RSBSY - Blog

Hey guys,

How're you all doing?  A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that, in lieu of a knit list this year, I was possibly going to focus on hats and mittens to donate.  Well we're definitely doing that.  I have been tumbling the idea around in my head since then and poking around the internet to figure out where to donate, which you would have thought would be easy but it really wasn't.  Way too many options.  How do you choose a favourite cause?  There are so many great organizations doing amazing work out there.  I finally decided to go with Nellies, here in Toronto.  They do amazing work and it's an organization, that I, my friends and my colleagues have donated to in the past. Nellie's provides shelter, education and advocacy to women and children who have and are experiencing oppressions such as violence, poverty and homelessness.

My goal this year is to knit 40 finished objects - hats and mittens to donate and I would love to have your help.  The shelter is able to accept any size from new born to adult sized items and you are more than welcome to use anything in your stash.  

I'm sure you're going to see many progress shots through the year and I'm going to keep you guys posted on whatever patterns I'm using.  For now I'm focusing on these one's from my Ravelry favourites which, conveniently, are all free:

Guys, do you realize that you haven’t heard from me in two weeks?  Did you miss me?  I missed you.  It’s been sooo hectic around here but now the crazy has sort of died down.  The to do list is shorter and way more manageable.  Final assignments and exams have been submitted and written and I can finally get to my favourite part of the season: Christmas prep.  Time to sort out all the shopping and see what's left to do.  Start real work on the handmade projects which, sadly, always get left until the last moment.  I've finally accepted that the girls cardigans are probably not going to be done on time for Christmas.  Maybe by Valentines day.  We'll see.

I can at least say that their hats will be done on time which I’m super pleased about.  I actually saved the bind off so I can give you guys a little tutorial in case you haven’t seen a three needle bind off before.  The first time I heard of a three needle bind off I was pretty intimidated. I could barely handle two needles without adding a third into the mix but a three needle bind off is pretty much exactly the same as a basic bind off but you’re knitting two parallel stitches together to close a seam.  Take a look below.