LEOMINSTER, MA: Amber Seppala was able to knit a scarf in 1 hour, 25 minutes and 13 seconds during the 2010 Speed Knitting Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse and Warmer Winters. The contest, held on Saturday, April 17 at Outback Steakhouse in Leominster, had 10 participants. Ten completed scarves were donated to Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center by Judy Gentry, Warmer Winters’ Executive Director. Seppala won a pair of Red Sox tickets as the grand prize. “I won, I won, I won!” Seppala said when she finished her scarf, “My thumb is numb!”
Participants were given a ball of yarn , a pair of needles and everyone cast on 12 stitches. The goal was be the one who could knit a complete scarf the fastest. In second place was Glynda Benham who finished in 1 hour, 33 minutes and 49 seconds. In third place was Cindy Bataitis who finished in 1 hour, 43 minutes and 45 seconds.
“It’s great that we can do a little something to help the Veterans. We hope to give many more scarves and hats to Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center next winter. No one deserves to be warm in winter more than those who have served their country. They should never have to go without,” said Judy Gentry before taking the eight completed scarves to Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center. The contest was held on Patriots Day weekend to further honor all that our veterans have done for this country.
Outback Steakhouse, a long standing supporter of Warmer Winters, provided their restaurant as a venue and provided the participants and supporters with their famous “Bloomin’ Onions.
Heather Leighton, one of the contestants, said: “I didn’t win, but I had a great time.”
Warmer Winters collected over 3,000 hand knit items from March 1, 2009 until February 28, 2010. Items are donated to local agencies and charities that work with the homeless and disadvantaged in Leominster, Fitchburg, and Gardner areas. On March 1, 2010 the team of volunteers began knitting to reach a goal of 4,000 items over the next year. These 10 scarves are part of that total. The next event is a Knit-A-Thon on October 16, 2010 at Whitney Fields Mall in Leominster. Knitters and crocheters will spend their entire day creating projects for Warmer Winters.
Vote Warmer Winters as the 2010 Star Project!
Community Builders is a project from the United Way of North Central Massachusetts. Each year they sponsor the Star Projects competition. According to the website:
“This competition is designed to create a platform that gives volunteers, colleagues, friends, neighbors and family a voice in the decision making process that will ultimately decide which volunteer projects are STAR PROJECTS. Your vote will decide who will receive prize money for their innovative volunteer projects. First place will receive $1000.00, second place will receive $500.00 and two third place winners will be awarded with $250.00″.
Last year Warmer Winters came in second place. This year we want to be the winners! Think of all the yarn we can buy if we win!
We need your help to do just that. To help us win we need you to vote!
You can only vote once. You will be asked to put your name and email address in. You can select three organizations to vote for. Make sure one of them is: Leominster Resident, Warmer Winters Knitting Needles Project.
Pass the link around to everyone you know! Let’s help Warmer Winters take first place!
On Your Marks…. It’s the 2010 Speed Knitting Contest!
Warmer Winters and Outback Steakhouse are please to announce the 2010 Speed Knitting Contest to support the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center.
Grand Prize: A Pair of Red Sox Tickets!
Where: Outback Steakhouse 865 Merriam Ave. Twin City Plaza in Leominster, MA
When: April 17 9:30am – 12:30pm
Yarn and needles provided
Pre Register by emailing jt.silver@verizon.net or call 978-537-3464
$5.00 attendance fee
How does this work?
All yarn and needles are provided to you at no charge. The idea is that we are all working with the same exact material. Nobody gets an unfair advantage. You will be given instructions on how many stitches to cast on. You will knit in a simple garter stitch. When you have reached the end of the skein you bind off. The first person to use their complete skein is the winner! We stay until the last person finished their scarf.
Will there be things to eat?
Outback Steakhouse has graciously agreed to provide us with appatizers and Bloomin’ Onions during the contest. We do encourage you to stay for lunch after as a thank you to them.
Why do I have to pay $5?
This is to cover the cost of the yarn and needles. Even if you do not come to knit you will need to pay the $5 fee.
Do I have to preregister?
Yes, we do as that you preregister so we bring enough yarn and needles for everyone.
What yarn will we be using?
Warmer Winters uses Lion’s Brand Wool-ese Thick and Quick to make the thickest, warmest scarves we can.
Where are the scarves going to be donated?
All the scarves are being donated to the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center.
Are there flyers I can post and give to friends?
YES! Warmer Winters 2010 Speed Knitting Contest
Do you have other questions? Post them in the comments!
Happy news from Judy!
We did it!!
Warmer Winters Volunteers reached our goal of knitting 3,000 warm,
winter garments this year. It happened at this month’s Knit Knite. We had a
celebration with a delicious cake that read: “We did it! 3,000” We have so many
hats, scarves, mittens and more, that we have 800 items to start off next season!
This season we gave out more than 2,200 items! This season ends with March 31.
That means that next season begins on April 1. How about a goal of 3,500 for next
year? Of course, we’ll be starting next season with our first event: Our Second
Annual Speed Knitting Contest on Saturday, April 17 at Outback Steakhouse in
Leominster. It’s an exciting event, both for participants and on-lookers. Last year’s
winner completed a scarf in under 2 hours! Those knitting needles flew. (Sorry,
crocheters, next fall you’ll have your turn at the Speed crocheting Contest).
