It's Almost a Sappy Sentimental Holiday Happy Ending

I'm feeling better today. Heather e-mailed me out of the blue today (I don't think she'd even read my blog post from yesterday. Let's pretend she didn't -- it makes it more miraculous) and offered me tickets to the Holiday Pops! Isn't she the best friend ever? Then, I went to the yarn store (Natural Stitches). Always a good pick me up. And, I got my new furnace installed today. No more worrying that the house was going to blow up while I'm out!

Here's some holiday goodness -- Miss E with the holiday dress she knit for her daughter. How gorgeous is that??

And can you stand the holiday cuteness here? The Celtings helped Michelle at Bloomin Yarns decorate her Wuletide tree.

And I've been a regular Mrs. Claus here knitting away on these socks (The Holly and the Ivy from Knitterly Things) for Younger Son. Look closely, though and you'll see not one, but two dropped stitches. Both from the same needle -- I think it has a hole in it. I've ripped back and picked up again. A little set back, but time is in short supply this month. Also, my bathtub drain is clogged and Dave is heading out of town tomorrow (to Erie) for an indefinate period.

I'm Broken

I don't know what the deal is with me. I just can't muster up alot of enthusiasm for the holidays. As CQ would say, I'm broken. I used to love this time of year. Living with the Grinch and the Scroogelings has sucked the joy of the season right out of me. (When the boys were small I'd tell them the Grinch in the special was their dad. Honestly, his holiday shrt says "Bah, Humbug" on it.) I've been watching holiday movies and specials (Charlie Brown was on tonight) like mad to the derision of the rest of the household. It occurred to me as I watched yet another miraculous happy ending in yet another sappy, sentimental Christmas movie that I was in serious need of a Christmas miracle. Not a big one, just a small one. So if you have any extra send it on over.

Lots of knitting going on -- hopefully I'll get some light and can take some pics tomorrow. (There's subtle colorwork involved.)

Obsession

I am obsessed with this Noro Striped Scarf. I thought that maybe after Yarn Harlot made hers that I was the last knitter in North America to make one, but Celtic Queen hasn’t made one yet so that would make me the Penultimate Knitter. I love it. It has everything I want in a scarf – black to go with my winter coat, pink so the guys won’t steal it. Changing colors to keep me interested.
The colors are Silk Garden 282 (pinks and green) and 252 (black, dark blue, green). I was concerned that the greens would align, which they did for a couple of rows in the first two balls. But I’m even enamored of these muddled bits where I can’t tell one stripe from the next. I find myself wishing for someone on my Christmas list that I can make one of these for.
I started this Saturday afternoon (after meeting up with Celtic Queen, Heather, DPUTiger, and Julia at the new location of Bloomin Yarns). I finished it last night and wore it today.
In other news, it turns out that I really do work in the salt mines, or might as well. There was a water main break outside our building so we had no water. They shut down the restrooms and told us we couldn't leave. Two and a half hours later they brought in Port a Johns. Seriously. I'm planning on going in late tomorrow. I hope the bathrooms are back in service by then.

November Day

Today is one of those gray, weepy November days. Dark, overcast, and dripping rain. Thoroughly depressing. Most of our foliage color is gone now. There are still a few painted maples (I believe that is the variety from my 3 minutes of research on the subject) that are breathtakingly beautiful. These are always spectacular in the fall. If I were planting a tree, this is the kind I would plant. Our color this month is the deeper fall colors of dark gold, russet, and the occasional intense red. And the more and more visible dark brown and gray branches. On sunny days the contrast with the blue sky from deep indigo to that clear deep autumn blue is fabulous. It’s inspiring me to a Fairisle colorway. Leaves in the golds, russets, deep reds with all the shades of blue as background. Hmmmm. I should maybe work up some charts…
Yes, Heather, Sidelines has been sidelined, at least temporarily. I’ve been inspired to work on gifts (They’ve had a Christmas tree on display at Wal-Mart for the past two weeks! Not that I go in, but I can see it in the entry way when I go into the grocery store next door.) And speaking of the grocery store, another, happier sign of the season is that my favorite Christmas Tree cakes are on the shelves. Mmmm. I’ve gone through two boxes in almost three weeks, which I believe is a display of considerable restraint on my part. Finally, Younger Son’s birthday was yesterday. I forgot to tell him happy birthday before I left in the morning (Celtic Queen said it was like Sixteen Candles) and Dave ended up working extremely late. But I tried to make it up to him by bringing home a dozen chocolate chip cookies from Nancy B’s Bakery (the best chocolate chip cookies in Pittsburgh). I thought he would like them better than a cake (which he did).

