Back from Knitsmiths and learned about a great charity knitting association here in the Boston area: The Knitting Connection. They collect yarn and supplies and provide them to volunteer knitters/crocheters/quilters to be made into hats, mittens, blankets, whatever a child might need. They also collect finished items and distribute them with those made by the volunteers to local hospitals and shelters. We Knitsmiths had some yarn left over from our yarn swap back in November and decided to donate it to them. So the director joined our group today to pick it up and let us all know about the organization. If anyone in the area is interested in donating items or volunteering, their email is: theknittingconnection[at]hotmail.com.

I feel slightly better about my not having made a hat (as planned) for charity this Christmas now that I know that they accept donations all year round and would also happily accept just the yarn, in case I can't pull myself away from my growing mound of projects.

I spent my knitting time this weekend thinking through the mutssjaal project and figuring out just how I want it to look. Recap: Here's the catalog picture again. Following the pattern exactly would have meant fingering weight yarn (again!), so I wanted to find a bulky yarn to make the project quick. I ended up settling on worsted weight after falling in love with the beautiful colors of the Cascade 220. Man those skeins make some wicked huge balls of yarn. Small project. Big project bag! Update: I wanted to work at a gauge of 5 st/in, but while swatching, my fingers and my eyes just could not deal with going that "big", so I settled in at 6.5 st/in. I'm insane, I know. They'll be warm at least! Oh, and to make things more complicated, I decided to change the stripes. Since I'll never have the chance to make this sweater (also in fingering weight!) from another Phildar layette book, I'm going to try to bring those great stripes into this project.

And the best thing about my new project? I'll be knitting it in tandem, so to speak, with Becky! She's been my connection for Phildar fabulousness and always makes such wonderful things that I am just thrilled to be working on the same project with her. What fun!