Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Take the Ronnie Challenge!

Ronnie generously put me up when I was teaching in Chicago recently.  Mary S. was there, two, and we were just three relaxed, happy, knitting ladies hanging out together. They were so sweet to me - I was tired and didn't have much voice left at the end of those days, but they made me feel incredibly at home.

Ronnie, a dedicated charity knitter, takes on the challenge of working with all kinds of donated yarns.  She says she like to leave them out where she can see the skeins and "let them talk" to her.  Sooner or later, she figures out just what to make of them - and she makes some very nice things.  I'm sure you all realize, as I do, that unfamiliar, "mystery" yarn can be tricky to use, requiring lots of experimenting and adjusting.

At one point, she got quite a mish-mash of interesting yarn and crochet cotton donations.  Here's Ronnie's pool table, stacked with yarn donated for charity knitting:
Before...

And, here's Ronnie's pool table, after she turned all this material into knitted goodies:


After!
 
Ronnie says that she used it up, right down to the last yard or so of each ball.  As a matter of fact, she made this inventory of "before" and "after:"


100 BEFORE
 
92 AFTER
15
Green
 
64
Hats
9
Red
 
1
Puppy
11
Pink
 
1
Scarf
6
Turquoise
 
3
Balls
9
Yellow
 
3
Bears
10
Beige
 
2
Monsters
3
White Cotton
 
10
Little Mended Hearts
2
Brown
 
8
Preemie Hats
2
Taupe
 
 
 
1
Green
 
 
 
1
Royal
 
 
 
1
Blue – Rose
 
 
 
1
Rose
 
 
 
1
Purple Eyelash
 
 
 
2
Orchid Eyelash
 
 
 
5
White Eyelash
 
 
 
3
Blue Eyelash
 
 
 
2
Green Eyelash
 
 
 
3
Pink Eyelash
 
 
 
4
Black Eyelash
 
 
 
3
Brown Eyelash
 
 
 
2
Brown - Black Eyelash
 
 
 
2
Red – White Eyelash
 
 
 
2
White Angora
 
 
 

I don't know about you, but I'm dazzled by this accomplishment.

So, here's the Ronnie Challenge - and I should take it myself.  Instead of yarn coming in and taking up semi-permanent residence, let's make soft, warm, useful things from it that someone needs and will truly enjoy!