Hand Knit Hand Me Downs

Apparently, I am not the only one with outgrown, mis-sized, unneeded and unwanted hand knits. Every knitter (or crocheter) has them. Things they've made that no longer fit or maybe didn't to begin with, or just things they've grown tired of but hasn't got the heart to just toss them in the goodwill box.
So, the group is up. Bring your knits and crocheted things, whatever they may be, and find a new home for them and find something new for you and yours while you're at it. Read the rules, join and let's start posting!

I've already added this hat. I think the best way to give them away will be to allow anyone who wants an item to comment on the picture and if there are multiple people wanting one thing, then for the person giving it away to then use random.org to pick a winner. Also, you can state in your description how long you will take comments. Does this make sense? If not or you can think of a better way to do feel free to give me your input.

I've added a button over there on the left and the link for the code below it. So, if you are joining, please go ahead and grab it and let's spread the word! I just can't wait to find new homes for some of these knits I have hanging around.

Yarn Along

Knitting and reading along with Ginny.

On the needles; one of these for a customer and not so much on the book front. After last week's 'starter book' I did pull out a few I was trying to decided between and you know what? They still sit in their little pile, uncracked. So instead I am sharing the magazines I'm reading; the latest issues of Living Crafts and Knitting Today. And I have to say, the article on making wooden woodland animals has me really wanting to try my hand at making some wooden toys for the girls. So, there you have it, I am a reading drop-out. For now anyway.
And please stop in on this post about hand knit hand me downs and let me know what you think.

Hand-Me-Downs?

I had a thought, and it started like this;

I just made this wee vest for my my sweet River's 1st birthday, which is coming up on the 25th of this month. I so love this pattern and the yarn. It's the same I used for these longies. And I really love how it turned out, only thing is, it's rather on the smallish size (I used the free version, size 1 year) and she won't be able to wear it as much as I'd hoped.

No problem, I thought, my best friend is expecting and I'll just pass it down to her along with some other hand knits River has outgrown. Wrong! See, I am a lover of all things woolly (vest is 60/40 alpaca/wool) and said friend is allergic to wool. Which also means she won't so much appreciate snuggling her new babe dressed in the wool/cotton t-shirts I had planned to give her, either.
So, yes, I could just put these tiny, lovingly knit clothes away for my children's children, or!

I could pass them along to you where they could be worn and loved right now. As a matter of fact, I have several pieces that River has outgrown and a hat I just made that is too big for River, too small for Kaiya and Zoe won't wear and I really don't want to frog. And then I thought perhaps some of you have things you've knit and now no one can (or will) wear them in your house and you just don't have the heart to just give them away to Goodwill where you will never know if someone will really love it or even knows how to properly care for it without you there to tell them the fiber content and how to wash.

So, my thought is this; would you like to join me in a hand-knit hand-me-down? I was thinking that we could post pictures of the item we would like to find a new home for in a Flickr group and there we give away and receive gently used hand knit (or crocheted) clothing, children or adult (who hasn't made a sweater that just doesn't fit you like it did the model?) No selling, there are plenty of sites for selling used items already. And the only thing to be asked for in return would be a photo of the recipient wearing the item.

What do you think? Is this something you would like to do? Comment and let me know, please, and I will start the group if at least a few people are interested.

Yarn Along

I'm 'yarning along' again this week with Ginny (and many others). I'm so glad to be taking some knitting down time after the holidays. This has to be my favorite thing about January, free for all knitting, though, I do have a couple of caterpillars in the works for a swap for some sweet wooden toys. I'm going back and forth between them and a bonnet, probably for the shop. I haven't made one of these Hugs and Kisses Bonnets in some time and felt like doing a wee bit of cabling. It's just so nice to actually get to choose what I'm knitting and not doing the same thing over and over and over... I'm using some yarn I just hand dyed over the weekend. I love these colors! I've done this colorway a few times already and keep going back to it (a tiny bit for finger knitting and a whole skein for a friend). I think perhaps I'll dye up several more whole skeins to offer up in my shop.
The book, I haven't actually started reading. I haven't been reading at all, really (unless you count magazines) since this post, so I thought I'd start with some instant gratification to get the ball rolling again. This is a teeny tiny book and looking at the Amazon listing got a lot of poor reviews, so, we shall see.

Oh, and see that tiny little person in the background, pulling Cd's and books of the shelf? She's making me a bit bonkers. Definitely a test to this mama's patience. Currently, though, she is sound asleep. Ahhh....