The Final Count Is In – Didn’t We Do Well?

January 18, 2014 LeftFootDaisy3 Comments

My shop looks rather bare now because as you can see from the photograph I gathered all of the blankets for Armenia from their hidey holes in order to pack them up ready for Global Missions Ireland to collect them.

I’m not sure the photograph shows everyone’s efforts off to full effect. What you cant really tell is exactly how tall each pile is, or that they’re 4 deep. (Tom Hardy looking on in the top left hand corner can though – Yum)

Global Missions Ireland will hopefully be taking them over to Armenia in the very near future and we’ve been promised photos which I’ll pop up for all to see.

In the mean time after gathering, folding and bagging and most importantly COUNTING, there are ……………. no you’ll have to wait just a little longer…….

118

Yes you did read that right, 118 blankets. Everybody that took part should feel very proud of themselves, we did great.

News about our next collection will be coming very soon, but for now.

Happy Knitting!

Blanket Update

September 4, 2013 LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

Last week was a bumper week for our blanket collection and some of you may have already seen the photograph I’d posted up on our Facebook page of the 5 blankets Lil had completed. In addition to Lil’s contribution we also received 30 more squares from the clients at Oak Lodge, a full size blanket , 51 squares from Lucy, 2 from Edwina, 5 from Mary O and 1 more from Dina.

At my last count that means we have 61 blankets although only 52 of them are fully finished, some still have to be sewn. The collection will be going on until the last week in November so if you have time please get knitting or crocheting.

Happy Knitting!

Squares Everywhere

June 25, 2013 LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

Our blanket collection for The House of Hope in Vanadzor, Armenia is well underway and there are squares everywhere.

I’ve got piles of them sorted by size, strips already sewn to be made up into blankets and several finished blankets complete with crochet border, a very basic crochet border believe me.

We’ve calculated it takes approximately 7.5 hours to sew the squares together, sew in all the ends and crochet the border. So we’ve been trying to sew the squares up as they come in to try and keep on top of things. A big thank you to those that have been sewing as well as knitting.

As you might expect, the squares initially came in, in various sizes and dare I say shapes. Undeterred all squares are being used and as you can see the blankets are beautiful when sewn up.

Please keep your squares coming in as we would love to be able to give as many residents as possible a blanket each. It might be a little ambitious though as there will hopefully be 80 people, nothing like a challenge.

Happy Knitting!

Here’s Another Idea For The Blanket Squares

May 23, 2013June 27, 2013 LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

Some of you may recall we knitted 14″ blankets for the maternity hospital a couple of years ago now and the pattern many of us used was knit on the diagonal.

20cms/8" or there abouts — 20cms/8″ or there about

The beauty of the pattern was that you started with 1 stitch and increased by 1 stitch on every row until you’d reached your desired size. You then knit one row plain and begin decreasing 1 stitch every row until they’re all gone.

Easy peasy!

8inch/20cm Charity Blanket Square

Materials

Any weight of yarn

Appropriate size needles for yarn

Eg: Double knit yarn = 4mm,

Aran weight = 5mm

Chunky yarn = 6.5mm

Super chunky weight = 10mm

Abbreviations

K – Knit

KFB – Knit into the front and the back of the next stitch

K2Tog – Knit the next 2 stitches together

Instructions

Cast on 1 stitch

1^st Row – Knit into the front and the back of the stitch, (2 stitches).

2^nd Row – K1, KFB, (3 Stitches)

3^rd Row – K1, KFB, K to end, (4 Stitches).

You can see that by increasing in every second stitch a decorative border is produced. Repeat row 3 until either of the sides is approximately 8”/20cm (please note you are working on the diagonal).

Next work one row in knit without any increase.

To decrease K1, K2tog, K to end.

Repeat this decreasing 1 stitch on every row until only 2 stitches remain, K2Tog

Cast off final stitch and sew in ends.