lovinghands

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, too I believe,

My name is Frances and I live in Devon and I too am new to loving hands, and I must say have had a far more welcoming embrace from Lou regarding knitting that ever I get from my husband and two children (sons, now aged 21 & 17) who believe that hand knitting in general is too 'warm'! I personally don't have that problem and welcome the warmth of a cosy jumper or cardigan! Living in an all male family, with the exception of the dog, little interest is shown in anything to do with wool, needles or patterns, and even the dog's interest is only passing, only going as far as to see if the contents of the bag are edible!

I work during the day as a registered childminder and have done since my elder child was just under two years old, so have very little time for knitting through the week, but do enjoy having something to 'do' with my hands in an evening on the weekend.

I learn to knit before I went to school, taught by my Mum, who hand made most of the clothes we worn and the soft furnishings in our home, so I was very blessed to have such a good teacher. The first item I knitted was a scarf for my doll ~ I still have both the doll and the all important scarf!

I feel that with so many people who have so very little, now is the time to put my skills to a better use and to help those who are less fortunate than myself; rather than continuing to knit clothes & bedding etc for the dolls & teddies that my minded children play with.

First project for LH, I'm not sure yet. I need to dig the stash out from under the stairs and see what I have enough of to be able to complete something that I would want to wear myself! But I'll keep you posted when I decide.

Kind regards,
Frances.

Hello Frances, nice to hear from you & to read your post. You have joined a great group & you won,t be short of ideas if you look thro' the Donations section. You will find a great variety of items which might give you some ideas to keep you from getting bored when you have an 'odd 1/2 hour' to spare. Enjoy.!

Welcome Frances, I am sure you will be a valuable contributor to the Loving Hands - I am a bit of a butterfly flitting around all sorts of knitting projects, don't ever want to do the same thing twice, there are quick easy things and big complicated things to knit you just make your choice and off you go!
Jean
xx

Hello Frances and welcome to Loving Hands. I joined earlier this year and have knitted items I wouldn't normally have done which I have thoroughly enjoyed doing. Take care Jane

Hi Frances and welcome to LH. Lou will find a good home for whatever you knit, and everyone here is very friendly and helpful.

Karen

Hi Frances what do you like knitting most? apart from dollies stuff. You do a good job there looking after kids, you must have loads of patience. How many do you have?

Hello Frances and a very warm welcome too. You sound like a very busy lady...you will be even busier now that you have found us. There is always a great choice of things to make for our challenges and then there are the eternal wants/wish lists but whatever you find to make and donate a good and deserving home will be found for it. The forum should keep you busy too and hopefully you will make lots of new friends from all over the place.Look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Love Mad Maureen X

Many thanks to all of those who have extended such a warm welcome to me regarding joining your group, thank you.
Silver Surfer asked what I like knitting most, I suppose either things for me, (which sounds dreadfully egocentric ~ sorry, but what I really mean is that I like beautiful yarns & complicated patterns, as long as they don't go wrong!) or knitting 'gifts' (baby things, scarves etc) for others, but not toys ~ I have problems with their faces & they end up looking sinister rather than benevolent or cute!
I have only ended up going down the dolly clothes route as some of the little girls who I mind, know that I can knit & sew & I'm frequently presented with requests for clothing for their 'poor' dollies who are 'naked' & 'very cold' & have 'no clothes to wear'! It also appears that they have Mum's & grannies that can't knit or sew as well. As I have a box full of clothing & bedding for our dolls, it's quite often a case of 'Oh, how I wish that my dolly had a little jumper just like that!' & I'm not very good at saying 'No', but I do feel that when there are so many real children, & adults too of course, who desperately need warm clothing that it is such a waste of resources and time.
I currently have 8 children on my books, 3 under one, 2 under two, 1 under three, 1 under four & 1 who is five years old. I'm registered by Ofsted to be able to care for 3 under the age of 5 years (which include 2 baby places for the under one's) & 6 under the age of eight at any one time. So I always have 3 little ones during the day & also have 3 school age before & after school each day, but as all of their parents are teachers once the holidays begin, my numbers drop dramatically so I get a bit of a breather then, with the children only visiting for perhaps a day, so that they don't forget here & in turn become unsettled on their return after the holidays.
I started my first project for LH on the weekend, I've completed a boy's woolly hat & 1 mitten, so hopefully by next week I shall have sent my first donation off to Lou ~ it feels really rewarding to know that these items will really be of use to someone who needs them.
Thank you again for your warm welcome,
Kind regards,
Frances.

Wow Frances, I am surprised you find any time for knitting. If had to look after all those children. I would be shattered, and ready for my bed when at last they went home. Well done you. Yes Lou is a star, she finds homes for everything we knit. As part of the autumn project, H Q is filling shoeboxes for all age groups especially teenage boys as they tend to get forgotten. I am a bit out of touch with the likes of teen lads, but today in Q D stores I found some T-shirts nice quality. Then I had the problem of size, and colour. I chose in the end small that look about a 34/36 chest, in red and grey. Fingers crossed they will be liked. I have just finished a V-neck pullover that is the biggest thing I have made. Are you like the rest of us and can’t resist buying wool?