Clapping for Mittens!

Clapping wildly, more lovely mittens. Look at all the wonderful sizes and different colors. These fabulous mittens are knitted by Dorothy in Wisc. Dorothy participates in Bev's Charity Challenge. She's also one of the winners of The Mitten Challenge, The Mitten Throw Down! You can certainly see why. Many thanks Dorothy for your thoughtful donation. 7 hats, 1 scarf, and 30 pairs of mittens.
Wanted you to see this cute design. Look how she made the thumb, the edge of the cuff, and tip of the hand in a coordinating color. Shows up so nicely like that. Very cute.
One of the wee pairs for a little tyke, aren't these adorable! Once again let me say how thrilled I am with the amount of participation we had with the mitten challenge. What a great idea, Beth. Thank You Beth for the idea, and thank you to all who participated.

2010
Scarves 298+1=299
Hats 518+7=525
Mittens 112+30=142
Socks 80
Slippers 15
Ghans 5
Squares 114

Be sure and read about Give a Square.

Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Mittens and More from Jean

Jean, one of our winners of The Mitten Contest, The Mitten Throw down crocheted wonderful mittens of many sizes and and colors using Beth's pattern. She extended some so the cuff is nice and long, and in some cases she turned up a cuff, and in other cases she added nice trims. Click to see all the wonderful items she donated. 35 total pair of mittens, 2 hats, 2 hats and matching mittens, a scarf, a hat and matching scarf, a hat and gator set with buttons. Fabulous. Thank you Jean for your thoughtful and wonderful donation. Everything is so very much appreciated.
Tried to get a close up here where you can some of the mittens she trimmed and made a rolled cuff.
Oophs almost forgot to show you these 5 pairs. These are wool, and you can see the blue multi-colored pair have been felted. Also hope you can see how she added color by making the thumbs in some of the mittens a different color. So very creative! Many thanks Jean

2010
Scarves 296+2=298
Hats 508+6=514
Mittens 77+35=112
Socks 80
Slippers 15
Ghans 5
Squares 132


Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Mittens

Though Mitten Month, Mitten Challenge, The Mitten Throw Down are over, I'm still posting pictures from mittens received during that time. Thank you Sandie for this pair of crocheted mittens. Sandie and I sometimes like to put our brains together on projects and decided we'd do that with this pair of mittens Sandie starting using Beth's pattern, and I snugged them up with rows of decreasing single crochets then add a single crochet chain woven around the cuff and tied in a bow. Just a wee bit different. Though it did make them girly, lol

Thanks Sandie for your ongoing support, it's always appreciated.

2010
Scarves 296
Hats 508
Mittens 76+1=77
Socks 80
Slippers 15
Ghans 5
Squares 132

During November and December I'm highlighting Give a Square, so we can make ghans for those at The Mission.



Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

More then Mitten Dancing Here

Thank you Ruth! Beautiful work, lovely colors and a nice selection of sizes. Ruth is another new pair of helping hands, and we're thrilled to have her join us in helping the cause. She's warmed homeless here with 5 scarves, 5 pairs of mittens, and 5 matching mitten and scarf sets! All crocheted. Whew....her hook must have been smoking. lol
Wanted to show you a close up of the yellow scarf so you could see her pretty detail in the pattern. The mint green set is the same pattern.
Here's a close up a pair of mittens. She used several patterns here; though the basis for all was Bev's Marvelous Mittens. I'm not a fan of doing back stitch singles so have only used that pattern once myself; but in some of Ruth's mittens she altered that pattern and used dc instead of sc. I think if you click on above picture you can see that in the green pair. DC's go faster then sc and seem less hard on the arthritis to my way of thinking. She also altered the sizing a bit. She extended the cuff from where is says 6 stitches to 11, and used hdc. She also moved the thumb up for 4 stitches by chaining 18 instead of 14. Where the pattern called for sl. st. she used sc.

Thank you Ruth for your thoughtful donation, and for sharing your twist on a mitten pattern!

2010
Scarves 286+10=296
Hats 508
Mittens 66+10=76
Socks 80
Slippers 15
Ghans 5
Squares 132

Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

More loving warmth for the cold Homeless

Mittens, and squares, and socks oh my! 2 pair of nicely knit and very warm mittens, 2 mitered squares also knitted, and a fabulous really heavy pair of socks. James, long time supporter has done it again. Many thanks James for your ongoing support. I know you've been swamped with moving and all, so finding time to make and send these items is truly special. Many many thanks. Hope you're settled in nicely in your new digs and things calm down a bit for you with the holidays coming on.

