Wool on Sunday...

My Wool on Sunday post for this month is about the K4BN Knit and Natter that I went to last week at Zillmere. When I first started attending this Knit and Natter at the Zillmere Community Centre, the group would be allocated a tiny room with very inefficient aircon. Now we get a very spacious room and that aircon is working well. ( a previous state government reduced funding to a number of community groups, including some who used this Centre and these groups no longer can afford to use their allocated rooms...their loss was our charity's gain.) 

 

At Zillmere, two members sort all the donations brought in to the meeting, count them, record them and then repack the items ready to go to the storage shed. I took some photos of Jenny and Elaine repacking those blankets I'd made from donated squares.

 

The final count for last Tuesday's donations was 181 items and a lot of them were blankets.
Linking this post with Janine's Wool on Sunday over on her Rainbow Hare blog. Janine's post this moth features a lovely baby cardigan she has just finished knitting.

Friday Night with Friends...

The first Friday night of the month in Blogland, is Friday Night with Friends (FNwF) . As the night rolls on through the various time zones, 'crafty' bloggers work on their individual projects, then share on their blog the progress on the various projects. Cheryll over at the Gone Stitchin' blog, is the organiser of this event and in this post of hers you can access the links to all those who signed on for this month.

So, what did I work on? Since I came back from our holiday I have alternated between sewing hexie flowers, and, joining donated squares into blankets. (Just before we went away I was given several lots of squares from a few sources but left the joining of them until we came home.)

And it was the latter that I worked on last night. 

I finished putting together 30 squares which used indigenous colours. One of the other ladies in K4BN had crocheted the squares for me to join, as items in indigenous colours are very popular and are so often requested by community groups that the group supplies items to, for distribution to their clients.

On Tuesday at a Knit and Natter, I was shown another way to join squares which is quicker and uses less joining yarn. 

Instead of the dc (or sc in US terms) into each space like I usually do...

I was shown this method that does, 1 dc, 3ch and then 1 dc in the space after the cluster of trebles. 

The join is strong and looks neat, so I'm happy to continue using this method. 

And I finished the blanket with just 2 rows of double crochet around the edges. 

I use a lot of black yarn joining squares and earlier this year my supply was starting to run low. I checked out a number of stores online, (as well as Big W, Spotlight, Lincraft etc) and kept 'doing the sums' with adding postage etc and eventually found a listing on EBay for 12, 100 g balls of acrylic 8 ply. Adding on the postage, the unit price came out to be $2.60 a ball, a good price for us here in Australia. And I started using this supply yesterday...using the method of joining I described in this post, should mean this stash of black yarn should last awhile.

On Tuesday I took several bags of squares along to the Knit and Natter hoping to find some volunteers to join them...I was feeling overwhelmed with all the squares that I had to join. I'm pleased to say that 2 people took all the squares and I feel a great weight has been lifted. I'll be able to get on with some other projects of my own. And there is a lot more free space in my sewing room. Also, I've found renewed enthusiasm to join the remaining squares (I only gave away half of what I had to join) and have joined/made  6 blankets since last Tuesday!
Hmm...I've had a few goes at trying to get these photos to insert without rotating...no luck!

 These are the the squares that I gave away!

 Why not visit some of the other participants in FNwF? Just use the link to Cheryll's post.

It's all happening around here!

The building work continues next door with a team of carpenters working long days...

the new view from our front veranda...

 After being engrossed in the stitching project that I was doing for the Mrs Martin's Celebrations swap for spring, I'm back to my 'old job' of making blankets out of donated squares. I had had them all tacked ready to crochet up but put them on hold over the last few weeks...
This is just one of 9 blankets that have been made from one person's crocheted squares. K4BN member, Christine, has made well over 200 squares for the group...absolutely phenomenal effort!

On Tuesday, in what is becoming the norm, I loaded up my car with donations from friends and family, and took them to the Zillmere Knit and Natter.

