Everyone take a look at Kay/Phaedra’s first sock. (We dance together, I’ve mentioned here before what a great costumer she is.) She’s already nearly done with the second sock, too!

These were made toe-up, with heel flap under the heel, using a handout I use in my toe-up socks class. She used Cascade Fixation cotton/lycra yarn, the same yarn I also use in my Fast Florida Footies pattern (free on the web).

In other news, Cyndy wrote to ask if my CityKidz Knit! program at Foster Center had any current needs. She has perfect timing, because I was ready to write you about that this week.

Here is what I wrote back to her:

Wow, you are really catching my vibes! I was just thinking I might have to go on the blog and beg again. I always need short straight needles in sizes 6-10. I can also use long straight needles in 6-10. Plastic or wood is best (lighter weight, less likely to fall out while knitting) but we take metal and are grateful for anything we can get.

We have a good stash of variegated yarn right now, which often I’m begging for, so although it’s always welcome it’s not a pressing need. We can use bulkier but smooth yarns (not fuzzy, they get that all tangled up) any time, whether synthetic or wool. We can use feltable yarns even in small doses. We really can use small amounts of pale colored wool/animal fiber (white, cream, natural, gray, pale pink or yellow or blue or green) because they are asking again if I’ll do Kool-Aid dyeing and I used up the entire amount of dyeable yarns I had. Remember, they make wristbands. This means about an egg-sized ball of yarn is more than enough.

My kids are very interested in the source of the fibers. One girl just made an alpaca wristband from a tiny ball someone sent… maybe it was you? It was a sort of soft green-blue, sort of a Martha Stewart color. Very soft. We got two tiny bundles of the alpaca and she kept rubbing the ball on her face because it was so soft. I told her she could make a wristband for herself out of it, if she promised to keep it and not give it to someone else. Because she can understand and appreciate the alpaca, and not everyone can. She made that band in ONE hour.

And of course, as always, I need canvas/cloth bags for the knitting supplies to go home safely. Printed with anything, trade show logos, yarn shop advertising, whatever. Used is fine. They just need to not drop needles on the sidewalk as they walk home from the center!!!

(What I did not mention is what I do not need. I do not need skinny yarns (thinner than worsted weight), fuzzy yarns like mohair/baby yarn (eyelash is fine, stuff that tangles because of the texture is not), no neutrals (the kids like brights), and no black yarns (kids can’t see the stitches well enough). Please don’t send anything that has been in a basement long enough to smell overwhelmingly like mildew (I’m really allergic). I don’t need bobbins for intarsia (we have tons and I have yet to teach a child this technique, they typically like simplicity). I also do not need any more needles in sizes 4US or smaller.

However, please *do* send fat/bulky yarns, even tiny balls. Fat yarn is so welcome for the youngest of my kidz, they come as young as 5 years old.

Please send bulky or feltable yarns for backpacks if you have any (they like stripes so you don’t need to send a lot of one color to help out. And tiny little balls left over from any of your projects… really truly, they are a big help. Even the size of a golf ball is enough.

The kids especially like yarns in bright colors, variegated and particularly purple. And if you have any circular needles in 16″ length, in sizes 6-11, they can use them for hats and backpacks. Any type… plastic, metal or wood/bamboo, would be useful.

The address to send items to (please, please include your mailing or email address and full name ***inside*** the box so the secretary can thank you properly… an address label or business card is perfect) is:

CityKidz Knit! c/o Lynn Hershberger
200 N. Foster Avenue
Lansing, MI 48912 USA

Thank you all (especially dear Cyndy this time) for your interest and caring. The best thing I do all week, is teach these children to knit. It’s magic, and they know it.