We have a new volunteer joining the NorthEast Regional Oddball Group. She is nicoleheather from KnittingHelp.com.
She has kindly volunteered to do the last spot - and border patrol - on [B]Purplelicious[/B]!
Thanks, Nicole! :yay: :yay: :yay: And welcome to the Group!
I’ve just updated the worsted weight section of the Completed Oddball Baby Blankets Blog.
Five more blankets are on their way to Bridgeport Hospital’s Pediatrics Unit.
Many thanks to those who worked on these blankets.
:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :wooho
I’ll be starting a new worsted weight blanket this week. I’m calling it [B]Tropical Plantation II[/B]; it will be knit in tropical colors, so think pink, yellow, green, blue, orange - you get the picture! More info to follow…
Volunteers? Just let me know!
Thanks, all.
To our wonderful knitters (and crochet folks)…
Many of our worsted weight blankets are nearing completion, and that’s always exciting to see. :yay: :yay: :yay: You have done such beautiful work on so many different blankets, and more are always in the works! :knitting: :knitting:
Here is an update of worsted weight blankets that are at least 50% complete:
[B]Jack Frost: [/B]
gmmarton - done
colbysmimi - done
knead2knit - done
hamham - done
[B]farmwife’n’mama - ready [/B]
Vertigo1414
[B]Ladybug: [/B]
MotherHenKnits - done
justbeth - done
beepr - done
gmmarton - done
[B]colbysmimi - (are you ready???) [/B]
hamham
Border Patrol - open
[B]Holiday Happiness: [/B]
MotherHenKnits - done
gmmarton - done
beepr - done
sugarmagknowya - done
[B]farmwife’n’mama - ready or working? [/B]
gmmarton (will also do the border)
[B]Jelly Bellies: [/B]
gmmarton - done
beepr - done
farmwife’n’mama - done
hamham - done
[B]justbeth - ready or working? [/B]
Vertigo1414 (will also do the border)
[B]Atlantic Waves: [/B]
gmmarton - done
beepr - done
farmwife’n’mama - done
[B]hamham - ready or working? [/B]
justbeth
sugarmagknowya (will also do the border)
[B]Spearmint Leaves: [/B]
gmmarton - done
beepr - done
[B]colbysmimi - working [/B]
farmwife’n’mama
sugarmagknowya
Vertigo1414 (will also do the border)
We do have three older worsted weight blankets ([B]Pretty Purples[/B], [B]Surf and Sand[/B], and [B]Sunny Days[/B]) that are currently [B][COLOR=“Red”]MIA[/COLOR][/B]; however, I remain hopeful that those blankets will one day be back in circulation, finished and delivered to the good folks at Bridgeport Hospital.
Many thanks, everyone! 
Tropical Plantation II
gmmarton (working)
beepr
open slot
open slot
open slot
hamham (will also do the border)
Here is the lineup so far:
[B]Tropical Plantation II[/B]
gmmarton - done (hot pink)
gmmarton - working (hot blue)
beepr
open slot
open slot
hamham (will also do the border)
To my NE Oddball friends:
I have an unexpected project in the near future that will require lots of time after school and weekends. As I am the “go-to” person for this project, I’m sorry to say I must surrender my responsibilities regarding the worsted weight Oddball baby blankets. I won’t be available to start new blankets, update and maintain posts on the thread, spreadsheet, and Blogs, nor will I be able to pull the blankets together and distribute to the Pediatrics Unit of Bridgeport Hospital.
My heart feels very heavy writing this 
as I have grown quite attached to the Oddball Group and the unique personalities I’ve come to know and care about. We have done so well with all of our blankets and I am especially proud of the fifty-five worsted weight blankets knit over eighteen months (and delivered to Bridgeport Hospital). :yay: :yay:
The flip side of that is that I’m also feeling overwhelmed 
a not-so-good feeling, as my professional responsibilities continue to expand. After decades of teaching, I never thought it would get this complicated!
I’d certainly like to keep knitting on any blankets where my name is already listed on the spreadsheet; hopefully, I’ll be knitting more blankets for the NE Oddball Group once I get out of school in late June.
In the meantime, keep up the great work. Know that you have made a difference in some little person’s life.
Wishing you continued good fortune,
Happy knitting! :knitting: :knitting:
Gail
Thank you for all your hard work, Gail! 
My sincerest thanks go out to Gail for all of her efforts for our group! She really has put her blood, sweat, and tears into making these blankets and getting them to the children at Bridgeport Hospital, who love them so dearly.
