Merry Christmas!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It's the holidays!! And not enough time to knit :( BUT we've got time to party!!!

So, bring your favorite treat (see Michelle for the sign up sheet) to share on:

Tuesday, December 23rd
11:30 a.m.
Bryan Conference Room (3rd Floor)

We'll eat and laugh and stitch -- what's better than that?

See you there!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

There will be no stitching lunch this Wednesday because of Thanksgiving.

We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday with lots of good friends, family and delicious food. Don't forget to take your knitting and crocheting with you so you can relax with a good football game and a ball of yarn after dinner. Just be careful not to poke yourself in the eye as you nod off from that tryptophan-loaded dinner! :)

See you next week!

We've been busy!

Wow! Look at how many blocks we have in just a month! It's wonderful – all the textures and colors. They will definitely make great afghans.

Debra has darning needles for everyone. Be sure to get one from her so you can finish off your blocks and weave in the ends.

We need lots more blocks before we can even start thing about sewing them together. We're well on our way to make a couple of afghans (a purple and an orange).

See y'all tomorrow!

Suggestions

Start thinking of the organization you would like to give our warm fuzzies to and then bring your ideas to Wednesday's stitching lunch. I'll then put all the suggestions together so we can vote.

Y'all are busy bees! We've got lots of finished blocks. Keep'em coming -- we need lots more.

See everyone Wednesday!!

The Addiction

It's true! There's something about knitting or crocheting that's addicting! Maybe it's because it's so relaxing...I dunno but dang I missed it today! Several of us had a department meeting at lunch today so we didn't get to go to the usual stitching lunch. BUT you would be proud of us! We sat together and whipped out our needles and yarn after finishing the delicious sandwich. Susan, Jennifer and I proceeded to stitch-in-abstensia -- it was great! They guys around us were interested. They need to join in! Jennifer and Susan were speed demons and able to get a block finished before the end of the meeting. It was SOOOO hard to come back to the office and go to work. We all wanted to stay and stitch all afternoon.

So next week we'll be back with bells on! In the meantime I'll just sit and knit and sip on a margarita.

Wednesday Oct.29th

One is the loneliest number, one in the loneliest number...
oh...
wait, ah yes, 2 yes, 2 people.....
oh...wait, ah yes 3, 3 people!
(I'm beginning to feel like the Count from Sesame Street).
Yep, it was a small gathering today, but we represented. 2 new squares from Charlotte and a promise from Liz (ok, so she HAS been busy with life and stuff).
We have enough squares I think, for about 2 afghans.
Yarntopia was nice enough to donate darning needles so we can begin the process of weaving in the tails and we can start putting squares together into bigger squares (or rectangles).
My hope is that we can get something finished by Christmas.
Who else is on board?

Stitching Lunches are Fun!

A huge WELCOME to all our newcomers! It's great to see the new faces each week as our stitching group grows. It's amazing how great everyone is doing. I even tried crocheting. Thank goodness Debra was there to point me in the right direction before I picked up more bad habits. :)

A bit of exciting news -- Charlotte's lady's group at her church wants to help make blankets, too! Except their's will be quilted. Not a problem! It's stitched and made with love. They will be a welcomed donation. <3

I'm so glad everyone is having fun knitting and crocheting. Keep those blocks coming! Drop them off with either Debra or me or bring them to our stitching lunch.

Til next time...Happy Stitchin'!

A Stitch in Time Saves Minds!

I can't wait for today's stitching session!
My mind need a stitchin' break!!!

See you there!!

Just who is Give A Stitch?

Just exactly who are we? We're just a group of people who like to knit or crochet with all levels of experience -- from those who never picked up a hook before to well-seasoned addicts. We stitch warm fuzzies to donate to those in need. Currently, we are stitching blocks to make into afghans.

The group is a totally brand new group -- not associated with anybody else. As far as we know, there is no other Give A Stitch organization out there. (I Googled it so it must be true.) Michelle cast on the first stitch to get it started. Debra jumped in with both feet (no pun intended) to help get it organized -- she even came up with the great name! And don't forget all the fabulous donations she got, too!!

Originally, it started as a BGE group but it is open to anyone that would like to help knit warm fuzzies for those in need.

Michelle created a logo to go with the fantastic name. Give A Stitch merchandise is available through www.zazzle.com/giveastitch. The products sold there are "provided" by Zazzle.com. The commission received from the sale of Give A Stitch products will be used for the charity we donate our warm fuzzies to.

This blog is maintained by both Michelle and Debra. We've got lots of helpful links and information here. If you run across a great website, let me know and I'll get it added.

So basically that's us all rolled up into a ball of yarn. We are just a bunch of people who have fun doing something we enjoy that helps others. How perfect can that be? :)

Come bust a stitch with us!

