Doris Chan Visit and Salvation Army Donation

Well, Dee was right - I am going to blog about our visit with Doris Chan yesterday! We had one of the most enjoyable guild meetings of the year yesterday. Doris brought her own crocheted garments (made from patterns in the book) to the meeting because the publisher still has the samples used in Everyday Crochet. She spent time talking about each type of garment in the book, including tank tops, pullovers, cardigans, vests and coats. It was fascinating hearing her discuss how to fit each type of garment to our individual bodies and how to alter each garment by making sleeves and bodies longer or shorter. I now officially want to make every pattern in the book!

Doris also generously allowed us to try on some of her garments. Despite the fact that Doris is 5'2" and thin and I am 5'6" and somewhat more heavily set, shall we say, her Mocha Roca cardigan fit both of us. Her use of shells means her garments have quite a bit of give, and this particular cardigan does not button up the front, which is why it would fit both of us. This was really instructive, because I would have made the size to fit my bust and then would have been unhappy when it was too loose. It's also a great thing to try on a garment and have the designer assess how you look in it. Doris looked at me in the cardigan and said that she wasn't sure that a raglan sleeve would look good on me until she saw me in the sweater. (My shoulders tend to be rounded and a little stooped, which I think is where the comment came from.) But the cardigan looked just fine on me, and it is definitely on my WIM list now.

Of course, the other big part of the meeting was the Salvation Army donation. It did my heart good to see the table piled high with hat, mitten and scarf sets, as well as toys for the toy drive. I arrived at the meeting with 7 sets and one hat finished.
Since I needed something to work on during the meeting, I decided to make a scarf to go with the white hat in the lower right hand corner of the picture. So before I left the meeting, I had an eighth set to donate.
That means that I have now donated 98 items to charity this year. I am going to work very hard over the next few days to make 2 pairs of mittens, bringing me to 100 items for the year. Then, to celebrate, I am contemplating a contest! Stay tuned for details later this week.