Hey Now

So here's my current WiP. It's Hey, Teach. Knit with vintage Cotton Ease from my stash. A very quick and easy knit. I started on Saturday and have the back and both fronts done. I might get a sleeve done tonight. I hope the finished sweater looks ok.
In other fiber news I've also gotten my first batt from Loop's "Seriously Spontaneous Spinning Club". Yummy! You know me, all tonal neutrals or screaming brights. And white is my favorite color! Can't wait to see how this looks spun up. I just have to shovel out the living room so I can set up the wheel there. Turns out the furnace really is broken, but since the weather has warmed, there's no sense of urgency for the guys to clean up. ::sigh::
I voted yesterday. I spotted Dave walking across the parking lot as I was driving out after voting. I tried to tell him that republicans were supposed to vote on Wednesday, but he didn't buy it. He was not very gracious in defeat, though. Now I feel like the day after Christmas. All that build-up and now what?

Uninteded Consequences

As of yesterday we had not turned the heat on Chez G. I'm cheap, and it costs alot to heat this big old house. Sure, it's a little chilly inside, but we're saving $100 a week by keeping the furnace off. This has prompted Older Son to make hyperbolic metaphors about how cold the house is ("Mom, the house is so cold that when I took your dinner out of the oven it froze." Whatever. I don't know what he's griping about anyways, the reason I won't turn the heat on is because I need the money to pay his college tuition. He could get a job and pay for the heat himself. But I digress.) Well, if you follow the weather here in Pittsburgh, we had snow last night and today. Unbeknownst to me, OS and Dave had concocted a plan to turn the heat on in the middle of the night while I was asleep. But they were foiled in the attempt by my ally The Furnace which refused to come on. I discovered the plot this morning when OS let it slip while he was complaining about the cold. I told Dave he could call a furnace repair shop on the weekend (I had vowed not to turn the furnace on until Nov 1st.) Then I went on to say that there was no way a repair person (or anyone) could come into our house until it was clean. Yes! I practically rubbed my hands with glee. Not only would I keep the furnace off until Nov. 1 or possibly later, but I would finally motivate the Slacker Boys to clean up their mess! A lovely dream. Unfortunately, all I did was motivate Dave to go downstairs and fix the furnace. It's on now. Curses! Foiled again!!
(This is my attempt to get a picture of it snowing. You can't see it, but I wanted a pic for the post.)

Weekend in the Country

Doesn't that sound posh and sophisticated? In reality Dave and I were the "poor cousins" at a family wedding. But we did have a very good time. I didn't really get any good pictures on my camera of the bride and groom (Dave got some with his big camera, but he doesn't share them with me in a timely manner. I tell him the blog waits for no man, but he doesn't seem to understand.) Speaking of Dave and his camera, he made a new friend of the photographer at the wedding. Here they are discussing camera stuff.
His name is R. Alan Adams and he was very gracious to Dave.
Here's another picture from the wedding - my mother in law and her two sisters.

Yesterday morning I was up before everyone else and went outside to a heavy frost. And another peculiar thing, I guess because of the freeze, the leaves were just falling off the trees in a shower.

I'd never seen anything like it. I took some video of it, but haven't figured out how to upload it. If I can, I'll add it on. There were some beautiful trees, though. We stayed at the Coal Miners Cafe (we stayed in the Apple Patch room), and the wedding was right down the road at Green Gables Restaurant (which looks much less impressive on the outside than it really is).

WEE!

I got a Halloween Wee Skeins kit from Julia last week. So nice! I can't wait to make myself some cool super stripey Halloween socks! The skeleton is going on my keychain.
And also, because I can't resist the call of the beautiful superwash merino I got this roving in the colorway "Runaway".

And because it's so beautiful and hard to photograph I flipped it over and got this picture of the other side (I think it looks different) and the neighbors already had the impression of me as "That weird lady who takes pictures of stuff on her front porch."
Sorry for the break in blogging, I was really trying to get a post in every day this month, but the cold I got (from Older Son, thank you very much!) really threw me for a loop. I was able to go to work, but I pretty much came home and went straight to bed after work every day. (It also didn't help that Tuesday was grueling 12 hour day). Last night I made it through the first question of the Presidential debate before I conked out.

