Spotlight: Ali

Today we are spotlighting Ali!  We first met Ali as a client at one of our Knitting in Recovery classes.  Now Ali has been clean and sober for over a year, and she is one of our teachers for Knitting in Recovery!

Over the summer, Ali submitted several pieces to the Ventura County Fair and won three 3rd place, one 2nd place, and one 1st place ribbons!

Ali is currently teaching for Knitting in Recovery at one facility and will be starting at a few new facilities in the coming months.  We are also hoping to start a knitting and crochet group at the VC Arts Collective in the Pacific View Mall, which Ali will teach.

Ali has several pieces on display and available for purchase at the VC Arts Collective, including several beanies slouchy beanies and adorable clutch purses.

She has finished several recent commissions including leg warmers, beanies, and blankets, and she is currently working on a king-sized blanket for a family friend.  She is already planning on making beanies in sports team and school colors to have for sale at the mall space, such as black and gold for Ventura High School.

Thank you, Ali, for helping our program grow and better serve our community.

 

Prototypes Art Blanket

One of our clients from Prototypes Women’s Center crocheted this free-form art blanket.  She used a very mindful, meditative process.  She worked with whatever yarn was available to her and made the most of it, letting the pattern unfold as seemed fit in the moment.

Our client crocheted this blanket for herself and her children as a way to heal her relationship with her kids, stitching everyone back together, safe and warm under one blanket.

This is what Knitting in Recovery does: uses knitting and crochet to help our clients make and maintain positive changes in their lives.  It is a beautiful thing when we can see our mission being fulfilled so clearly.

Prototypes Baby Blankets

One of our clients at Prototypes Women’s Center crocheted these beautiful baby blankets.  We know her little one will be nice and cozy in these.  And these blankets are all the more special since they were handmade with love and care.

Mermaid Blankets

While beanies, blankets, and scarves are always a classic knitting or crochet project, sometimes you have to mix it up a bit.  Our clients at Prototypes Women’s Center in Oxnard recently made some very fun, very on-trend mermaid blankets!  We love the creativity, joy, and magic that this project inspires.

That variegated blue yarn looks just like scales!  Love it!

Yarn Donation from Terri!

Knitting in Recovery teachers (and neighbors), Emily and Theresa, admiring the yarn and getting ready to take it to our clients.

We love getting yarn donations!  Many thanks to Terri Nigro from Ventura County for this very generous donation.  Once again, a donation that filled an entire car!

The yarn will be going to Prototypes, New Visions, The Wellness Center, Project Understanding, House of Hope as well as to Women in Recovery Knitting Groups who are knitting donations for our upcoming winter Season.

Even our fur friends like yarn!  Emily’s dog, Bishop, helping sort yarn to go to New Visions and the Wellness Center.

Yarn Bombing at Evolve Outpatient Center

Knitting in Recovery partners with Evolve Outpatient Recovery Center in Camarillo, which treats teens struggling with substance abuse, eating disorders, depression and anxiety.

Part of the treatment plan at Evolve is to convene daily with nature as a way to actively and mindfully engage in and appreciate the world around us.

Knitting in Recovery integrated this communion with nature with a desire to incorporate fun and play into our lives when we recently had the boys and girls at Evolve’s outpatient center yarn bomb one of the trees outside the facility!

The clients finger crocheted all the chains, made pom poms and crocheted flowers.

People stopped to watch and left with big smiles on their faces.  Knowing that they were bringing happiness into someone’s life made the kids feel really good about the work.

Here’s to spreading love, fun and color to the community!

Chaparral High School Yarn Bombs Graduation 2017

Thanks to a generous grant from the Rotary Club of Ojai, Knitting in Recovery was able to partner with Chaparral High School in Ojai to start a knitting and crochet class.  We had a full class of both boys and girls, and everybody participated to the fullest. They learned to crochet, and some of the students, boys as well as girls, took their hooks and yarn with them home to continue working on their project.

For their final project, the class worked as a group to yarn-bomb for their graduation ceremony!

They crocheted beautiful vines and made pom-poms in an array of sizes and in all hues of oranges and greens.

The tree right by the stage was wrapped in a crocheted green and white blanket appliquéd with bright orange knitted squares. All the branches of the tree were dripping with pom-pom flowers and pom-pom fruit. Even in the top of tops there were pom-poms, as some of the boys had really good aim. I think that was their favorite part, and they took great pride in getting them “just right.”

It made for a bright and festive addition and decoration to the wonderful Graduation Ceremony!

Knitting in Recovery at the Ventura County Fair 2017

The Knitting in Recovery ladies at New Visions had another great year at the Ventura County Fair!  Katherine, Charmane, and LaDonna each entered several pieces and each were awarded multiple ribbons (1sts, 2nds, and 3rds) along with many honorable mentions by the judges for their exceptional work.

Adorable baby slippers by LaDonna

Plastic canvas baby photo album by Katherine

Baby outfit by LaDonna

Original hat pattern by LaDonna

Beautiful blanket by Katherine

The most cheerful pillow by Charmane

The ladies look forward to the fair all year and receive a great sense of pride from showing their work alongside their fellow knitters and crocheters across the county.  LaDonna has the longest standing history of entering things in the fair–this was her twenty-eighth consecutive year entering.  Next year she plans on making a tapestry with all of her fair ribbons from the course of her career and entering that in the 2018 fair.

Aside from her ribbons, Katherine also had a big fair accomplishment.  Katherine has recently taken on teaching Knitting in Recovery classes at Castillo del Sol-Quality of Life.  One of her students entered the very first blanket she had ever crocheted in the fair this year.

Katherine’s student, entering her first blanket in the Ventura County Fair.