Nautie from knitty.com

ok, i am addicted to all things related to marine biology, so when i saw the "Nautie" stuffed nautiloid, i knew it was for me. Since a few of the kids are working on it as well, I felt motivated to do one too. Here is my progress so far. I am almost finished with the shell. I love it!!!!!!!!

Donations Donations Donations!!!

So many thank yous to give. It really means a lot to these kids when people send in supplies to keep them knitting!


Thanks to Knitzilla and Knitter's Studio for the big bag of various yarns. The kids went crazy for the ribbon yarn.


Thanks to Suss Designs for their donation of a gazillion pairs of size#11 bamboo needles. The advanced knitters are working on purses and these big needles will come in handy for those who are felting with big yarn!


The next thank you goes out to The Little Knittery for a big bag of wool. Along with the #11 Suss needles, we can felt this into some purses. Thanks, Julie!


Our next donation to Stitches From the Heart will be dropped of tomorrow afternoon. Hats, hats and more hats. I guess you can never have enough baby hats, right?



There are also some blanket squares that still need to be sewn together. I am going to offer some community service to a the kids to sew them into a few baby blankets. We'll see what happens with that.

Thursday Walk Through Class

Halfway through the period I decided to take a walk around the room to check on project progress. Here is what I found:

Stephanie has made a Razor phone holder. Love the matching flower!



Yuriko and Amparo celebrate the completion of one cute baby hat with tiny pom pom.


Tiffany made an ipod holder with a litte crochet French guy on the top. Tres chic!!!!


Tuekeha has finished one little hat with a REALLY BIG pom pom. Really fun!


Mariana has made another baby sweater. The girl is a prolific knitter! She even put on little matching buttons! Love it!!!!

Easter Hits Pali!!!!!!

Spring Break is right around the corner, and we are so ready for a week off. This week the kids have been working on their baby hats for Stitches From the Heart. They are coming along nicely. The hats are due in 2 weeks, and I'll post pics when they are all turned in. The advanced kids are being more daring. Some are designing their own creations, others are tackling challenging patterns. I am really excited to see their results in a few weeks.





In honor of Easter, and to keep everyone busy, I bought some plastic eggs and raided our stash to create some yarn eggs. They turned out so cute!!!!



Also, some knit bunnies. And chocolate. Gotta have the chocolate. And peeps. Yum.

Happy spring break, everyone!!!!!!!

the squid hat is finally complete!

the squid hat is done! many months of creative pattern reading, and long tentacle figuring-out, and it is finished.

here it is attacking charlie while he naps on the top of the couch.


close up of moi surrounded by tentacles!


this is me wearing the masterpiece, holding up the 2 long tentacles. there are 8 short ones as well.

First Day of the Second Semester

Classes began again for spring semester, and the knitting class is apparently a popular choice. We have 37 knitters, 18 of them are new to the class. Since the first meeting was a short day, class only lasted 30 minutes. So, we handed out yarn and needles, and got to work. A new person was paired with a "veteran knitter" and by the end of the 30 minutes, everyone could cast on and knit. I am looking forward to monday, when we have 100 minutes to get on this. The first project for the new kids will be 2 squares for baby blankets. I purchased tons of teal yarn, so we can be uniform. Square size will be 9"x9". Should be fun. The returning kids will make something for themselves. I have a growing library of knitting books, and of course we have the internet, so the sky's the limit!
Here is Ever, doing what he does best...teaching how to cast on. He is my go-to guy for that! Thanks, Ever!!!!!!!!!


Sarah Y. teaches with such excitement!!!!!!


Esther patiently waits for Ms. Newbill to get a good picture (this was the fourth attempt...sorry cutie!)


Se Mi teaches three girls at once!! She is a superstar. Quick story about Se Mi: she was close to finishing her final project, the baby sweater, when she realized she forgot to do the second sleeve. Oops. So, we ripped out her work back to the place where she could add the second sleeve, and she kept going. I am so proud of her for not giving up at that point. It was a big job to re-knit all of that and she did a great job. Her sweater will be donated to Stitches this week.

our baby sweaters

here are some of the sweaters that have been turned in as donations for stitches from the heart!!!!! they are so cute! way to go kids!

Sweaters Newbill Made (and finally finished)

Here is a sweater that I made last summer but just got around to finishing this week. It has been haunting me for months. I plan to wear it with a long tank top underneath and jeans. so cute!!!!



