Walk With Heart

This weekend we laced up our tennis shoes to participate in the 2009 Indianapolis Start! Heart Walk as a family. The event supports the American Heart Association, with a goal of saving lives that would be cut short by heart disease or stroke. (This is Audrey post-walk, performing a celebratory walk-completion dance - I wish the picture showed her wiggling - armed with her Heart Walk bag and half-eaten banana).

The Heart Walk is a low-key charity event that the three of us can do together. And, it gets us downtown.

So after a little morning exercise/fund-raising, we lazed around the canal,

taking in the sites,

each in our own way.

To Mongolia With Love

You may remember the blue hat I knit a while back to send to the Dulaan Project, a project spear-headed by the Flagstaff International Relief Effort (F.I.R.E.) whose initiative is to help keep the homeless of Mongolia's capital warmer through their brutal winters. I had hoped to get a few more hats finished in time to send before the July 1st deadline, but due to a couple unexpected circumstances this spring, I only finished one more.



This little number, based off the wool hat pattern in Claire Montgomerie's Easy Baby Knits (I know, I know. I wish for your sakes I was bored of this book, but sadly, I'm not), was made using Sensations' Licorice wool in Purple Multi and (once I ran out, and realized the store had also run out) Moda Dea's Silk 'n Wool Blend in Pewter. Audrey, of course, asked for a modeling session before I put it and the blue hat in an envelope for shipping. Audrey, ahem, has her own methods of modeling. I am not one to try to orchestrate a photo shoot that she means for fun, or try to force play, so our modeling shots are a little unconventional at best.

Hats tried on (because once she was reminded of the blue one's existence, she had to give it another go, too) and given approval, they were packaged up and sent on their way earlier this week - just in time to make the July 1st deadline. And, hopefully in time to make a couple little ones much warmer this winter.

Destination: Mongolia

Here it is: the Mongolian hat. For those of you with no idea as to what I'm talking about, back in March I pledged that as soon as I finished Audrey's Easter sweater, I would knit a hat for the Dulaan Project. I finished this little blue number over the weekend.

The original pattern, The Cotton Hat pattern from Easy Baby Knits by Claire Montgomerie, called for a striped pattern, but I loved this blue yarn so much, I decided it was interesting enough on its own. I love the pattern the decreases make at the top. Rather than use the cotton the pattern suggested, I opted for a merino wool/alpaca/silk blend. My goal was to keep a kid warmer through a winter where -40 degrees isn't unheard of. Cotton wasn't going to cut it.

Audrey graciously modeled the hat last night to make sure it passed inspection before we put it in the mail. Since it was a simple weekend project, and since there are still several weekends until the July 1st deadline for this year's Dulaan shipment, I might try to squeeze in a few more hats before I make the trip to the post office. Of course, I might also have to go buy another skein of this blue yarn to make a hat for Audrey for next year. What can I say, I love a girl in a blue hat, especially this little girl.


[For those of you wondering if Easy Baby Knits is the only knitting book I own, you would be correct. I have another knitting book in my possession (on loan from my sister) that is a glossary of stitches, per se, and last week I was given a gift of a knitting kit that includes cards with knit patterns on them (Thanks, Allens!). For those of you wondering if I'm just working my way through the book one-pattern-at-time, possibly. I have been known to read magazines cover-to-cover, regardless of if I'm interested in all the articles. As a kid, I used to eat meals one side at a time, beginning with my least favorite and working my way around the plate, ending with my favorite. So, it's highly possible (and my favorite pattern in the book has yet to be attempted). Guess you'll have to stay tuned and sorry for the repetition.]