Give a Square is in full mode, use up some of those odds and ends with your yarn so you can get more for Christmas presents! It's a good system. lol Details in the sidebar.

2010
Scarves 275
Hats 491
Mittens 64+2=66
Socks 79+1=80
Slippers 12
Ghans 3
Squares 130 (since Give a Square)+2=132

Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Special thanks going all the way to France, for helping our Homeless

Donations from across the sea! Look at these wonderful knitted items being donated by Sacha all the way from France! 4 hats, and 3 pair of mittens, and a pair of fingerless gloves. Sorry the sun got in the corner of the picture there on the 2nd red hat. Please click to enlarge picture so you can see her pretty detail work with the Intarsia Knitting. Also wanted to try and describe her fingerless gloves (top right corner). They're a bit different than ones I've seen in the past. The little finger and the ring finger are together covered like they would be in a mitten, and therefore the fingers you do more with are the ones out. There might be a word for that type of fingerless mitten; but I'm not familiar with it.

Sacha and I became acquainted over on The Hive and have enjoyed getting to know one another sharing our love of craft; as so many there do. Thank you Sacha for your thoughtful and beautiful donation, it is so very much appreciated.

Have you read about our latest program, Give a Square? If not please do by click on the words Give a Square.

2010
Scarves 275
Hats 487+4=491
Mittens 60+4=64
Socks 79
Slippers 12
Ghans 3
Squares 130 (since Give a Square)


Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Mittens and Slippers for the Homeless, AWESOME

Three cheers for Nelda our newest pair of helping hands. Nelda's slippers and mittens are wonderful. Please click on the picture to see the detail in her mittens (particularly the cute children's mittens). Slippers and mittens are all knitted. She sent a variety of sizes which is always helpful. The 2 larger pair of slippers might be double strand? They're so nice and thick and feel so warm. Warm feet and hands are happy feet and hands. Thank you Nelda.

**Give a Square**



2010
Scarves 275
Hats 487
Mittens 57+3=60
Socks 79
Slippers 9+3=12
Ghans 3
Squares 130 (since Give a Square)


Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

And the winner is!

We never seem to get enough mittens, so I thought we'd make this past month, October Mitten Month. Then our friend CrochetPrincess (Beth) suggested we have a mitten challenge, and Mitten Throw Down and so we did. She graciously wrote up a 2nd mitten pattern which you can find in the tabs across the top of the blog to kick us off. I told her I would supply the yarn, FREE YARN to the winner of the contest. The winner of the contest would be the person would knitted and or crocheted the largest number of mittens. Since I was going to be out of town we extended the deadline beyond the end of the month to November 8th, this past Monday. I thought perhaps people were madly still knitting and crocheting though that date and needed a couple of days to mail mittens and so declared though the deadline was Monday and the 8th....today would be the day the announcement was made.

I'm pleased to say we had 11 people participate by sending in mittens. Some you've seen here, some are still in que (generally a new post each and everyday highlighting, counting and documenting someone's pretty heartfelt work). So, you still have some to see...keep checking.

Thanks to all who participated: Sarah S and Sacha from The Hive, James from RAV, and blog friends--Linda, Bunny, Sandie and some new found helping hands who found us from searching on the net even though they don't have blogs Jean, Ruth, and Nelda, and Dorothy from Bev's Charity Challenge. I managed to get a pair in (had hoped for more, but have been madly working on ghans). To date we've collected 96 pairs of mittens, some knitted, some crocheted, some sized for men, some for women, and some for children! 66 pairs of mittens to warm 96 pairs of hands. WONDERFUL! Thank you Thank You.

The winner with 35 pairs of mittens is Jean. Jean you've not yet met, a new pair of helping hands for us. Welcome to the group Jean, Thank you for your lovely mittens. We're thrilled to have you in our ranks. Please email me your snail ady so I can put your yarn...your winnings in the mail to you.

I wrote this blog post early this am before work, and as I returned home this evening had another box of 30 mittens from Dorothy. So, have amended the numbers above. I am thrilled with how many mittens were donated. AND am going to declare 2 winners, a first and 2nd place. I'll be sending out yarn to both Jean and Dorothy.

Our current focus is Give a Square, though we continue to need and accept hats, scarves, mittens all year long.

Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Progress on Afghan in the works

You might have seen this ghan in it's design form stage 1 HERE, but wanted to share the progress to date with you using Rose Marie's wonderful knitted squares. One row of squares has been stitched together, and the wide border of navy--the crocheted section is complete. The original thought was to use the navy and crocheted around with a border in addition to the navy between the rows of joined squares/rectangles. However, I believe I'll use burgundy after the squares are joined with the navy sections due to the amount of navy I have on hand. A work in progress, one of 3 ghans I'm currently working on for our folks at the Mission.

