Knitting for Marines

It has been a big month of knitting around here. I have been the key organizer of a project called Knitting for Marines at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. My hubby is a curator there and so we were able to get access to the museum and so far we have had 2 lovely days of knitting in the main gallery of the museum. The idea is that we get knitter to come in and knit helmet liners for Marine troops stationed overseas. So far we have had pretty good turnout and some great press coverage. Today we had a few folks out knitting we made the local news in Charlotte, NC (more stations may pick up the story as well). As of today, we have 8 completed helmet liners in with lots more on the way. The original goal was to get 100 made in February, but the response has been so great that we are hoping to get 500, enough to supply an entire Marine Battalion. If any of you folks out is cyber space are interested, the info about the project is on the Museum website.

In other string related news, my Kauni sweater has come and gone again. This time I realized that I had not changed needles to the bigger size when I was supposed to so Rip Rip Rip I went last night. Maybe this one will be a keeper!

Yummy new yarn...

I spent my christmas money on something yummy. It came in the mail the other day all the way from the Netherlands! Check out this luscious Kauni yarn. I can't wait to make something totally cool and fair isle with it!




I have already started, and ripped out, and started again with the brown, yellow and green stuff. This yarn is really nifty since the color changes over such a long distance. I am knitting a fair isle sweater with two balls of the same colorway. I started one with the light green and the other with the brown and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I will definitely be ready for fall with that one. I am planning on posting my progress here as we go.

This is it so far...

I have started the two color ribbing for the bottom of a cardigan sweater. I haven't made a sweater with steeks in a really long time, but I don't think it will be too hard to remember how!

So far, I have a 12 stitch steek set for the center of the cardigan. I will use steeks for the armholes and the neck too when I get there. The biggest challenge is going to be figuring out if I want the sleeves to match or not!

I am not sure what I will do with the two other colors. The original idea was to use the blues and tans together for another fair isle sweater but now I am not sure. I was thinking maybe I would do Eunny Jang's Venezia from Interweave Knits (Winter 2006) but I am just not sure... I might be totally burnt out on color work after I finish the first one!

Yesterday was a momentous day for the kiddo. He won the "Character Counts" award at school. This is a really big deal. They give it once a month to the kids who best exemplify that month's character trait. This month it was RESPONSIBILITY and the kiddo got to go to a special ceremony and got a certificate, a silicone bracelet, and a photo with all the other winners that will be in the school lobby for the next month!