The trolley soon filled up with items from ladies at Sisters of Stitch

I gathered everything together in one spot, ready to take down to the car...

There were crocheted rugs, baby quilts, beanies, scarves, children's jumpers, toiletries and balls of yarn that I had been given...

That day, a total of 156 items were handed in by the K4BN members who came along. This is such a great effort and very timely as there are 2 events coming up in the Ipswich area where items will be handed out to those in need. Mind you, it's not just Zillmere where items are being handed over; all the other Knit and Natter centres are the same with so many people giving generously of their time as well as items.

Each month, Elaine and Jenny sort all the donations that have been handed in at Zillmere...

The sorting is a big job...

Elaine and Jenny, after sorting,collating and recording all  the donations, then pack up all the items ...
While these 2 ladies are doing all that, the rest of us sit around an natter...oh, and knit/crochet too of course!

The number of ladies on Tuesday was quite small...sometimes we have twice as many crammed in the tiny room at the Community Centre.

Just as I took the photo of the  little kitchen, Helen bent down to pick something up...

 Here's Joy (below) working on her chevron/ripple crocheted blanket...with all those donations in the background.

 And the action continues...
On Saturday DH and I are heading up to Nambour for the Sunshine Linus Open Day and Quilt Show. This has been organised to showcase what the group does, and as well, to raise much needed funds so this group can continue the marvellous work they do for the community and especially seriously ill children. To this end, I've convinced DH that we must spend up on Saturday to help such a worthy cause! lol

On Sunday, we have a Fathers' Day brunch with some of the family at the Lido Cafe Restaurant at Ascot; this has been arranged by DsD2 and it sounds rather wonderful.
And then later in the afternoon, DH will leave for the airport to catch his flight to Rockhampton. He will be working there for at least 4 weeks, helping with the federal election. When he got the phone call about this work yesterday, my first thought was, 'For a month I don't have to stop sewing/knitting each night at 5.30 to start getting dinner ready...I can stop when I want to!' lol  Is that so  terrible of me???   :-) And the TV won't be tuned into In the Hotseat, Eggheads or Deal or No Deal...woot woot! lol

Indigenous...

I often mention in this blog the term 'indigenous colours' when referring to certain knitted items that members of Knitting for Brisbane's Needy provide for distribution. But not all readers would know what I'm referring to. Australians who are referred to as Indigenous Australians, are Aboriginals, the people who had populated the country before it became a British colony in 1788. ( to be correct, the east coast of the country had been claimed as British territory in 1770 by Cook)

I won't go into all the details here in this post, but these indigenous Aussies were to suffer greatly from this colonisation. Then in the early 1970s a flag was designed specifically as the icon to represent the indigenous community. Over the years it has come to mean a great deal to them. Read about the history and meaning of the 3 colours in this flag here.

  K4BN can just never get enough items in these colours to hand out... rugs, beanies, jumpers, scarves, gloves...all get snapped up very quickly! Often, agencies involved in helping indigenous clients 'put in orders'  for items to Karen which she endeavours to fill. For the next few months the group has a challenge going to build up supplies of items in indigenous colours...all ready for when the cooler/cold weather comes. Last Tuesday at the Zillmere K&N, one of the members brought in a bag of items that she has been making for this challenge. The items are gorgeous !! Here's some photos of Pat's work...

Football shaped toy...

Aren't these elephants cute?

More toys; Blogger insists that this photo is on its side...

Some lovely beanies...

One blue teddy...

One cute red and white teddy with a tartan bow...

Now for a while I've been crocheting 15 row squares in indigenous colours...but I have only been working on them every now and then. Last weekend I had finished crocheting a deep border around the edge but still had neatening off of the 'ends' to do. So I took a photo on Monday...

On Tuesday, at the Zillmere K&N I finally finished weaving in the last of the ends...and at the urging of the other members there, I took some more photos. It was then suggested that I be in one of the photos...but to wrap myself in the throw, just like the recipients usually do when they receive these items. So that's how this photo came about...:-)