The date, April 17, is no accident; it’s Patriot’s Day Weekend. To observe the day,
the scarves made at the Speed Knitting Contest will be gifted to the Montachusett
Veterans Outreach Center. Its our way of thanking those who have served in the
armed forces. The Outreach Center serves homeless and low-income Veterans.
The contest won’t be the only thing happening. Thanks to the generosity of Outback
Steakhouse, participants and “cheerleaders” alike will be treated to free appetizers
and Bloomin’ Onions. The food is great and so are the lunch prices, so we hope you’ll
finish your Saturday with a great steak or other dinner.
$5 entry fee for participants and supporters is all it costs to enjoy a morning at
Outback Steakhouse.
Did I mention, the Grand Prize is A pair of Red Sox Tickets !!
Vote for Warmer Winters! Community Builders, the great organization that helped
Warmer Winters grow from a knitting group into a community project, is sponsoring
a contest. It’s called the Star Project and Warmer Winters is a contestant. The idea
is for charities and non-profits to develop a project utilizing volunteers, that helps
the community. Our project is making knitting needles to use for teaching elderly
people to knit. It’s fun to make them and we’re still looking for volunteers. (We do
the project whether we win or not.) Last year we won second prize, but the winner
is up to you and everyone who votes. Anyone in the world can vote, and the project
with the most votes will win $1,000. That would buy enough thick, heavy yarn to
make sweaters for almost 60 children. Wow!
Go to www.community-builders.net and look for Warmer Winters. It will ask you to
vote for 3 projects. I’m really hoping one of your votes will be for Warmer Winters!
When you get to the section where you vote, you may have trouble finding Warmer
Winters. Because we are not a formal non-profit organization (our fiscal agent, Rape
Crisis Center of Central MA is), our entry begins “leominster resident…”. Voting only
goes till April 9 at 5pm, so please vote now. Tell all your friends. Put it in your blog.
Ask your friends to tell their friends. Help us win so we can help our neighbors in
need to win next winter.
We’re always at our office on Mondays from 9am to 1pm at the Congregational
Church on Main St. in Leominster. Come by, say hello, volunteer. I’ll even teach you
to knit. That’s about it for this week.
Happy Warm Hugs ~
Judy!
We Officially Hit 3,000 Items Donated!
I have wonderful news! Warmer Winters reached its goal of 3,000 items donated tonight. Not only did we reach the goal, but we went over it by a few items. We aren’t done yet. Technically, the end of our collection year isn’t until the end of March. We have already surpassed our goal and now the question is by how many?
To celebrate we has a cake at Knit Knite so all the volunteers there could celebrate with Judy.
We have set the goal for next year: 3,500 items. Get started now by knitting those hats, scarves, mittens and sweaters.
Don’t forget on April 17th we have the Speed Knitting Contest. Pre-registration to Judy if necessary to make sure we have enough yarn for everyone. Come and help us reach the 2010-11 goal before winter begins!
Have you heard about Ravelry?
Have you heard about Ravelry? It’s a social networking site for knitters and crocheters. I love it myself.
Imagine you have some yarn you found at a garage sale. You like it, but don’t know what to do with it. Ravelry can help! You can search for the yarn and get project ideas.
What if you could find people who like to crochet and love Harry Potter movies? You can find them on Ravelry. You could probably even find a group all about your favorite Harry Potter character.
What if you want to participate in a Knit-A-Long with other people? You can find them on Ravelry! Right now they are preparing for Ravelympics where knitters break up into different teams and try to start and finish a project during the Olympic games.
At the very least you can create a record of all the project you have worked on, are working on and want to work on. You can keep track of your yarn stash: what you have and what you have used. You can track your knitting library with both books, magazines and free ones you find on Ravelry. You can keep track of your needles to know what you have and what you need. You can post pictures of your stash and your projects too!
You can even find the Warmer Winters group. You can RSVP for events, share the projects you are working on, or participate in our discussion board.
All you have to do is sign up for your own account at Ravelry and get to work!
A Knitter’s Delight
Since this is my first post to the Warmer Winters blog, I thought it prudent to give the community something that can aid in the making of such items for donation.
Not long ago, I was given a pattern that had been found out there on the internet. It turned out to be the single best pattern I’ve ever worked with and can easily accomplish a large amount of knitting in a short period of time. The pattern is as follows:
R1 (and EVERY row after): k1, *yo, k2tog*, k1
This pattern can be done over any even number of sts, or as it would be written, a multiple of 2 +2 (1 on either side). The outcome of this pattern is a really great basic lace that I call “chain stitch” cuz it looks like chain-link fence.
QUICK NOTE: This is the same pattern referenced in the previous blog entry by LibraryGurl. I need to learn to read previous posts. I know.
BEST of all, I’ve been playing around with the pattern and have come up with a great spin on it. My pattern is as follows:
R1: k1, *yo, k2tog*, k1
R2: k1, p to last st, k1
R3: k1, *ssk, yo*, k1
R4: k1, p to last st, k1
If you repeat this pattern, the basic chain from before does a very cool zig-zag that looks like this:
Normally those holes would line up using the original stitch, but in the pic you can clearly see that they moved back and forth just a little bit. Makes for a very cool look!!!
Now, I’ve been fooling around with alternates to this pattern and I’m working on making even bigger steps to the stitch library. For now, this is the Zig-Zag Chain.
So that is my first contribution to the Warmer Winters blog. Take it with joy and I hope to see some donated items using this stitch (and not just my own!).
-BGP
warmerwinters
kobuu
Christi
