It's Auction Time Again!

11-5-08 - Auction Results:

Meggie had the winning bid of $25 for her choice of neckwarmer "B." That leaves 5 other choices for anyone else who would like to contribute $25 for a neckwarmer of their own. Please be sure to leave a comment or send me an e-mail with the choice of neckwarmer you would like to purchase (anyone watching weather forecasts today have seen that winter is just around the corner--at least here in the midwest).

Thanks to everyone for participating in this auction fundraiser.

Are you ready for another auction? This month's recipient of auction funds raised here on my blog is "Operation Migration," those amazing folks who raise and fly with whooping crane chicks to their wintering grounds in Florida.

The migration trip started on October 18th from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, and they hope to arrive in Florida sometime in January. Here's where we come in--with $$ to become MileMaker sponsors (quarter mile: $52, half mile: $104; mile: $208).

The items I'm auctioning off this month are neck warmers (just in time for winter). These neck warmers are hand-knitted (by me!) from 100% alpaca yarn (that was spun and hand dyed in Chile). Neck warmers are nice to keep your neck and chin warm--especially when you don't want to have the bulk of a scarf around your neck. My auction plan is this: whoever places the highest bid at the end of the auction may choose the neck warmer in the color of their choice. Then if anyone else is interested in purchasing a neck warmer, the rest of them will be sold at the same price as the original high bid. That way everyone gets a chance to purchase for themself or a gift and we also raise more $$. Does that make sense?

(you may click on the picture to enlarge it--on my monitor, the colors shown are identical to the actual neck warmers)

As in previous auctions, you can post your bids in the "Comments" section (be sure to indicate your color choice by listing the associated letter). If you don't want to leave your bid as a comment, you may also e-mail me (rjknits at msn dot com). My hope is that we get enough bids to sponsor at least a quarter mile, but a half mile would be even better! The auction starts tonight and ends on Wednesday, November 5th (I'll give you a little extra time on account of everybody being tuned in to election stuff on Tuesday)

Please be sure to click on the links above to find out more about Operation Migration. I think you'll be amazed at the stories and the dedication of the people who make this program possible.

Time for Another Auction

Gosh, is it Monday night already? That's what happens when you take a couple days off work and try to cram a week's worth of activities into 4 days! I always wish my days at work would go by as quickly as my days off!

I meant to do this post over the weekend, but finally got caught up just tonight to take some photos of the shawl I'm going to auction off for October's "worthy cause." I'm sure most of you know Mel, our sweet blogging friend from Peru. She's been quite busy with other things in her life and job right now, so you probably haven't seen many posts or comments from her, but back in August, she posted a story about her friend Rita Lucia. (And if you read Spanish, Mel has also created a blog just for Rita and her recovery efforts).

At Mel's request for ideas from creative people, I decided to do my part with a handknitted shawl. The auction proceeds from this shawl will go directly to Mel who will put it into the bank account for expenses related to Rita Lucia's recovery efforts.

This shawl is 100% wool. I admit these pictures don't really do it justice, but hopefully when you click to enlarge them, you will get a better idea of how this shawl looks. It's not a huge shawl, but would be very warm over your shoulders on a chilly evening while still leaving your lower arms free for sitting at the computer and blogging! The front edge folds back into a little "lapel."

Front View

(blouse not included)

Back View

Although this shawl would hang very nicely over your shoulders without having to be secured, you may also want to think about getting one of these lovely handmade shawl pins from Romi. I found her website (Google!) early one Saturday morning. I had been looking for some new shawl pins and penannular brooches and Romi has a nice selection of both.

(shawl pin not included)

So, on to the auction! The auction will be open until 8 PM (CDT) Friday night (Oct. 10th). I realize finances are tight for everyone right now, but I hope you can find a little extra in your wallet (and heart) to contribute towards a very determined young lady (and in return you will get a beautiful red shawl to wear this winter!). Please leave bids in the "Comments" section of this blog post or if you're not comfortable with that, you may also e-mail your bid to me (rjknits at msn dot com). Bid high and bid often!

Time's Running Out!

Only a few hours left for you to place your bid on my hand-knitted Foliage Hat being auctioned off to help Kristy defray the costs of delivering over 800 hand-knitted hats to orphans in the Ukraine. The bid was raised to $27.50 just this afternoon by Cindie in Ohio (a brand new visitor to my blog!) Welcome to my blog Cindie and thanks for your bid.

Mr. Johnson and I are heading out to the woods this afternoon to put up one more deerstand and check the trail camera to see if we got any pictures of a legendary "12-point buck" that's being seen in the area where our bowhunting season opens this Saturday.

I'll be checking in later this evening to see who I'm going to be sending the Foliage Hat to in tomorrow's mail.

8:14 PM - The Foliage Hat goes to Cindie in Ohio with her winning bid of $27.50. Thanks Cindie and to everyone else who participated in the first "knitting for a cause" fund-raising auction on my blog. (Cindie, I already have your address and will get the hat sent out to you tomorrow.)