Stuffy But With New Shoes

I'm feeling very stuffy and congested. I either have a cold or a seasonal allergy. Either way I'm feeling pretty miserable. I took a decongestant and it didn't seem to help much. Bleah. I spent the weekend touring Pittsburgh and looking at Pittsburgh real estate with my sister. Lots of driving around. (We even saw Heather when we drove by her house looking at a house that was for sale on her street.) We also went to the casino last night where I found that $5 is more than enough money for me to gamble away on the slots. (None of us came out ahead on the night.) I actually lost $8, my original intention being to gamble on $10 and either quit when I'd won $20 (had doubled my money) or lost the $10. I was really ready to go before the $8 were gone, but didn't want to cash out 27 cents, so hung on to the end. I originally though my congestion was because of the smoke in the casino, but it's hung on all day and gotten worse, so I don't think that's the culprit. Anyways, I've been very busy and no knitting has happened this weekend. I did however, manage to get some new shoes (at the new Tanger Outlets) and a nice dressy suit to wear to the wedding I have to go to next weekend. So that's good.

E-Mailing Tomorrow

I was working away from home last night and apparently there's a time disconnect between my home computer and the network because my emails were received "Tomorrow". Call me a geek, but it amused me to get emails from the future.

I also sucked it up and put together my sweater. It's still not completely done, but much closer. The seams are all sewn and the edging is knitted. I just have to sew on the buttons (I meant to knit them on, but forgot to string them on the yarn when I started knitting the border. I didn't remember until it was too late to knit them in even if they had been strung. Dang!) I should have no problems finishing this up by Friday. And it's so cute I could just die.

Languishing

So many of my projects are languishing. My Mod Pods haven't seen the light of day since June.

But apparently this was an Idea Whose Time Had Come -- I've seen several blankets in the works like this, (most of them more attractive). A couple with Noro that are gorgeous (but I can't justify a Noro blanket!) and one with sock leftovers (I faved it on Ravelry) that is To.Die.For. I'm wondering if I can get Heather to go out on the town again with the Mister. I can't be responsible for what might happen to all her sock oddballs while I'm babysitting. Do you think she'd be suspicious if they all disappeared? I should try to come up with an explanation. Yarn burglars? Yarn Pirates? Hmmm, that might need some work. Then I'll coerce the Celtings to give up their mother's oddballs. (I think I can bribe them with candy. Or do their homework for them.)

My other project has been languishing in a bag, too. I've got to finish this one up by next Friday. I just have to sew a seam and do a bit of finishing on it. I just need to make time to sit down and do it. It's too fiddley for me to work on it on the go. So what have I been working on?

My Sidelines sweater. I'm almost ready to start the arm hole shaping on the front (the back is done). I love how the cables swoop in and then back out at the waist. I still really like this sweater and think it will be a great year-round staple. Especially in this yarn (Comfort DK).

One Last Kiss

I am contemplating my last Pumpkin Spice Kiss. I got these with my Pumpkin Spice club yarn from Knitterly Things. Very yummy. I've been savoring them, eating them one at a time. I think I will have this last one tonight after dinner. Otherwise, nothing of note. Dave and I still haven't made up, but that's more from not having time to speak to each other than anything else. I'm still trying to get ready for my sister's visit this weekend. Worrying about the economy, about how we'll handle it if Dave or I lose our jobs. Fortunately, I have enough yarn and fiber saved to see me through for awhile.

Exhausted

I was exhausted today. I did not sleep well last night, then didn't get to drink all my coffee on the drive in this morning (which because I'm cutting back on my caffeine is only 2-1 decaf/caf anyways.) I felt sleepy and logy all day long. I got home at about 4 and went to bed! After sleeping for 3 1/2 hours Younger Son woke me up for dinner and I ate and then watched Heroes. I think I'm ready for bed again! The guys kept asking me if I was ok. Maybe they really do care. Either that or I was snoring too loud.:)

