Purses for Preeclampsia Back on This Thursday

Last week I told you about a fundraiser Jordana Paige was doing to benefit the Preeclampsia Foundation, but technical issues meant the sale was over almost before it began. So many knitters charged the website to snag imperfect bags for $50 to help a great cause, the company’s hosting company thought the site was under attack.

After a very frustrating day that still managed to raise $5,000 when the site was up and running, Jordana came up with another solution and the sale is back on tomorrow, Thursday, July 26. Starting at 8 a.m. Pacific time, people interested in snagging a bag can visit the company’s Facebook page (you do not have to have a Facebook account to visit or to take part in the sale, this is just how they’re running it) and click the “shop now” button (which does not yet exist, but will when the time is right).

A new bag will be put on sale every hour, and they’ll sell until they’re gone.

Up for grabs this time around:

L.J. Kaelms – Red, Green, Taupe and Teal
Rio – Olive Green
Bella – Bronze, Black and Pearl
The Knitter’s Satchel – Pink and Cypress Green
The Knitter’s Messenger – Deep Red/Green

Please, y’all, save a green L.J. Kalems for me, OK?

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

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