Let the bidding begin

Hello Friends,

I've finished the Foliage Hat for September's "Knitting for a Cause" auction on my blog. I'm so pleased with the results that I have started another Foliage hat with some more yarn from Don -- Jo Sharp's Silkroad Tweed (85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere) in a really nice color called "Wintergreen." Anyway, I'm digressing here, so let's get back to the auction hat. Below is a view of the entire hat (laying flat) so you get an idea of how the stitch pattern looks. Yes, there are holes in it, but they aren't very big and I imagine it would be warm unless you're a person with no hair at all or you're standing outside in a stiff winter wind.

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Measurement flat is about 9.5" (so the hat is at least 19" around)

Here's what the hat looks like on me. Since I like a hat that covers ALL of my ears, I added one more pattern repeat than the pattern listed, so you can see that this hat comes down over my ears and forehead quite nicely. I have a medium sized head and I think this hat fits just fine! (BTW, my head got pretty warm during the 5 minutes or so while I was attempting this photo shoot in the bathroom mirror.)If you're interested in bidding on this hat to help Kristy deliver hand-knitted hats to orphans in the Ukraine, you can leave a bid in my comments section or if you're uncomfortable with that, send your bid to me in an e-mail (rjknits at msn dot com). I will leave the bidding open until next Wednesday (September 10th) at 8:00 PM (CDT). I would like to have the bidding start at $10 and see how things go from there. I'm going to be interested in seeing how this turns out and I hope to get bids from lots of folks--not just my regular commenters but also those people who regularly read my blog, but have never left a comment.......I know you're out there! I would love to send this hat to someone who will enjoy it for themself or give it as a gift to a loved one or special friend. Hat season is not that far away.......

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Since I was washing and blocking my Foliage hat, I decided to do the same for a couple other projects I've finished in the past couple weeks. Shown below is a neck warmer. This yarn is 100% alpaca and hand-dyed. I found it on sale at Ram Wools a couple months ago. They had all kinds of different colorways and I think I bought 9 or 10 different colors. They're 50 gram balls and it was just enough yardage for knitting this neckwarmer (they're nice for keeping your neck warm in the winter--especially if you don't want the bulk or long tails of a scarf around your neck).
I also had a red shawl to show you, but the pictures of it lying flat on the bed just didn't do it justice, so I'll have to enlist Mr. Johnson's assistance and try to get some photos of me modeling the shawl. I think you'll like that one and it would also be a good item to auction on my blog for an upcoming worthy cause.

Almost Done!

With Miss Penny's assistance, I'm making lightning fast progress on the Foliage Hat for auction! This is a fun pattern and I can't recall that I've ever knit a hat from the top down, but it's working out very well. The plan is to get it finished tonight and then wash and block it tomorrow (to get those rumples out). After I post some good photos of the completed hat, bidding will begin on Friday!

If you're new to this blog or just missed the original announcement and wonder what's going on here, please click on this link to find out more about the upcoming auction.

I Have An Announcement

Remember all that yarn my dear friend Don gave me a few weeks ago? Well, this afternoon I had a brainstorm....... How about knitting some items that I can auction on my blog with the proceeds going to worthy causes! You know like The Raptor Center, The Nature Conservancy, the McCain Presidential campaign (oh sorry, I didn't mean that, just checking to see if you were paying attention!)

My plan is to knit one item for auction each month, I'll tell you what worthy cause we're going to support each month and then keep you posted from start to finish of the project. While I'm knitting, you can dream about how much you'll love your new hand-knitted hat/socks/mitts/shawl/whatever that arrives at your house when you make the winning bid!

Take a look at this lovely ball of 100% handspun and hand-dyed wool in really nice shades of gold.

Now envision how this yarn will look once it's knitted into a "Foliage Hat" shown below. Foliage Hat - designed by Emilee Mooney (free pattern can be found at Knitting Pattern Central)

This month, the worthy cause I have selected as the beneficiary will be Kristy's Hat Quest (click on the link to learn more). Here's a picture from her blog showing some of the children at one of the orphanage facilities in Rivne.

Kristy's original goal (back in May) was to deliver 300 hats to the orphans, but she has already received 688 hand-knitted hats that she will be taking to the Ukraine later this month. What an overwhelming response! In addition to hats, people also knitted and sent her mittens, socks, and scarves. Now her concern is how much it's going to cost to ship the huge suitcases of all these knitted things over to the Ukraine. And that's where this blog comes in. Whatever amount I raise from the auction of the hand-knitted hat shown above, I will be sending to Kristy to help defray her expenses. So stay tuned, think about how that Foliage Hat will work for you or as a gift for someone special, and get ready to bid later this week. (I'm starting the hat after supper tonight and you all know I'm a pretty fast knitter!)