I've begun contemplating my Christmas knitting. I was e-mailing Celtic Queen yesterday and she got me going by talking about her holiday knitting. (Which she's already started, btw.) So I'm like "I'd like to make a sweater for YS for his birthday (Nov.) and then one for each of the Sons for Christmas and I really should make one for my sister who is moving back to Pittsburgh because you know she'll need some warm sweaters, and one for my friend, and another one for a friend..." And she was like "Laur. No offense, but that's like six sweaters and none of these people are really tiny." So I scaled it back to one, possibly two sweaters and socks for the Sons. I only need to buy yarn for one of the sweaters, and I've chosen the yarn from KnitPicks, I just need to pick a color. And I'm definately getting some books at 40% off. In other news, they resurfaced the road up to my driveway (I had to leave early today so as not to be blocked in.) Dave and I are barely speaking to each other because we had a fight over the causes of the financial crisis. (Are we geeks, or what?) Of course, I was asleep all afternoon/evening so it is possible that may have played into the barely speaking. (You think?)

Weekend Activities

We finally got around to celebrating Celtic Queen's birthday on Saturday. We had a witch cake (it made my lips black) and pumpkin ice cream. (As I told CQ -- the candles here mean absolutely nothing, they're only meant to be aesthetically pleasing.) So what do you get a fellow fiber fiend? Fiber! This is Spunky Eclectic's "Mars" from the Galaxy series, some soy silk from the Happy Hippie in the "Haight Ashbury" colorway, more Spunky Ecletic merino/tencel in "Goblin Eyes" (she loved the name!) and some Spunky Eclectic SW Corriedale in the "Toronto" colorway (so her colors.) I wanted give her a mix of colors and fibers to practice spinning on. And she could even tell the Celtic Consort that she didn't get "more yarn" (yet).

Laundry Day

I did laundry today, as I do most Sundays. I got to hang a few loads outside on the line to dry. It's kind of neat seeing all the hand knit socks on the line drying (if it's not outside, it's in the basement - I have a line down there I use for all my 'delicates'.) Otherwise, not much of anything new here. I watched a couple of movies, knit some, logged in and did some work. The usual. My sister is coming to visit from North Carolina at the end of the week, so I have to get ready for that. She's decided to move back to Pittsburgh after almost 30 years of living elsewhere so we're going to take her SO around and show him the town (he's never been to Pittsburgh) and do some house hunting. This is going to be a long week.

Palettes

I've spent quite a bit of time this afternoon playing with the tool at this site. Way cool. It was interesting to me which pictures came out nice looking palettes and which were disappointing. I will say though that the color choice seems to shift heavily to the pink. Maybe it's just the month.
Here's the September Spunky Club fiber. This is my favorite so far (but I tend to think that every month.:) It's called Acadia. Can't wait to spin some up.
I was paying bills this morning (I try to make this my Saturday morning routine, not always successfully) and I found in this week's mail not one, not two, but a total of six (6!) applications for credit cards. The credit market is frozen?? No one can get credit for running businesses?? Dave says they were in the mail before the market tanked, but I want my 700 billion dollars back. :/

Squeak

Squeaking in under the wire with another post at virtually the eleventh hour. But I have a picture this time! We had a knitter's shower at my knitting group tonight for Darka who is expecting a new boy next month.
Yay! Baby knitting, and I don't have to have the baby! Double YAY! Well, one of my gifts was this little outfit. (I can't resist the primary colors for little boys.) Forgive my bad picture, but it was late last night and I was pretty dang tired. Long hours of work today, more tomorrow and Sunday. More tomorrow - we've got lots going on here Chez G. Spunky Fiber, CQ's birthday party, and babysitting Chez Mayhem. Stay tuned!

Slogging

I'm slogging along here. Julia at Knitterly Things posted a challenge to make a blog post every day for a month. I've been slacking on the blog so I'm going to try. I realized I had just a few minutes to post before midnight so I'm making this quick (no photos, sorry!) I'm up burning the midnight oil working. Don't ask. It's that bad. Hopefully more tomorrow.

Honey, You Smell Great

The street repair thugs came with their truck that makes loud beeps and has super bright flashing lights to remove the road barriers and cones this morning at Five Thirty. AM. Ask me how I know. Still knitting Sidelines. I'm hoping to watch some STNG dvds and knit more tonight. I got alot done on Sunday watching several hours of dinosaurs and dinosaur-like shows on the Discovery channel. I got much flack from the guys about it, but there's just something about those animatronic/cgi creatures that fascinate me. I especially like the more recent ones where they have the creatures interact with the camera (the giant centipede that stikes the camera and cracks the lens, and then they have some lumbering thing that bumps into it).
I also got some goodies today! Julia at Knitterly Things sent me some rovings I bought. YUMMY!

