warm feet for some little one

I've had a pretty stressful year all up. There was mum's leukemia diagnosis 13 months ago, moving out and all the nastiness and tensions associated with that, visits to the solicitor, long trips to work, a month off work with the flu and pneumonia and finally mum's stroke and shingles along with a sodium imbalance which was causing exhaustion. I thought she was gone a couple of days ago but she seems to have rallied. Her hair, face, pillow and sheets were all much the same colour. Early days yet though after a stroke and her sodium levels have suddenly and inexplicably plummeted again.



However, there have been many blessing along the way. I'm listing these, not to sound trite or proselytising, but as a reminder to myself. I have my faith which acts as a strong undergirding to my life. There is the support and loving concern of all my close family. I have a network of very good friends and some strong shoulders and listening ears.. Internet friends have been a very real support too. There is a roof over my head and food to eat and a job. Even a small cat who knows when she needs to climb on my lap and snuggle. I'm blessed.

There is always someone I can help. I've made quite a lot of knitted goods for charity purposes over the years. One of my goals for this year's Southern Summer of Socks was to try to match, pair for pair, all socks done by me here.

I've decided I want to have a sizable parcel for next year's collection for Winterwarm which is collecting warm clothing, knitted hats, socks, scarves etc for people in Afghanistan. I've done a couple of scarves, two shawls and a hat. Here's the first pair of socks. These were a very quick knit in 8 ply wool. Actually, it could be 12 ply. It was bought many years ago and there is no indication what it really was. 4 mm needles. I started these about 9:00 pm on Wednesday evening and finished them early on Friday morning. If I hadn't had to work, they would have been done sometime Thursday. What a pity!!

So where is the pair they match? Two socks in a pair, and I have two socks. Not the same I hear someone say? The footie was from last year's sea cell prize. The long sock happened because of a bad case of startitis. It's some of Katie's wool in Voodoo colour from Live 2Knit. Beautiful to knit and I'm pleased with them. Actually, I have about half the second footie already done. I'll finish that and then do the second of my design, Charlie's socks.

Can you Assist?

Hi all,
With the help of the lovely Bells and Rose Red I've been making plans for the Can Assist sock drive project.

Can Assist aren't just looking for socks - you can also help by donating chemo caps, scarfs, blankets or any other nurturing item.

You can find out more at my blog, but let me tell you about the prizey side....

The knitters who donate the most socks and the most items to Can Assist between February 6 and May 2 will each receive a grand prize pack, including one year's subscription to their choice of the following magazines:
- Interweave Knits
- Interweave Crochet
- Vogue Knitting
- Yarn Magazine

as well as some yummy yarn and other fibre-crafty goodies!

You can contact the SSoS girls for more info, or email me at kraftykukaATgmailDOTcom (replace the AT and DOT though, ok)

Hope you can help =)

Knitting Socks for Cancer Patients

Astute and caring blogger, Kuka, has alerted us to the fact that the people from Can Assist, the cancer assistance network, are looking for handknitted socks.

You can find information about the hospital, Jean Colvin Hospital, here.

The way it works is that patients come from rural NSW and stay on average 6 weeks whilst they undergo cancer treatment.

To make patients’ stays as comfortable as possible the guys at Can Assist are creating a welcome pack for them when they arrive, and wanted to include handknit socks in these packs.

The organiser of this project explained to Kuka that they were looking for about 150 pairs but so far had only received two!!!

Now as we're all beavering away on producing vast quantities of socks, I reckon there'd be a good chance we all have pairs we're happy to donate. I know I've made pairs that don't fit me quite as I hoped and that might go very well on the feet of people less fortunate than myself.

If you're interested in contributing, leave a comment and we might just have a contest for most socks knit for Can Assist!

Bells and RoseRed