Working on a knitted corner to corner which you can see here in the green phase.

And have an Autumn Ghan planned with some odds and end here, though edging has not yet started. After staring at this one awhile I believe I will change my joining color, thinking maybe green. Might have to switch out the two squares that have black in them? Thinking still on this one, thus haven't begun the edging.

**Winner of the mitten challenge, the mitten throw down announced tomorrow.
***Give a Square, or more. Have you read up yet on the November and December special? If not, please do in the sidebar.
*****Stay tuned for a very special, and very exciting announcement about Bridge and Beyond and a certain Magazine!

2010
Scarves 275
Hats 487
Mittens 57
Socks 79
Slippers 9
Ghans 3
Squares 130 (since Give a Square)


Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Knitted Mittens for the Homeless

More mittens for me to dance about. Fabulous, wonderful, warm, soft mittens! These cute creations come to us from the knitting needles of Bunny (Lynda). Look how darling there are. Bunny's work is always awesome. Bunny has been a long time supporter of the cause, she knits, she crochets; she's awesome!

I thought you might like to know how Bunny and I met. We met after Katrina when we were both working on ghans for the survivors in a group our friend Sandie (ie) organized for that cause. So, it's been lots of years that yarn has tied us together.

Many thanks Bunny for your thoughtful donation, as always it's so very much appreciated.

2010
Scarves 275
Hats 487
Mittens 54+3=57
Socks 79
Slippers 9
Ghans 3
Squares 130 (since Give a Square)

**Remember to check back on Friday for the announcement about the winner of the challenge
AND don't forget to check out Give a Square, it's time to make some squares. See sidebar for details.


Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Mittens, lovely mittens for the homeless!

Mittens!!! See me doing the mitten dance? lol 5 pairs of fun colored knitted mittens from our good friend Linda in Florida. Love these Linda. I know I've asked before; but have forgotten and need to post.-- What pattern did you use? These are knitted with straight garter stitch and look like they wouldn't be too hard to make. They're nice and stretching too which is a plus for sizing. I snagged the largest pair for The Bridge and 4 will go to kids with cold hands in the clinics and The Mission. Wonderfully made, and fun colors too.

Announcement for the winner of the contest will be this Friday, the 12th, which should allow enough mailing time from anyone who sent mittens out on the 8th which is the deadline for the contest. That doesn't mean though folks we don't still need them long after the contest ends. Keep knitting and crocheting, please and thanks. 31 pairs thus far. Let's hope we can raise that number a bit with what might still be in the mail.

2010
Scarves 275
Hats 487
Mittens 49+5=54
Socks 79
Slippers 9
Ghans 3
Squares 130 (since Give a Square)

**Remember we're a week into our newest focus Give a Square! Details here

Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

More Mittens, Thank You Sarah

Thank you Sarah S. Fabulous warm mittens, 4 pair to warm hands for our homeless. A darling little pair of slippers, 2 pairs of socks to warm feet....always such a need. And look at the awesome personal care packages she put together for us. 6 personal care packages include a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, a bar of soap, and a crocheted wash cloth! Awesome. Everything is so truly appreciated. Sarah shared the pattern she used for these (and her previous mitten donation); which I've added above in the tabs. She altered the pattern by not using any of the triple crochets, she substituted single crochets instead. She indicated she often adds a row or two based on the yarn if she feels it's not coming out quite long enough.

2010
Scarves 264
Hats 417
Mittens 45 pairs +4=49
Socks 77+2=79
Slippers 8 +1=9
Ghans 3
Squares 130 (since Give a Square)

***About a week left folks to get in on the mitten challenge. Details in side bar
*****Have you checked out Give a Square? It officially starts in a few days


Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Warming hands of the Homeless

Another pair of mittens for mitten month. Adding this pair to our totals, but they won't be part of the competition for the prize for Beth's Mitten Challenge. I made this pair using Beth's first pattern and a smaller hook. Though the yarn was knitted worsted it just felt a little thinner to me; so used the smaller hook to minimize holes and add warmth. It's odd, but no doubt you've all had this happen. You can buy yarn on the same day from the same store, the same brand, style, type etc. But 2 colors of the same yarn will feel different with regard to thickness and weight. Dying must do that?

Hope you're all busy knitting and crocheting mittens for Beth's Mitten Challenge/Mitten Throw Down. Remember you still have time. Deadline is Nov 8th which is 15 days away (counting today and the 8th).

