Posted by Katie MacphersonAfter we had ended our meetings and turned off our computers last night, a bunch of us had ourselves an old-fashioned quilting bee. Using 117 skeins of beautiful donated Purl yarn, Martha Stewart employees had already knitted 60 squares. Our job was to sew the squares together, creating a colorful and cozy blanket. Our labor of love will be donated to an organization called Women in Need, which will give it to a family that is moving out of a homeless shelter and into their new home. Check out the big needles that we used to sew the seams together!
All the squares laid out, ready to be sewn together.
MORE PHOTOS AFTER JUMP
Big needles!
Erin (community relations and events coordinator for the company) is demonstrating how to sew together our squares.
Here’s my square -- almost done!
Martha Stewart employees hard at work.
From: Ondine | 3/19/09 at 12:02 pm
great project and fun to boot! Wish there was a knitting bee central in all communities so peeps could go online and sign up for such wonderful projects.
From: Melissa Gutierrez | 3/19/09 at 1:01 pm
This is so cool. What a great cause too!
From: L may | 3/19/09 at 2:01 pm
Kewl. Maybe someone should get it started.
From: Lourdes Figueroa | 3/19/09 at 8:13 pm
Wow that is so nice of them, and i'm so proud of my daughter Lizette, I know that she loves her job now more than ever that she's doing something for somebody in need. We need more people on earth like them. Good job and heart...
From: Katie Mac | 3/20/09 at 11:55 am
I'd love to see a knitting bee community pop up online-- like a meetup for knitters! It was a really great evening-- and I learned some new sewing techniques, too.
From: adriane | 3/20/09 at 2:11 pm
Look at my cousin Liz. She so focused and determined. I still have a yellow and white blanket she made for my daughter when she was born
From: amrie | 3/20/09 at 4:58 pm
Ravelry is a great online knitting community. Very helpful for finding groups, patterns, help for projects, etc.
From: Stephanie Buter | 3/20/09 at 5:06 pm
I love the colors Martha used in this blanket. Is there a specific pattern that was used for each square? Where may I find this pattern(s)?
Thank you for showing all of us this wonderful gift of love!
From: Barbara Leggett | 3/20/09 at 5:12 pm
Great job ladies. Now the thing is keeping the momentum and motivation to continue, or start such a Bee in your own communities.
A question. When do you dicide to give up sweaters and other knitted items? When they get so fuzzy, or full of pilling?
From: Mary Ann Epperson Nilson | 3/20/09 at 7:06 pm
I joined a group called TOPS, Take Off Pounds Sensible. We all (14-28) meet each Tuesday for one hour. This is a great to work on during our meeting for shelters and rest homes. Thanks for the idea.
I'm going to get this started in our area. I'm a Women's Army Corp Veteran. Hey, how about blankets for our returning hospitalized soldiers, our older veterans in homes and hospitals, OH BABY, I'm on a roll now.....Thanks.
From: Erin W. | 3/21/09 at 8:04 am
i have enjoyed knotting since about 7 years old! i knit many scarves to give to the homless program throught the church. it is a win-win - i get the relaxation of knitting & some one in need gets the scarf!
From: Leorace Tivis | 3/21/09 at 8:48 am
its good to know that the belief about knitters and crocheters of helping others is still going on. I'm in a group at my church called The Common Thread. we've done hats and scrafs this blanket is a good idea for our next project. thanks
From: Maria Theresa Allid Camacho | 3/21/09 at 11:17 am
I relearned to knit only last week--30 years after my first lessons. it is so infectious, my nieces and nephew bugged me to teach them, so in just a few minutes, they were all so engrossed--and doing well. This would be a great project for them, on a smaller scale.
From: Laurie Kimmelstiel | 3/21/09 at 1:18 pm
Our knitting group at The Ethelridge Road Knitting Salon, just did a similar project, with no time to spare we produced 24 gorgeous knitted squares and sewed them together for "a huggable blankie" for our fellow knitter headed across the country for cancer treatment. She loved it and enjoyed figuring out which one of us matched the color square. We hope this blanket and labor of our love will be a source of strength during the co urse of her treatment. It was a wonderful group project and I was amazed at the speed and dedication of our knitters.
From: Maggie Angle | 3/22/09 at 12:11 pm
I have been knitting since I was 5 and I am 56 now. This is a great project I am glad to see kintting making such a comeback. I once used scraps of what was then called rug yarn and made my daughter a knitted rug very similar to this blanket. Please keep up the good work
From: C Lamberson | 3/22/09 at 4:54 pm
I knit all the time and love to knit stocking caps for the homeless. Knitting is such a blessing to me and I want to let it carry over to others that ar in need. aThis blanket is great!!
From: Debbie | 3/22/09 at 6:28 pm
There is a knitting bee online - it's called Ravelry.com and is a wonderful resource, meeting place and way to make new virtual friends. It has groups based by interest as well as geography, so you can meet live knitters for knitting bees as well as knitalongs online.
From: Debbie | 3/23/09 at 11:09 am
This is a great way to help other communities. Where can we find the patterns to knit and help? I see some cute patterns on the table... Don't see patterns listed anywhere? Please advise...
From: Joanne Eastman | 3/23/09 at 11:57 am
Where can I find the patterns for the knitted dog coats, that Martha's dogs were wearing on todays show 03-23-09.?
From: Sheila Zimmer | 3/23/09 at 3:34 pm
How about knitting few helmet liners for our brave troops ?
The pattern is free and you can get it thru google.
It's a very easy pattern and even a beginner should have success!
From: Lorraine Whillans | 3/23/09 at 3:40 pm
Where can I find the patterns for the knit dog sweaters from todays show?
From: Linda Mayer | 3/23/09 at 6:11 pm
Dear Ladies, Your blanket is lovely, I love the colours. I and many other ladies in our church have been doing the same thing for about 2 years now. We get many squares in many colours and then a lady in our group puts them together. We have made over 30 blankets now and we send to a homeless shelter in Vancouver, B.C.. We have just recently received a letter from someone who said that the blanket they received saved their life this past winter. Knitting these blankets is not only good for those in need but also for those who knit them. It's a real blessing to be able to help one another.
From: Katie Mac | 3/24/09 at 10:47 am
Hi everyone,
This is Katie, the author of this post! To answer a few questions-- the patterns that Martha's dogs were wearing on the knitting show (3/23/2009) can be found on the Lion Brand Yarn website here: http://cache.lionbrand.com/marthaShow.html.Great show, right?
And our blanket was just 60 9x9" squares that were knitted in all different patterns. Here's a simple pattern from our website: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/knitting-101?autonomy_kw=knitting%20patterns&rsc=header_1. We then laid them out and sewed them together using a tapestry needle. Hope that helps!
From: Michelle | 3/28/09 at 8:26 pm
I'm sure if you go to craftster.org, there would probably be some there that would like to start a group - even if it was online. There are sections for knitting, crocheting and everything else craft-related you could think of!
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