tackle these bandanas.  They are a great starter for those who are relatively new to knitting.  All you need to know is cast on, knit, knit on back and front of a stitch and bind off.  They are a great simple project if you have a couple hours to kill or you just need some instant creative gratification.  I made both in the course of two days, about 4 hours a piece from start to finish.  These were my first two attempts that ended being perfect size for 2 of my human and dog nieces.

The timing couldn't have been better for these gifts as there was a freezing cold front through Houston where Laurel and Delia live.  They even had an ice storm today, and if you know anything about the area that means the entire city was shut down.  (I can testify to this because I used to live there too.)  

Unlike the midwest, they don't salt the roads so the highways were like giant slip and slides.  Fun unless you're one of the hundreds of people that slammed into the cement guardrails and each other.

  

The purple bandana, modeled by Laurel, was great for keeping a her little head warm. 

Very cute!  The grey model, however, got Miss Delia's seal of approval.  

Doesn't she look smart.  Enjoy Ladies!

Craft on!

Anita  

Full Body Dog Scarf

OK so I'm not a real knitter.... not yet.  I found this awesome purple knobby yarn that I love so I figured, why not try making something myself?  This being my very first knitting project I figured I'd try my hand at the most basic of patterns, the scarf.   So with my copy of Stitch 'n Bitch and some fabulous bamboo knitting needles in hand I began my next crafting adventure.  Of course things never really end up like you planned, but I'd like to think that's one of the reasons I craft.  There's always a surprise, good or bad, at the end.
The surprise here wasn't the gaping holes from dropped stitches(I learned how to unravel things and fix problems very early on), or the wacky twisted "homespun" yarn that I originally thought would be fun to work with(not my first recommendation for a beginner), or even how quickly I finished(about a week of knitting in front of the TV at night).  The surprise was that I created a scarf that also doubles as a whole body babushka for Gidget.  (Being the namesake of our blog should explain that she's the type of dog that enjoys accessories from time to time.)
I gave her a bath today, just before I finished up this goliath scarf, but we had a storm front come through and the temp dropped.  Before she was completely dry she started to shiver so I wrapped her up and found that I had enough scarf to cocoon her into a little purple yarn blob.
Full body doggie babushka......it's a good thing.  ;)

Craft on!
Anita