give a little, get a little

with one exception, i give away pretty much everything i know.  that's because pretty much everything i know was given to me.  for my entire life i have had the good fortune to be surrounded with talented, generous artists who have shared their knowledge and expertise with me simply because they loved what the did and they wanted to pass that on.

i will continue to do this--further down in this post is a project that i hope you will enjoy--but today i'm asking you to give something back.

i'm doing something really important this holiday season that you can help me with. i'm working to end hunger by raising money for heifer international.

i'm counting on you to pitch in and help reach my goal. any donation large or small will help us get there!

i chose heifer international to help because they are a wonderful organization working to end hunger and poverty in the world. for more than six decades, heifer has been helping poor families around the world become self-reliant by providing animals and the training to care for them. each recipient family promises to pass along offspring from their animal to another family in need.

heifer's simple but effective solution has helped more than seven million families -- 38 million people -- in more than 125 countries including the US, where more than 10 million people are chronically hungry.

rudi and i have been heifer supports for a number of years now--donations to heifer are our traditional christmas gift to each other--and we invite you to join us in this important campaign.

thank you in advance for taking a moment to go online and help me help heifer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and now, today's gift to YOU.  this is a simple little wrap that i made on the knifty knitter with just two balls of fluffy yarn and a little over an hour of time.

using the yellow knifty knitter loom, cast on and knit just three pegs for 30 rows.  this creates the first tie.  starting on the next row, wrap the three pegs, skip one peg, and wrap the next peg (K1, 2, 3, skip 4, K5).  knit these pegs, then knit one row plain to get back to the beginning.  from then on, continue skipping one peg and adding the next peg at the end on every other row. knit the rows inbetween without adding any pegs--until you have filled the entire loom.  then continue wrapping and knitting back and forth on just the wrapped pegs until you get to the end of the first ball of yarn.

add on your next ball of yarn, then start decreasing:  take the last loop off it's peg, put it on the next wrapped peg, then knit just THAT PEG.  you have just decreased one stitch.  wrap and knit one row plain.  decrease one stitch at the end of every other row until you are back down to the original three pegs.  wrap and knit these three pegs for 30 rows to create the second tie, then bind off.

there you go, another quickie gift done!  already today i could have sold this one off my own back several times, so when you wear yours plan on having mobs of people begging you to make one for them too.  just don't tell them how easy it is--let them labor under the illusion that you slaved away just for them.  :)

Comments

[Deb B. in VA]

As usual, a wonderful pattern!

(So glad to see you posting on the KK group again. Missed you!!)

Deb B. in VA

[patsijean]

I have Heifer International's gift catalogue, which explains what benefits gifts of different amounts can have. I am thinking of contributing to provide Rabbits to a family. This is a wonderful organization because it offers the promise of self-help and independence.

[KyIL]

Thanks for being willing to share your pattern. Too cute! How could I make this bigger? I'm still a newbie and my nieces, both under 16 are taking after their 6'4" father...

[KyIL]

p.s. Heifer is a phenomenal organization!!!

[Joi (stereoette)]

awesome that you blogged about heifer! i just blogged about them a few days ago as well! merry christmas!

[Kaitie]

Hi! I really like how you did this shrug and I was wondering, since I'm just a bigginner and under 16 ... what does the sentence: "from then on, continue skipping one peg and adding the next peg at the end on every other row. knit the rows inbetween without adding any pegs--until you have filled the entire loom." exactly mean? I'm really sorry to ask such a stupid question, but I really don't want to make this shrug the wrong way.
I would really apprieciate it if you answered my quesiton.
Thank you

[Kaitie]

Whoops! I accidently put the email address of my old account...this is filled in with my new account.

:D:D

[Katie]

YAY! I finally got it and it is looking great! After I finally figured it out i felt so stupid because i couldn't dicipher something so easy! :D:D

[carolyn]

I also do not understand instructions for the shrug HELP I would love to learn how to make it

[carolyn]

I also do not totally understand the instructions for the cute shrug HELP please!