crocheting my bit

I've started going to a Saturday morning knitting group meeting at Savage Mill. It's a great group of people with all kinds of backgrounds in Life and Knitting. About half them are my age, too.

Yesterday, I sat near a woman who was learning the knitting basics from another woman. The teacher was very patient with the new knitter and didn't mind not being able to work on her own project. Another woman showed up wearing the first sweater she had made ten years ago. It was big on her - baggy with sleeves rolled up - but it was a pretty blue with silver buttons, and she was obviously proud of it enough to wear it.

Sometimes, the group makes projects for charity. The latest one is scarves for military veterans. The National World War II Museum has a program called Knit Your Bit, which is similar to the Red Cross knitting campaign that was popular during World War II. They provide knit and crochet patterns that are easy to follow. With the current craft renaissance, this program, along with others like Head Huggers and Warm Up, America, is doing really well. Makes sense, really. Knitters and crocheters are doing what they love to do, and their efforts help others.

Plus, these projects help with stash-busting. I crochet much faster than I knit, and I had a bunch of scrap yarn left over from other projects, which was enough to complete a scarf last weekend:


And there's still enough scrap yarn for a second scarf that I started this morning:


And although Joe-the-office roomie isn't a military veteran (that I know of, anyway), I did make a scarf for him recently, and since we're on a crocheted scarf theme here and it would be nice to have three pictures in one blog entry, say hello to:


It's nice and long and looks swell with his winter coat. We just need to get him a TARDIS to complete the look.

I'm STILL working on Angel's crocheted babette blanket. All the squares are done, and I've started sewing them together, but the squares must be reproducing because the pile of them doesn't seem to get any smaller, even though the blanket is getting bigger. I didn't know yarn could do that.