I'm Back!

Not really gone anywhere, but have not blogged in a while because life has been very hecic and Oliver is addicted to cbeebies. So what have I been up to?

Lutsk Knitting Challenge
Well I have been working on the Lutsk Orphanage challenge, which has been fantastic. I publised (on the internet) the knit-a-long to make woolly things for the children in the Lutsk Orphanage and have been amazed by the generosity of the knitters who have replied. The parcels just keep coming filled with socks, hats, cardies and jumpers. Dominique is going out there in the next few weeks, so there will be pictures very soon of the children receiving their goodies. If you would like to get involved there is still time as we will be sending out parcels over the summer, so that the children have enough warm things for next winter. If you would like to pledge then either leave a comment on this post or go to the Lutsk Challenge website.

Knit-Wits
Knit-Wits is going well, with about 6-8 regular members and a total of 25. We meet each Wednesday evening 7-9pm in Liquid, Coventry's first non-smoking Cafe-Wine bar, City Arcade Coventry. We have our own blog site here. We are a friendly bunch who are all enthusiastic about knitting, spinnning, crocheting etc, of all age ranges and abilities. If you can't knit we'll get you started.

Knit & Knatter - BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
Today Claire, myself and Mandy from Knit-Wits joined the Coventry RSVP and BBC Coventry & Warwickshire in the firest Kint & Knatter session in the open centre of the BBC Coventry & Warwickshire radio station. Oliver & Lily came too and were even on the radio! RSVP the Retired and Senior Voluteer Programme encourage the growing number of those aged fifty plus to participate in their local area. We had a great time, chatting knitting, kiddie rangling and teaching anyone who sat still long enough how to knit & purl! They also have a knitting for Africa programme that the Knit-Wits will probably get involved in. The Knit & Knatter will probably be a regular event once a month and there are plans to do coventry's first Knit-a-thon in June, where we get as many knitters together and knit like crazy for 2 hours to make as amny squares as possible - sounds great - more details as I get them.

Felty time!

With the first Re-enactment of the season very close it was time to make some felty shoes for the children to wear

Here are Olivers - yes the red give it away. The last time that I made these type of shoes I worn most of the skin away from my palms, so I used rubber gloves this time.

The main fleece was Jacobs, carded on the drumcarder, but still raw. The addition of lots of soap and water cleaned the fleece bringing it up pure white.

These are Lily's and so cute & small.

Aaron will make leather bottoms so that their feet stay nice and dry and keep them from wearing out too quickly. These were so quick & easy to make that I'll be able to make new ones as their feet grow.

She was so good while I modelled the to her feet.

I got carried away and made some more felty balls - you can never have too many!

The large white & black is Jacobs fleece done in the washing machine. I just stuffed clean fleece into one of the nylon bags that you put the washing tablets in and put it in with towels on a 60 degree wash - saves my hands



Here is gourd to keep the balls in. Oliver & Lily love to throw them in. I used a circular piece of plastic about the size of a small dinner plate. Once the fleece had felted I cut a small slit and removed the plastic, then used my fist to shape the gourd as I fulled it further.

Again I used Jacobs White & Black, which gives a 'fluffy' felt.