Northeast US Oddball Baby Blankets

[gmmarton]

Here is the lineup so far:

Tropical Plantation II
gmmarton - done (hot pink)
gmmarton - working (hot blue)
beepr
open slot
open slot
hamham (will also do the border)

[gmmarton]

To my NE Oddball friends:

I have an unexpected project in the near future that will require lots of time after school and weekends. As I am the “go-to” person for this project, I’m sorry to say I must surrender my responsibilities regarding the worsted weight Oddball baby blankets. I won’t be available to start new blankets, update and maintain posts on the thread, spreadsheet, and Blogs, nor will I be able to pull the blankets together and distribute to the Pediatrics Unit of Bridgeport Hospital.

My heart feels very heavy writing this as I have grown quite attached to the Oddball Group and the unique personalities I’ve come to know and care about. We have done so well with all of our blankets and I am especially proud of the fifty-five worsted weight blankets knit over eighteen months (and delivered to Bridgeport Hospital).

The flip side of that is that I’m also feeling overwhelmed a not-so-good feeling, as my professional responsibilities continue to expand. After decades of teaching, I never thought it would get this complicated!

I’d certainly like to keep knitting on any blankets where my name is already listed on the spreadsheet; hopefully, I’ll be knitting more blankets for the NE Oddball Group once I get out of school in late June.

In the meantime, keep up the great work. Know that you have made a difference in some little person’s life.

Wishing you continued good fortune,

Happy knitting!

Gail

[Shandeh]

Thank you for all your hard work, Gail!

[Spikey]

My sincerest thanks go out to Gail for all of her efforts for our group! She really has put her blood, sweat, and tears into making these blankets and getting them to the children at Bridgeport Hospital, who love them so dearly.


Her sudden departure means that we need to come up with a plan. The silver lining that may come out of this sad news is that opportunities are now open for others to participate in the coordination of this wonderful blanket effort.


The way I see it, we have a number of options:


1) Someone else takes over the coordination of the WW blankets, and delivers them locally.


2) We divide and conquer WW blankets. Several people share the WW blanket side (one person coordinates, one person keeps the blog up to date, another person receives the finished blankets and washes and delivers them).


3) We continue to make WW (although somewhat smaller) and DK weight blankets, and they all go to the SDU at CHOP. In order for me to be able to manage this, I would need some help with keeping the blogs up to date, as doing that would be too much for one person (when also coordinating, washing, and delivering).


I should note here that the reason that we have been making so many fewer DK weight blankets, is that I did not want to put too many demands on the group, given the large number (and size) of the WW blankets.


One of the things to consider going forward is, do we want to keep making two different sizes of blankets, and using two different yarn weights?


Several of you have PM’ed me already, and I want to reassure you that this group will continue to make beautiful blankets for these special children for as long as folks want to keep doing it.


Since we broke into regional groups, the Northeast group has far and away been the busiest and most prolific. This has been immensely gratifying to me and all of you should be incredibly proud of what we have been able to accomplish together! We currently have 30 total blankets in circulation, while most of the other groups have about 10 at any given time (and that is with intentionally reducing the number of DK weight blankets!).


If anyone has any other suggestions or ideas for how we should proceed from here, they are most welcome. If you do not feel comfortable posting on the thread, please PM me.
Hopefully, as a group, we can come up with a plan that works best for all of us very soon!


Thanks for all that you do, and for all your support! Go Northeast!!!!! :o)

[Spikey]

Here’s the new arrangement for the WW blankets:
Beepr will help coordinate the WW posts on the thread,and help with starting new blankets, recruiting knitters & crocheters for blankets.
MotherHenKnits will manage our online tracking spreadsheet and WW blanket blog.
hamham will prep the finished blankets and deliver them to a children’s unit at a hospital in New York.

Thanks to all the volunteers!

Let’s give this ago for a while and see how it works out. One of the things we’ve been trying to do with the DK weight blankets is have me as the last knitter as often as possible. I hand the blankets over to mdc550 to crochet the border. This saves everyone money, as the blanket is mailed around when smaller, and fewer completed blankets have to be mailed around. I suggest trying this on the WW side, as hamham can be the last knitter and crochet the border (she is more multicrafty than I ;-) Not for every blanket, naturally.

It appears from our little poll that the group is pretty evenly split over the size of the WW blankets. How about if we leave the choice of size up to the person who starts the blanket? When Beepr or the person starting announces the blanket, they can let us know the size. The specifics will go on the instruction sheet, too.

Thanks again to everyone who stepped in to help, and to all of the group members for your continued support of our fantastic project

[Shandeh]

Sounds like a good team!
Go Northeast!

[nicoleheather]

Purplelicious is done!! Here are a few pics:

[Spikey]

Beautiful work, Nicole! Thank you.

[gmmarton]

So glad you joined the group, Nicole.

Your work is beautiful!

[Howdovely]

Hi Everybody in the Northeast Region!! I'm in the Southeast group (North Carolina), but my mom is up in NY State and wanted to start knitting for charity since she hears me talking about it so much. She doesn't have a computer, so can't really join in on this blog - but I am sending her yarn and needles to make a baby blanket.

She is near Cooperstown - does anyone know where she can donate blankets, hats, booties (whatever she winds up making) locally? I sent her Worsted Weight yarn, but she'll probably want to make preemie things also. Not sure.

Anyway - if anyone has a suggestion for what is needed up that way, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you!
Brenda