Their pictures don't do them justice! So much more beautiful in real life. The Hot Tamale Superwash (Left at top) will become socks, and I have something special in mind for the rest of it. I thought I'd bought her out of all the sale rovings, but I see one escaped me. If no one else grabs it, it's mine next week! And I might need to get something else, because you know it's more efficient to fill that mailer box all the way up with fiber...
And finally, while I was cooking dinner tonight with Younger Son (he's my cooking protege) I knocked the garlic powder against the wall to loosen it because it was clumpy (it's been a bit humid here lately) and the lid flew open and I was showered with garlic powder. YS helpfully tried to brush me off, but I definately have a certain, let's say Italiante air about me. I'm hoping that this makes me extra appealing to Dave. Who knows? I might get lucky.

The Odd Couple

I finished this pair of socks for me on Saturday. They were my travelling knitting last week, my secret knitting having gotten to a point where it was no longer convenient to schlepp around. Felix there, on the left is knit with an oddball Heather gave me because it reminded her of baby poop so she couldn't stand to have it in her stash. Oscar, on the right, includes some of a generic self-striper oddball left over from my first pair of Socks-in-Socks. I like these, though, and will wear them with my tan and chocolate skirts. Oscar's mess will be, as it was in the show, hidden behind closed doors in my shoe.

So then, instead of going back to my secret project for the finishing, I answered the siren song of new yarn and cast on for Sidelines from the lates IK. (Don't you love how the yarn matches the magazine cover?) The yarn is Comfort DK, and as I said to CQ today, it's knitting up into a nice comfy sweater. I'm hoping that this will come out to be wearable. Cross your fingers for me. In other news, I cam home on Friday to this:
A big hole in my street. That's our garage/driveway there on the left.

Here's a close up of the hole. I don't know if you can tell, but it's a good six inches deep, and almost as big as a car. I don't know what the issue was, but why would you dig a hole like this and then leave it all weekend?? Older Son was home and said there was nothing with the water on Friday. Whatever the issue, it was filled in when I got home today, but it's still quarantined off with the cones and barriers.

WiPs and Wants

I'm currently working on a kind of secret WiP so I won't show it here (I debated, because it really is beautiful, but decided against it) . It's funny, I've become somehow by default a monogamous knitter. Lately I've found that if I put a project away at all, I tend to abandon it. Even if all it needs is just a finishing touch. I have at least two pairs of socks that only need the toe grafted to be finished, and four, make that 5 baby sweaters (no, it's six!!) that just need some small finishing (three only need buttons, and three need trim/collar finishing and buttons). What's up with that? Anyways, I have about a gazillion things I want to knit, there's yarn and projects, and books and magazines stacked everywhere in my bedroom. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. And old. Don't know why or how that snuck up on me, but I'm really feeling my age and then some this week. Whatever.

Let's see if I can find a pic that doesn't give away the store on this surprise... Ah, here's one of my latest Spunky Club -- "Thermograph". Very hot, hot, hot! I'm trying to think of what I'm going to do with all of these. I'm thinking spin to a consistent grist and start another hexagon blanket.

Road Trip

I took a road trip this weekend to Ligonier. Dave and the Sons were staying at a local camp (it's sort of a G family & friends reunion thing.)
I opted out for the whole weekend this year, but drove up on Saturday to pick up Dave and we drove to the nearby town of Ligonier. Of course, I visited Kathy's Kreations. Kathy Zimmerman was super nice, and this is a great shop! I was too shy to ask for a photo (Do you think that having Dave take my picture outside the shop was a tip-off that I'm a blogger, though?) I enhanced my stash with these purchases: Purely on impulse, some wonderfully fluffy rainbow yarn for a purely decorative feather and fan scarf for me! (I'm such a sucker for rainbow yarn. But I think it will look nice with my black coat.)
Enough of this yarn to make the sweater pictured. (A toddler's hooded cardi.) This is a new to me yarn called Jeanee, which is a cotton/acrylic blend. Less than half the price of the Bamboo yarn called for in the pattern, machine wash/dry, and softer, too! I'm interested to see how it works up.

With lunch and yarn shopping out of the way (Dave didn't actually go yarn shopping, he did enter the shop, but then left to go browse the photography store.)
we proceeded to the fort. Have fun storming the palisades, Dave!

