Finishing 40 Days For Others

edited:  Tomorrow (not today dummy!!) is the last day of Lent.  (sheesh!  Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the Triduum -- man, you know?  I need to focus on what I'm doing at the moment, not what I'm going to do next..Yeah, not always the sharpest crayon in the box.)

The 40 Daysers have been busy.  Pat sent me this last Friday:  Three hats, a lovely note and a ceramic cross made in the Southwest.  Wrapped up in purple tissue -- kind of our 40 Days color, no?  Thanks a ton Pat!  You did a great job and I'm sure some of our St. Pius folks will be very thankful for these warm, lovinginly-made hats come the cold weather.  Pat's a good egg.

Trudy says:

I have now completed:  one sweater, 7 children's hats (working on the 8th) and 4 pairs of mittens.  I find it tremendously freeing to knit for charity (or "knitting for orphans" as I tell my friends) -- I don't have to worry about my projects fitting a particular body (like my own or my daughters' or my sisters'), so I don't have to fuss with gauge swatches -- I just pull out a ball of yarn and start knitting!  I like the fact that it's going to someone I don't know and will never see and will never be thanked by that person. (Of course I have to admit that I do show my work around and accept any compliments that come my way.)  I'm using only stash yarn -- the very scary thing is that I've hardly made a dent in one of my three large underbed storage containers. (Part of my Lenten observance has been no buying of yarn.)  I think I'll still split the final results between Dulaan and Afgans for Afgans.

Whoa, Trudy!  Great progress.  And I agree with Trudy about the knitting for others being freeing.  I did the same thing with the socks -- they're 3 1/2 inches long and will fit some baby -- no size issues all all.

Jenny says:  Hi Annie!  ...These are some of the squares I  have been crocheting for Squares 4 Survivors. I am much speedier with the crocheting. But, I must admit, I looked longingly at a photo of a "Ramblin' Rows" blankie I did, and wished I could knit faster!! Our group now has 62 members, and we have completed 28 afghans to date, with 25 more that we are working on. If only there were more time in the day.......don't we all wish!

Thanks so much for the knitalong!  Jenny

Jenny's got a super prolific group there, does she not?  Great Lenten knitting.

Dee found us late in the game, but wanted to be included.  Here's part of the note she sent:  Hiya, Ann, ...I would like to be include on your 40 Days knit along, even if it is the 5th Sunday of Lent .... LOL.  I always have a CIC project going.  Right now I have socks and a vest going... CIC is Children in Common and is a charity that supports Russian and Eastern Bloc orphanages.  A worthy cause and glad to have you Dee!

I'll be checking the rest of you and seeing how you did.  I'd really like to have a total or an approximation of our charity knitting  to finish off the knitalong.  Got info?  Send it along or leave it in the comments.

How did I do?  I'd say about half, maybe a little more of my knitting was for others.  The problem?  Not all for charity.  My sockpal socks are finished -- for another, not charity though.  The baby blanket for my neighbor?  Finishing the border -- again, for another, but not charity.  In total, I'll have done two hats, a pair of socks, and a baby blanket for 40 Days.  I'd be done with the blanket and socks completely,  but something interfered this weekend. 

Short story long, you know how we had the last singing Fish Fry last weekend?  Dear daughter has several girls in her class who still need volunteer points to get Confirmed in May.  Our fish fry is a perfect volunteer opportunity for tweens and teens.  One, there are lots of them -- clearing plates, getting coffee and tea refills, helping carry trays -- kids from several schools helped out in the busing department for all 6 events.  Two, it's easy -- you can chat and work together -- it's not like raking out the church flower garden or painting a multi-purpose room; those are too much like real work. 

Dear son hates the fish fries -- he doesn't have a volunteer bone in his body and just sits and plays video games or runs around if there is a kid there to play with.  I had him bring a friend so he would go along just this one last time.  Under duress.  Got it?  I'm supervising 6 kids and singing 4 sets.  It went surprisingly well.

At the end of the evening, about 8 p.m., I was set to drive the other kids home when the chorus from the back of the van was something about an overnight -- a slumber party if you will.  I, magnanimously I might add, said sure...secure in my knowledge that these 4 families would have something else to do and not let all these kids spend the night out.  Phone calls ensued and...you guessed it...all were able to stay. 

So now I had to scrounge food, bedding, toothbrushes, and sleepwear for 3 extra 13-year-olds and an extra 9-year-old.  Fine.  The food was the hard part...4 pizzas, 3 bags of Cheezit Chips, two bowls of popcorn, and a pitcher of lemonade later...I was cleaned out.  If they wanted something else to eat, I'd have to thaw and braise a roast.  Luckily it was 2:30 in the morning and I could reasonably say that there would be no more eating, that they should sleep...ha, ha, ha. 

