What's going on right now....

Working on a felted stuffie that will be a dog to join my family of softies....the larger dog is already named, but I will probably have a contest here and in my ravelry group to name the smaller one.... just stay tuned, as it will be a little while before either is ready.

My knitting time for this part of the year is dedicated to giving back to the community at large.  Those of you who know me personally, or from Ravelry might know that I knit for the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  There is a Ravelry group called For The Children of Pine Ridge.  I like to dedicate a few months of my time and energies to providing warm things for the children of the reservation.. I have already sent hats made in September/October to one of the fall projects, which is providing warm things to one of the schools. 

The companion fall project was to provide items for babies and children too young for school.  I am doing hats and other items for this campaign.  This is my favorite type of knitting, because I can make more items in a given period of time.  This allows me to knit for a maximum number of people to keep warm.

I am blessed to live in a place with mild winters, although from the way we Floridians bundle up when it gets below 50 degrees (you might think it was 5 degrees below zero).  I have only seen snow fall once in my life, but I have been around after it has fallen once or twice beyond that.  This is why I feel compelled to knit for folks who have little and live in a cold place.  Our group on Ravelry is large, but we could always use more people to knit/crochet/weave for this cause. 

Thanks for reading this. 

Paula

Two new freebies have been posted in Ravelry

As promised, there are two new free patterns at my Ravelry store.  You can see them by following this link... http://www.ravelry.com/stores/kraziknitz-by-paula.

One is for a small drawstring pouch, called Goodie Sack.  It can be made and embellished as you please.  Change purse, treasure keeper, or as a gift bag for something small are some of the uses suggested by my various students on the cruise. Here is a picture of it for you to decide how you would like to use it!

 








The other pattern is for Peaches the kitten, from the RobbieCat pattern.  She's still hanging out with RobbieCat, for those of you who want to make the larger cat as well. She did, however, strike out on her own for the cruise for one of my classes.  She had fun becoming a celebrity, as she hung out at the hospitality desk meeting and greeting cruise attendees.  Her constant smile helped, even though she confessed she was a little sea sick at the beginning of the cruise.

 

Back in port...

After a great cruise full of classes and much fiber to covet, I am posting a few pictures here. Some 300 cruisers from all over the U.S. & Canada joined us for lots of knitting and learning.  We had the fabulous Nicki Epstein teaching special classes, along with the ones being taught by myself and the other phenomenal teachers from the Knit & Stitch.  The primaries of Cascade Yarns also joined us on the cruise.

I will be adding two new free patterns from my cruise classes to my Ravelry store, as well as a bag that made its debut on the cruise.

I only took pictures when the on board supply cabinet was quiet, which did not occur too frequently.  The seas were rather rough the first couple of days, and I did not fair as well as on the first cruise two years ago, when we had lovely sailing weather.

So go to my Ravelry store at http://www.ravelry.com/stores/kraziknitz-by-paula to check out the latest additions.

A happy cruiser with her swag bag full of goodies!

Rumba Grande makes its debut at the Cascade Magnum table!

Table of fibery goodness!

Cascade Casablanca with some of my patterns made in that lovely self-striping yarn.

Another table with more fibery goodness!

Cruisin' on a Monday afternoon.....

The Cascade Yarns/Knit & Stitch 2014 Knitting Cruise leaves tomorrow afternoon.  We will be cruising with Nicki Epstein and the folks from Cascade Yarn...lots of classes to teach.. I have some beginning felting classes, as well as one on mitered squares that I will be teaching. 
I will try to take pictures to post here upon my return...so stay tuned.

Paula