And a word to the wise, they have these mannequins in the fort buildings. This lot in the Officers' Mess just about gave me a heart attack when I walked in. After our tour of the fort we drove back to camp, I said hello to all my in-laws, and then drove back to Pittsburgh to meet CQ and the Celtings for dinner.

At dinner I added to my stash (from my fave yarn shop Bloomin Yarns enough of this Comfort DK to make Sidelines from the latest IK. (CQ and Heather were there on Saturday and CQ picked it up for me.) I'm envisioning this as a great all-season "Go To" sweater that will go with all my wardrobe staples (black, navy, chocolate, denim, tan). We had a nice dinner, and then it was home and bed for me. (Another tip -- the Key Lime pie at Outback isn't worth it. I speak as a connoisseur of Key Lime pie. Go for the Chocolate Thunder Down Under.)

They're Backstabbers, Backstabbers!

Oh the dangers of carrying around double pointed needles in a felted bag! I stabbed myself in the back (very painfully) twice ('cause I just can't seem to learn that lesson the hard way the first time) today. But what about that knitting I've finished?
One BSJ, needing only buttons to finish it. This is so cute I can hardly stand it. But wait, you say -- what was that I saw peeking out of the top of your porcupine bag above? You're absolutely right, Sherlock, it's another BSJ (This one needs a collar and buttons sewn on.) Both are made with Moda Dea Sassy Stripes which may be the perfect yarn for this sweater if you're looking for machine wash/dry for your sister-in-law who couldn't be bothered/trusted to take care of a real wool sweater. Size 5 needle makes for about a 6-12 mos size, it took two skeins almost exactly. I can't tell you how much I love this sweater pattern. I have more of the Sassy Stripes in the stash (they were from a yarn store that went out of business, I got them for $1.50 a skein with the thought I'd make baby things from them) and I'm trying not to go stash diving right now for two more skeins to make another little sweater. Not to say that cute little sweaters are completely off the menu. This is Vesper Sock Yarn "Lovely Lollipop Sky" (from the Summer Sock Club) with a coordinating solid. Hmmm. Whatever could I be thinking of?

Updating

Well, it's been awhile since I updated the blog. I was going to update with some pics of my latest FOs, but Older Son has lost the cable for my camera so I can't download any pictures. I'm not pleased. Blogging will resume when I can get pictures.

Antics!

I'm so glad that I decided to do Antics! Looking for humanitarian oriented things to donate my time and money to has really made me find things I'd overlooked before. So far I:
1)Donated these two books to Read! 365 (they were thrilled to get them -- they said that there was a real need for books for older kids.)














2)Made a financial contribution to The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. This organization came up this week first as an informational seminar at work (which I had to miss because I was in a meeting) which put it on my radar, and then I just happened to get a solicitation in the mail! Kismet!
3)Contribution to UMCOR - The United Methodist Committee on Relief. I was discussing the Antics with Dave this morning and saying how I was looking to donate to a charity geared towards helping children globally and we discussed UNICEF. Well, Dave doesn't like their politics lately, so he wasn't keen on that (I have no issue with their politics, and I didn't ask for specifics from Dave. We don't see eye to eye politically and this was something I decided it was better just not to know). So I asked him for an organization he would be happy with (it's his money too, you know) but he really couldn't come up with one. I thought of UMCOR and asked "What about UMCOR?" He had no problem, so I went to their website to find out how to contribute. And look at THIS, you can send them relief kits. The Layette Kit includes a baby sweater! They specify button in the front, and I'm also assuming (though they don't say) machine wash/dry. So I'm using this yarn (Moda Dea Sassy Stripes) to knit a BSJ. I'm also buying supplies for a Back to School Kit or two (Celtic Queen says they have the crayons at Target for 19 cents!) while the supplies are out there on sale. And I think I know some people who might have some fabric in their stashes that could become a Sewing Kit. Anyways, here's the deal. If you send me your hand knit sweater I will pony up the rest of the supplies to make a layette kit and send it off to UMCOR. I'm going to say until I get some kind of confirmation that the sweater has to be machine wash/dry so that means synthetic or cotton blends. Button up the front -- how about the 5HBS (which is supposed to be knit for charity anyways, right?) or Tulip & Rocketry (Heather knit a gorgeous Rocketry using Cotton-Ease), or Babies & Bears. That's just a few, there are tons out there.