What follows are pictures of the next day's carnage:  the living room where the girls slept ( I woke early and walked past a pile of arms, blankets and hair , all intertwined -- almost took a picture of that but thought better of the idea -- too funny); the boy's room where the little guys slept; and the kitchen after 3 batches of pancakes.  Human vacuum cleaners all.  More from me another time...gotta go finish some baby socks!

Comments

[Jennifer]

Hoo boy! That's a full house! I bet everyone had fun though.

[Lucia]

You are truly a lovely person, Ann. Here's hoping the 3 other families reciprocate with sleepovers of their own.

I have done exactly (drum roll, please) 1 1/2 hats. Pathetic, I know. And the auction shawl, which doesn't really count. But I thought (heathen ignorance showing here) that Lent lasted until Saturday?

[Carole]

I totally dropped the ball on this one. I've been so busy knitting family socks that I just never made the time for this. Sorry. :-(
I'll try and redeem myself when Margene and I do Knit Unto Others again in November.
It is great that you pulled this together and got people to participate!

[carol]

I was an unofficial member of the 40 Days project.I was inspired by your idea and the dulaan project,sooo I have made 11 hats for preschoolers,5 pair of preschooler tube socks, and 8 infant hats!Yea!! I'm on a roll and loving it! Thanks for the inspiration!!

[Lana]

You are a generous and brave soul! On my blog is a pic of what I will send. I lost a needle and won't finish another hat. I had 5 old scarfs to add to the total, but the total knitted at this time for this along is 7 scarfs (Lion Brand Homespun on size 19 needles)and 10 hats for Dulaan. Thanks for such a super KAL! Have a blessed Easter season!

[margene]

You not only knit for others you served 'others'. You're a super mom and your kids will remember this as a great time in their lives.
I have three hats finished and hoped to have one more but since I know nothing about religion I didn't realize Lent ended today and thought I had until Easter. Well, I'll still knit the fourth hat.
The Red Rock Canyon STR arrived yesterday. I love it more than I thought...it's going to make a fabulous pair of socks! THANK YOU. You are a very generous person.

[Jocele]

Ann--
Hi. I have a couple of kids/baby hats, 2 pairs of socks, and a dishcloth for you. Not as much as I had hoped, but still better than nothing. Reading about you scrounging for toothbrushes triggered a thought though...would St. Pius need toiletries and stuff like that? Deodorant, toothpaste, etc. I can certainly add that in if it would be helpful.

[Pat K]

I'm not so sure I'd take pictures if the mess were at my house. And then post them. 40 Days has been a real success, I think; here's to next year and we'll be better prepared.

[Snow]

I'm definitely getting in on this one during Lent next year. You've done a very good thing here.

Aren't slumber/sleepover parties fun? I always swear I'm not going to do another, but I like knowing where the kids are, even if I get the whole neighborhood sleeping in my living room.

[Laura]

Well okay, if it's not over until tomorrow maybe I'll have a cardigan without sleeves. Assuming little children in St. Louis like to have sleeves on their cardigans, mine will be a tiny bit late. But better late than never in this case I hope. It's getting a little late in the season for cardigans anyway. I've done other charity knitting and it's been completed, plus some of my yarn sale proceeds have gone to a animal shelter in NYC! Hey! I guess I'm not as bad as I thought. :)

I'll get this stuff sent to you as soon as I can Annie, and will include the summer kid clothing too! I'll write for your address when its ready.

[Chris Pokorny]

Hello!
Here's my final count for the "40 Days for Others" knitting: three prayer shawls and five hat and scarf sets, with a new hat and scarf set going on the needles tonight, and yarn being wound for another prayer shawl -- which will be my car knitting when we go visit my Dad on Good Friday in Michigan. Not as much as I would have liked, but my workload at church ended up being much higher this year than I anticipated it would be. The hat and scarf sets will be going to the North Park Friendship Center (a food pantry), and the prayer shawls will go to Edgebrook Evangelical Covenant Church (my church - two have already been distributed to women going through difficult times - I am going to be expanding this to a true ministry in my church because the shawls were so well received, so this experiment will have long-term effects on my church!). This was a great experience! I liked taking something else on for Lent, rather than giving things up!
Peace,
Pastor Chris Pokorny

[Zarah]

Can you send me an address for the 40DFO knits to be mailed to? Thanks

[daisy]

Final count: two children's sweaters, one seaman's scarf, one hat completed. A third child's sweater and one double-knit hat still on the needles. The hat will be done by Easter; the sweater'll take a little longer. All Dulaan bound.

[Bridgett]

Hey--I thought you didn't do slumber parties...