Her sudden departure means that we need to come up with a plan. The silver lining that may come out of this sad news is that opportunities are now open for others to participate in the coordination of this wonderful blanket effort.
The way I see it, we have a number of options:
Someone else takes over the coordination of the WW blankets, and delivers them locally.
We divide and conquer WW blankets. Several people share the WW blanket side (one person coordinates, one person keeps the blog up to date, another person receives the finished blankets and washes and delivers them).
We continue to make WW (although somewhat smaller) and DK weight blankets, and they all go to the SDU at CHOP. In order for me to be able to manage this, I would need some help with keeping the blogs up to date, as doing that would be too much for one person (when also coordinating, washing, and delivering).
I should note here that the reason that we have been making so many fewer DK weight blankets, is that I did not want to put too many demands on the group, given the large number (and size) of the WW blankets.
One of the things to consider going forward is, do we want to keep making two different sizes of blankets, and using two different yarn weights?
Several of you have PM’ed me already, and I want to reassure you that this group will continue to make beautiful blankets for these special children for as long as folks want to keep doing it.
Since we broke into regional groups, the Northeast group has far and away been the busiest and most prolific. This has been immensely gratifying to me and all of you should be incredibly proud of what we have been able to accomplish together! We currently have 30 total blankets in circulation, while most of the other groups have about 10 at any given time (and that is with intentionally reducing the number of DK weight blankets!).
If anyone has any other suggestions or ideas for how we should proceed from here, they are [I]most[/I] welcome. If you do not feel comfortable posting on the thread, please PM me.
Hopefully, as a group, we can come up with a plan that works best for all of us very soon!
Thanks for all that you do, and for all your support! Go Northeast!!! :o)
Here’s the new arrangement for the WW blankets:
[B][I]Beepr[/I][/B] will help coordinate the WW posts on the thread,and help with starting new blankets, recruiting knitters & crocheters for blankets.
[B][I]MotherHenKnits[/I][/B] will manage our online tracking spreadsheet and WW blanket blog.
[B][I]hamham[/I][/B] will prep the finished blankets and deliver them to a children’s unit at a hospital in New York.
Thanks to all the volunteers! :woohoo:
Let’s give this ago for a while and see how it works out. One of the things we’ve been trying to do with the DK weight blankets is have me as the last knitter as often as possible. I hand the blankets over to mdc550 to crochet the border. This saves everyone money, as the blanket is mailed around when smaller, and fewer completed blankets have to be mailed around. I suggest trying this on the WW side, as hamham can be the last knitter and crochet the border (she is more multicrafty than I 
Not for every blanket, naturally.
It appears from our little poll that the group is pretty evenly split over the size of the WW blankets. How about if we leave the choice of size up to the person who starts the blanket? When Beepr or the person starting announces the blanket, they can let us know the size. The specifics will go on the instruction sheet, too.
Thanks again to everyone who stepped in to help, and to all of the group members for your continued support of our fantastic project
Sounds like a good team! 
Go Northeast! 
Purplelicious is done!! Here are a few pics:
Beautiful work, Nicole! Thank you.
So glad you joined the group, Nicole.
Your work is beautiful!
Hi Everybody in the Northeast Region!! I’m in the Southeast group (North Carolina), but my mom is up in NY State and wanted to start knitting for charity since she hears me talking about it so much. She doesn’t have a computer, so can’t really join in on this blog - but I am sending her yarn and needles to make a baby blanket.
She is near Cooperstown - does anyone know where she can donate blankets, hats, booties (whatever she winds up making) locally? I sent her Worsted Weight yarn, but she’ll probably want to make preemie things also. Not sure.
Anyway - if anyone has a suggestion for what is needed up that way, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thank you!
Brenda
She should contact her local hospital… they sometimes take donations. I donate to St. Mary’s in Amsterdam (if they can’t use the item they send it to one of their sister hospitals) where my minions were born.
Hi Brenda,
I second the suggestion of contacting her local hospitals or shelters, they can almost always use any knitted item.
How sweet of you to send her materials!
Take care,
Spikey
Thanks for the suggestions guys! Will definitely pass them along.
wow, no posts in a long time…
anywho…
What’s going on with the current blankets? are they still in circulation? are anymore going to be started up?
I was organizing my stash and found a bunch of baby yarn… was thinking of making a preemie blanket or two and sending it along. Who do I send it to?
We’re very talkative over on the Ravelry thread but not so much here. There’s a spot open on a new worsted weight blanket called “Kermit’s Lily Pad” with shades of green as the color theme. Would you like a spot on that one?