This is a little jacket i made by modifying the 5-hour baby sweater. I am hoping the kids who continue on in knitting next semester will start making things for themselves. Seems like all we did was donate things to various charities!




This is an experimental shrug-type thing I made that sort of looks like astroturf (super bowl homage). I will make another one, just not using this yarn. Too 3-dimensional. :)

Stitches From the Heart Moving Day!

Last Sunday, a few of our dedicated students showed up at SFTH and helped them move into a new space. The kids earned community service credit and the women at the shop gave them tons of cute freebies. Mariana came to class the next day with her denim tote and a huge smile on her face. Thanks to all of you involved with the move, and thanks go out to Stitches for all that they do for the babies of the world. We love you!

Long time...No Post

Happy New Year!!!!! It has been so long since our last post, the semester is almost over and the kids are working on their final project...the 5-hour baby sweater. Finished sweaters are due this Thursday. I'll post pics when the sweaters are turned in. Most will be donated to Stitches From the Heart. We love them.

In the mean time, here are some pics of stuff Ms. Newbill has been working on. Most notably, the spool knitter necklace. Enjoy!

Christmas Penguin!!!!

This is the penguin I found online. Not sure where the pattern came from, but I am so pleased with the results! I am in the process of making a second one as a gift. A few of the kids are eager to start a stuffed animal, but they all have to finish a 5-hour baby sweater first. The sweater will be their final project, due at the end of January. They can choose to add either a blanket or a pair of booties and a hat.

Good news about our knitting class! It has been extended into second semester. Many of the current kids have re-upped and are taking the class again, and there will be a few new faces as well. It will be more challenging having the kids at all different levels, but I think they will learn from each other as well, so the different levels of experience will enhance the classroom atmosphere.

We are all looking forward to learning more skills.

Happy Holidays, everyone!!!!!!

knitting holiday ornaments

here are a few of the santa hats we made. i think they came out pretty nice. each student will hang them on their own tree at home.


today we are starting a new mini-project. tiny winter hats for the x-mas tree, or chanukah bush...whatever. they might look good on a barbie, but i am hoping the kids make a set for their parents. once we have made a few, we can add them to the front of a homemade card. that will be a little cute gift for a favorite teacher or a caring aunt. here is the picture i am giving the kids, and i know they can take this pattern and be really creative!!!!

Stitches From the Heart visits Pali!!!!!

Our class was so lucky to have our first guest speaker today! Joan Whitten from Stitched From the Heart came to school to talk about their organization and to collect a batch of knitted items from the kids. We donated over 50 baby hats, 2 baby blankets, 1 afghan, and a baby sweater, hat, booties set. A huge thank you to Joan and the entire Stitches gang.

Charlie Brown's Halloween Costume

I know this has nothing to do with knitting or our class and club, but I have to show off my silly puppy in his halloween costume. Mike is a Star Wars fan (understatement of the year) so Charlie is Darth Vader. He will be helping me pass out candy on Monday evening. Wish us luck.

Knit for the Needy

The Knit for the Needy Club is back! We meet every Tuesday at Lunch in Ms. Newbill's room, G201. Come learn to knit. Our first project: preemie hats to donate to Stitches from the Heart! Hats are due by November 9th. You will receive one hour of community service per preemie (or full-term baby) hat you knit (or crochet). Come see Ms. Newbill for more details.



Here is a picture of today's meeting. Lots of eager knitters. Thanks to all of you who helped the newbies. Good job, you guys!!! Let's keep our attendance up and knit, knit, knit!


We will be ordering club sweatshirts soon. Black hoodie sweatshirts with hot pink lettering. Here is Tiffanie modeling one:




Our totally cute logo...

Finished the Felted Purse

Here is the after picture of Ms. Newbill felted purse.
Thankfully it shrunk A LOT with repeated washing in hot water.

Mitered Edge Felted Purse

Ms. Newbill has been knitting along with the class, and just completed her gigantic purse. Here are some pics of the mitred edge, and Ms. Newbill wearing the purse pre-felting. Hope it gets a lot smaller!


over 2 feet across!

the mitered edge is just knit 3 together at the center of everyother row. so easy!!!

Will it shrink? Wash it 5 or 6 times in really hot water. Then block it. Cross your fingers everyone!

Some Scarves in Progress