Cacti and done

I did it.  I finished the last items I'm making for the 2015 Warm and Fuzzy fundraiser:

Ceramic pots for a buck or two from Goodwill, crocheted "dirt" to fill them, and crocheted cacti from various places on the internet, which took far more hours to construct than I like to admit.  But I know there are people who will like them and hopefully bid high for them.

Now I have to go through the boxes and tag items with care instructions and fiber content, assuming I can remember or find the remains of the yarn with the ball band for most of them.  Wednesday is the auction.  Other people are donating, too: exceedingly well decorated wreaths, homebrew beer, wooden puzzles, pierogies, crocheted stuff (bag, scarf, afghan), oil paintings, photographs, etc, not to mention the bake sale (called the "Sweet and Gooey" fundraiser).  

And of course I was making hats (and a bag that inexplicably wouldn't felt when sent through the washer twice) for my friend's farmer's markets, but we are just about out of the last batch of yarn, so I'm taking a break, even though another batch is done.  Time to work on stuff for my family.

And I rolled up that skein of qiviut and started on a cowl.  For me!

Wool, and what is not wool

Just a few links for your entertainment and enlightenment.

First, this for Wovember, which appears to be a British site slightly fanatical about the misuse of the word "wool" when people mean "yarn".  But it has some fun information about other things that can be made into yarn, like milk, lava, and dog hair (especially as a war effort in the 1940s).

Then this, about people who crochet hats that look like Disney princess hair for pediatric cancer patients.  I think if I was a little kid I would definitely prefer these to real hair wigs.

And this, a short video about how self-striping yarn is dyed.  Ingenious.

I have 51 items (or groups of items) finished for the Warm and Fuzzy fundraiser, with just a few thrift-shop pots of crocheted cacti to complete by Dec. 2.  So I'm going to consider that done - ends are woven in, eyes and mouths embroidered, things are blocked and dried and given buttons - and focus on hats for my friend's farm for a while, then after a quick trip to visit the parents, maybe work on some projects for me.  Or for other people for Christmas, and then for me.  That qiviut is waiting.  I'm pretty proud of my output - I averaged an item a week (not counting the Stony Brook Meadows hats), although some took weeks and some took an evening.  People will be donating other things for the auction: homemade pierogies, holiday wreaths, photos, paintings, homebrew beer, and more.  I work with some great people.  And I already have some yarn and many patterns waiting for next year.

Finish line in sight

I have been madly cranking out items for the Warm and Fuzzy fundraiser, which now finally has a date, December 2nd.  Here's a roundup of the latest, some of which are not really recent, but needed some finishing that I finally made myself do:

 

Except for the Star Wars figures, all of the patterns came from Ravelry.  I have to make a cape and light saber for Darth, make a longer bandolier for Chewie, put buttons on a sweater that is drying along with a hat, wash and dry some stiff mittens and embroider eyes and buttons on the snowmen on them, make some cacti, and finish a few odds and ends.  Probably throw in Yoda as well.  And still making hats from Stony Brook Meadows wool.  Phew!