Note to self...Bring First Aid Kit to Next Meeting

A big round of applause to Debra for providing the floor show at today's meeting!! Who knew stitching could be so dangerous. Momma always said you could put an eye out with those things but she never said anything about a fingernail!! Group hugs for Debra :)

I can't believe how great everyone is doing!! The block box is filling up. You can drop you completed blocks off at either Debra or my cube or bring them to the next meeting.

Thank you to all the newbies that came today. I hope you had fun. Please feel free to ask Debra or me if you need any help. There's also lots of helpful links here on the blog.

Until next time...Happy Stitching!

October 8 - Second Meeting

Wow! ya'll are doing GREAT!
Stitcher Down! Stitcher Down!
Painful lesson learned today: do not set on the edge of a wooden legged chair on a Pergo floor.
I'm gonna feel that in the morning.
Thanks to everyone who tried to help me up.

Thinking inside the box

I've put a box on top of my file cabinet marked "Completed Squares". If you want to drop off your finished squares, there's a place to do so now.

It's Halloween!

OK...so I had this great idea pop into my head as I was stuck in traffic this morning. It's Halloween time!! Duh! What if each month we have a color theme?

So...since it's October we could make blocks in oranges, pumpkins, purples, greens, and blacks. The idea is to have a different color each month or so. It would only be a suggestion -- nothing set in stone that you MUST use these colors or have to stop in the middle of one to change to the next month. It would just be a color theme for the month.

What do you think?

Awesome 1st Meeting!

We had a great first meeting today with a terrific turn-out. Thanks to everyone that came – it was fun! Everyone started learning how to crochet and knit blocks for the afghans. Debra is such a great teacher!! Thank you!!!

After a little discussion, it was decided that Wednesdays would be a better day to meet. So, we will start meeting next Wednesday, October 8, at 11:30 a.m. in the Westchase Deli until we outgrow it :) Come when you can...leave when you want... and stitch all the time! LOL

The currrent plan as everyone learns to stitch is to make 5x7 blocks that will be joined into afghans to donate. Use whatever stitch you like -- basket weave, loopty-loops, etc -- to make lots of blocks.

If you have any questions, need help, yarn, needles, hooks, or patterns, let either Debra or myself know. We've had lots of donations to get us started.

See you next week!

Happy knitting and crocheting!!

First Meeting

Don't know about y'all, but I thought our first meeting went rather well.
I know, I know, may not seem like it, but I'm proud of the progress everyone of you made. Whenever you can 'steal a moment', practice, before you know it-you'll be bored and dying to move on.
Remember, I'm here whenever you need me. If you get tired of single Crochet (sc) before next Wednesday-come on by, we'll take the next step together.
Let me get this straight...we DID agree to every Wednesday, correct?

Crochet and Knitting LInks

There's a TON of information on the web to learn how to crochet and knit and free patterns. I've gathered a few to help us all out with getting started and learning new stitches; like, learn to crochet, learn to knit videos, and yarn standard abbreviations and guides.

I'll bring a few patterns printed for our meeting and some other helpful information.

Check out the links here for online help. And, if you run across any other great websites that we should include here -- let me know.

Good Friday-1.5 more days

I picked up a big bag of yarn, hooks, and needles last night. I plan on going through my stash once more and adding more hooks and needles.
I'm so excited, the colors Sue M. gave us are beautiful. Mostly they are big, fat skeins of Lion Brand Homespun; perfect for afghans and such.
Sue has promised more-as soon as she gets into her 'closet stash'. I have another friend that will be dropping off a bag of yarn donations to Yarntopia, possibly before our first meeting.
I'd like to put out there, for everyone's consideration, that the Humane Society and the SPCA take donations of small blankets for their residents as well.

First Meeting: Tuesday, September 30

I'm so excited! We have our first meeting scheduled for:

Tuesday, September 30
11:30 a.m.
Westchase Deli

It doesn't matter if you don't know how to knit or crochet. We'll all learn together.

We'll decided what charitable organization we want to support and how. If you have a favorite charity, bring the information. We'll also figure out what we want to make and how we'll do it. So this will be definitely be an organizational meeting to get us up and knitting.

And get this...We already have a donation of yarn and needles to use as we make warm fuzzies!! Big high fives to Debra for arranging that!!

See you there!

Welcome to Give A Stitch!

Hi everyone!!

Welcome to Give a Stitch where we plan to knit and crochet warm fuzzies for charity to be decided.

I will post lots of links and patterns here to help us out as we all learn from each other. Stay tuned as I try to get this populated with information. If you have a favorite site you want listed here...please let me know.

Thanks so much for giving your time to help make something that will make someone's day special.

:)m