Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Knitting for Syria

Warm_handsThe daughter of a friend of mine from my Thursday morning knitting group is embarking on a very worthwhile Gold Award Community Service Project for Girl Scouts, and when I learned about it, I volunteered to help spread the word ... er, a month ago. (I apologize, K!)

But here I am, and here's what she's doing: it's a charity knitting project called Warm Hands, where knitted items are sent over to Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, Turkey, and other countries. Along with the knitted item -- which can be mittens, hats, sweaters, blankets, socks, whatever -- she asks that you include a handwritten note of encouragement for the recipient. The items will be sent to a school on the border of Turkey and Syria, where they will be gifted to families in need.

More details about Jules and her inspiring work here and specific details on what she's looking for here. I have already completed one hat and am hoping to get to a pair of mittens within the next week.

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In other news ... what a month we've had around here! I've been running back and forth to Connecticut to care for an ailing family member, managing my son's busy social schedule, and trying to keep up with all the pressing household tasks that need doing, especially now that spring is officially here and I've got that burning need to tidy my life up. My knitting time has been reduced drastically, although I have finished a couple projects that I just haven't had time to photograph, and now that warm weather is here, I find myself heading to my sewing studio (a/k/a a corner of my husband's home office). I've sewn four tailored shirts so far, and this week started a pair of (drumroll) JEANS. Like I've been preaching here for the last year or so, I want to sew clothes for the life I have now, not the life I wish I had, so jeans make total sense for me. Plus, wearing an awesome pair of well-fitting jeans makes me feel like a million bucks.

Making jeans...the fly front.

I've finished the hard part of the project -- the fly front -- as well as the front and back pockets, so all that's left to do is seaming and topstitching. Unfortunately, my Viking 400 started suffering some internal distress while I was zig-zagging, so I packed it up yesterday and brought it to the sewing machine doctor for some TLC. I could have continued the project on one of my--ahem--four other machines, but decided instead to carefully pin all the seams together so I could try them on. The bad news? They were huge on me. The good news? They were huge on me. I've got a fair bit of work to do to get them to fit me just right.

The pattern I'm using is from Angela Kane's members-only website. I've been a member of her site for a couple years, and for $5 per annum, it's a real value. I'm also augmenting the instructions by watching Angela Wolf's jean-making class on Craftsy, which I also highly recommend. Angela Kane doesn't get into distressing the denim, so I've learned a lot of good stuff from Angela Wolf, who is the Distressing Diva.

If these jeans go well, I plan to make another pair ... with a decidedly Anglophile twist. ;-)

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