I've been working on another corner to corner ghan (knitted); and am assembling some squares from Rose Marie for another ghan for Faith Mission.
2010
Scarves 260
Hats 411
Mittens 44+1=45
Socks 77
Slippers
Ghans 3
Squares 126 (since Give A Square)


Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

More Mittens for the challenge, Yippee!

AWESOME...we have another pair of mittens for our Mitten Challenge, our Mitten Throw Down, our Mitten Month. Thank you James. James, a long time supported knits beautifully. These are wonderful, warm, and soft......and big enough for our men living outdoors so in need. Many thanks James for your ongoing thoughtful support. James is in the process of moving and hopes to get more mittens to us, though they won't be for the challenge as he's busy moving. So, we can look forward to more wonderful knitted goodies from him. Hope the move is going well James.

There's still time folks to get your mittens in for the challenge. Again my thanks to Beth for the idea, for her writing us another pattern. You'll find her patterns, and James's pattern in the tabs at the top of the page.
2010
Scarves 260
Hats 401
Mittens 43+1=44
Socks 77
Slippers


For those that look and plan ahead, be sure and check out Give a Square (see blog badge in the sidebar).

Keep up the good work one and all. You are all very much appreciated.

Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

MITTENS!!!

YIPPEE!! Our first 3 pairs of mittens received for the Mitten Challenge. They're fabulous! They're crocheted, their blue, and their from Sarah S from The Hive. The 2 solid colored mittens are crocheted with single crocheted around with ribbed cuff; while the variegated blue pair are made lengthwise using back stitch single crocheted (ribbing). All 3 pair are nicely sized and should fit a man or women in need. I'm soooooooooooooooo excited, I doing a little happy dance. You're probably lucky I'm doing here and no one is taking a picture. lol That way you can pretend I'm a good dancer.

Many thanks Sarah for your thoughtful donation. It is truly appreciated. I'm thrilled to say word of our need has spread to others since I've joined The Hive, and welcome any of you to participate in that forum. Click here for my link to do, if you're interested.

If you'd like to visit Sarah's profile page on The Hive, here's her link.

2010
Scarves 260
Hats 401
Mittens 40+3=43
Socks 77
Slippers

Thank you Beth for issuing the mitten challenge, hoping you're all busy making mittens!

Please take time to read and print our flyer, and read about Give a Square. (tabs across the top, and blog badge in sidebar).


Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Pink Afghan for Homeless

You may remember this pile of pink squares.
They no longer are a pile of pink squares. Karen V donated 23 squares of various sizes and colors of pink.

I snatched 16 of them, edged them in 2 rows of single crochet with white yarn and began assembling them. Each strip of 4 where then edged again with single crochet using dusty rose; and joined again. Then once again the whole ghan was edge with 2 rows of single crochet and dusty rose. I had the dusty rose in my stash and thought it blended nicely with the various pinks from Karen V's donation.

These squares/ now are a 40 x 40 inch lapghan and have been delivered to Faith Mission. I'm sure it will keep someone warmer while watching TV, as well as decorate a chair. It also a perfect size for a little girl. The photo was taken before it was laundered and blocked; but since this is a scheduled post....by the time you read his, it's already in use.

2010
Scarves 258
Hats 401
Mittens 40
Socks 77

Don't forget to check out our "Give a Square" in the sidebar. And while you're at it, make sure you read about our Mitten Challenge from Beth. Hope you're busy working on mittens for the challenge. Remember patterns are available on the tabs in this blog.

Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!

Mitten Challenge, Thank You Beth

Hope by now you've seen the sticky post to the right about the mitten challenge for the month of October....Mitten Month. We'll carry the challenge through the first week of November based on when we announced the challenge. Beth, being proactive saw we had a need and read I'd deemed October as Mitten Month. To reach out, to have fun, and to accomplish more she designed a new mitten pattern for us. It's posted via the tab on top of the blog. She also issued a challenge to all to participate and see how many pairs of mittens we could come up with by the end of the challenge which is November 8th. To add a bit more jazz and excitement to the challenge I'm offering FREE yarn to the person who makes and donates the most mittens during that time frame. Naturally Beth and I are not in the running.

I hope you all get involved and knit, or crochet mittens. There are now 3 patterns here on this page; though you don't have to use those....but they are there for your convenience. Thanks to both James and Beth for that.

Please remember all donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated, and all donations keep someone warm. We help, one stitch at a time. It truly DOES make a difference. THANK YOU!