Monday morning, you sure were fine…again!

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AIWCC, cardigan, Cologne, FAWCO, Hamburg, jumper, knitting, Monday, socks, Stitch 'n' Bitch

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I actually like Monday mornings. Particularly ones like this morning where the American International Women’s Club of Cologne (AIWCC) gets together for Stitch ‘n’ Bitch! Sadly, today was my penultimate Stitch ‘n’ Bitch here in Cologne 😦

There was a good turnout: eleven crafters crafting… Well, nine actually! One knitter was in-between projects. Another came for just a while because she has her own little WIP and may not make it to Stitch ‘n’ Bitch next month for lovely baby reasons! Sadly, a relatively new member had to say good-bye today as she’s off to Hamburg. Fortunately, there’s also a FAWCO club in Hamburg, (the American Women’s Club of Hamburg) and my Co-Leader and I know the lovely lady who runs their Stitch ‘n’ Bitch group so all is not lost!

Two crafters worked on their counted cross-stitch projects. I’m always in awe of this because I find it exceedingly difficult to cross-stitch and talk at the same time. Otherwise, we were knitting a Ravello jumper, a kiddy jumper, a cardigan and several pairs of socks. I needed a break from the Man Socks so I’ve started this:

Sublimation Socks

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Twice in one week!

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#Pages4Progress, AIWCC, books, FAWCO, literacy, Millenium Development Goals, reading, United Nations

I have been knitting. Honestly, I have!

But unusually for me I’m posting a no-knitting post for the second time in a week. I could wait. But the clock is ticking and this is something I feel strongly about: literacy.

I’m involved with a local project under the auspices of the FAWCO* Education Task Force. One of FAWCO’s main aims is to improve the lives of women and children. While browsing the internet, looking for fund-raising ideas with books, I came across World Education’s #Pages4Progress.  #Pages4Progress is World Education’s campaign to raise funds to increase literacy and help meet one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals: #2 – Achieve Universal Primary Education. The goal is to log 2,000,015 pages by September 8th. The original goal of 20,015 pages logged were sponsored at a dollar a page!

This project appealed to me immediately. It’s so easy to ‘do your bit’. I knew I’d be able to encourage other members of the AIWCC (American International Women’s Club of Cologne), one of the organisations under FAWCO, to log their reading progress.

So now I’m being cheeky and asking all you crafters who like to read, to log the pages you read with #Pages4Progress.  It’s a simple action that can make such a difference! Thank you!

*Founded in 1931, FAWCO (the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas) is an international network of independent volunteer clubs and associations. There are 64 member clubs in 33 countries worldwide, with a total membership of almost 12,000. FAWCO serves as a resource and channel of information among its members, promotes the rights of U.S. citizens overseas; is active as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council; and contributes to the global community through its Task Forces and The FAWCO Foundation, which provides development grants and education awards. FAWCO and The FAWCO Foundation also collaborate on emergency funding for disaster relief. (Information taken from the FAWCO website)

Three weeks and three days

Tags

AIWCC, bind-off, cast-off, clothing, FAWCO, jumper, knitting, patterns, pullover, Ravelry, ribbing, Stitch 'n' Bitch

of speed knitting and I finished my Ravello in time to wear it during a conference in Brussels!

My friend and Stitch ‘n’ Bitch co-leader and I were attending a day of the annual FAWCO conference. We’d already met women from the clubs within our region but this was an exciting opportunity to learn more about FAWCO and connect with women from around the globe. As one of the co-leaders for Stitch ‘n’ Bitch at the American International Women’s Club of Cologne, I already have a bit of a reputation for “wearing something knitted” at AIWCC events. So it seemed only natural to be aiming to wear my new Ravello.

At one point, I’d had visions of sewing up the ends on the train but fortunately I was finished before that and even got to give the jumper a bit of a press. There were moments when I actually despaired of finishing. The bottom ribbing was done twice, the cast-off three times.

One of the projects on Ravelry that I really liked had the ribbing in broken rib to avoid pulling in the jumper quite as much as happens with regular ribbing. I liked this idea but casting off was tricky. It looked untidy. I undid it.

I had used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off on the neck and found it to be a neat edge after my four rows of ribbed neckband. (The pattern has an option for an unfinished edge but this would have left my bony collar-bones exposed!) However, when I tried doing this bind-off at the bottom, it really didn’t match the knit 2, purl 1 ribbing at all.

So then I reknitted the bottom third of the ribbing as regular knit 1, purl 1 ribbing and tried to do a tubular bind-off…very unsuccessfully. So it was back to the internet again to check out other suitable cast-offs.

In the end I ripped back half my ribbed band, reknitted with new yarn and used an adapted version of the Russian bind off from Wendy Johnson’s website. It looked a bit flared out but the edge was very even so I just had to hope for the best. After a damp press on the wrong side it looked fine. I decided to do the sleeves the same way. At least then it would all look ‘meant’.

Three weeks and three days after my second cast on (yes, there were hurdles right from the start!) I finished. I have never knitted a jumper this quickly before. I probably shouldn’t ever attempt to do it again either!

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