Review: Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker

Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker is both a learn to crochet book and a collection of interesting crochet patterns. The first 90 pages of the book are dedicated to the basics of crochet with clear diagrams and detailed instructions on exactly where to put the tip of the crochet hook.

The 40 patterns are divided into the categories:

• Scarves and Shawls, 5 patterns
• Hats, 6 patterns
• Bags, 5 patterns
• Spring & Summer, 6 patterns including a tank top, a shrug and a bikini
• Fall & Winter, 6 patterns including jackets, sweaters and a skirt
• Accessories, 5 patterns including Fluffy Bunny Slippers and fingerless gloves
• Home, Gifts & Baby, 7 patterns, including stuffed animals, an Ipod holder with either a monkey or kitty face, and afghans. One of the afghans has a sock monkey face and matching baby hat.

There is a paragraph to introduce each pattern and information about each of the designers, usually including a website address where you can find more patterns.

There are a variety of patterns in this book and the accompanying text is a fun read. Check it out and see if there is anything you like. I have already made the Yeehaw Lady hat. The cowgirl in this city girl just couldn't resist. My sister asked for the Fluffy Bunny Slippers for her birthday, so they're next on my list. There are a few mistakes in the book. There is a set of corrections you should check before starting any of the patterns.

Quilting in Progress

I'm finishing a flying geese quilt top for my second Saturday quilt group. All I have done since our August 12 meeting is trim the geese blocks to the finished size. The quilt top pattern is from the Flying Geese Quilt in a Day book by Eleanor Burns.

To make 4 geese with a finished size of 4" by 8", you start with an 11" square of background fabric and a 9½" square of geese fabric. After stitching, cutting and pressing a couple of times, you wind up with 2 squares like the pink and grey one on the top left. The QiaD Flying Geese ruler shown on the top right makes the final trimming easy, but you can use standard rotary rulers instead. Instructions to make the geese blocks are in free patterns on the QiaD website. The Winged Arrow pattern uses the special ruler and Eleanor's Birthday Star uses standard rulers. Instructions also come with the ruler.

I'm trying the "Mile-A-Minute" quilt pattern by Carol A. Coski (American Quilter magazine, Winter 2000). This is part of my efforts to make tops from my scrap basket. Mile-A-Minute is a bit like crazy quilting without the foundation and embroidery. You start sewing small scraps to strips. Cut apart and press and sew the pairs to strips, etc. I'm at the point where you start sewing your pieces together with a strip in between them. Then you sew the larger pieces together with a strip in between them.

When you get tired of making pieced fabric, you put a ruler on your pieced fabric and cut a square out of it. Cut on an angle for interest. Then you sash your squares together to make a quilt top. If you don't have the magazine, you can order the pattern in the books section on the Quilt-a-way Fabrics website. Click the sheep labeled "Enter Store", then select Books from the drop down list that says "select fabric type."

When it Rains, It Pours

When it rains, it pours; and I'm not talking about the 3½ inches of rain that Mother Nature delivered in 3½ days. UPS delivered this huge box of yarn from Coats & Clark about an hour and a half ago. The box is deep, so the picture shows about half of the yarn. The yarn is for Project Linus and all it cost was the time to write a letter and a postage stamp.

The moral of this abundance is don't be afraid to advertise that you do things for charity. Some manufacturers will donate products or money, but you have to ask. Go to their website and find contact information. Send an electronic message and ask for the name and address of the person to which to send a request for a donation. Tell them a little bit about what you do and what you would them to donate.

Coats & Clark only has snail mail and telephone contact information. I send a letter to the Consumer Services address and after a while, a box appears on my porch. It was a 4 month wait this time. There are never any labels on the yarn. It is most likely mill ends and yarn they wouldn't sell for some reason, but it is good yarn. The pink in this box is a bit dirty on the outside. They usually send mostly worsted weight yarn. This box has a few skeins of lighter weight yarn and 3 skeins that I'm guessing are either TLC Amore or Red Heart Plush.

Shopping With Someone Else's Money

Do you need some money to buy supplies for Project Linus?? If you do, let me know what you need and about how much it would cost because the Pioneers have some money that we need to spend.

I got the above email from one of my AT&T contacts last Thursday. My response: PL can always use yarn, fabric, etc. How much would you like us to spend?

I've been on a $200 shopping spree, courtesy of the Telephone Pioneers. Saturday I went to the local Hobby Lobby and got 2 small skeins of yarn on clearance for 46 cents each, 1 skein of Red Heart Super Saver (used a 40% off coupon) and some $2 a yard clearance fabric. Cute circus panels and a coordinating print.

This morning, I headed to Overland Park, Kansas. First to JoAnns where I got 4 cuts of fabric (on sale for 99 cents a yard) and 16 pounds of yarn. I used 40% off coupons on 2 pounds of yarn and my 10% AQS discount card on everything else.

After JoAnns, I went to Addadi's Fabrics on 87th Street in Overland Park. Addadi's specializes in selling a lot of fabric at very reasonable prices. I focused on the display of fabric that was $1.99 per yard or $1.50 if you bought the whole bolt. Since I was buying, a lot, for Project Linus, Mr. Addadi gave me the $1.50 price on the pieces where I only took part of the bolt. 60 yards of fabric later, I had a cute flamingo print, a baseball print, and colorful men's neckties on a white background. And lots of tone on tone prints to go with them.

Results of the shopping spree: PL acquired about 91 yards of fabric and 17 pounds of yarn and I have $222 worth of receipts to send to the Telephone Pioneers. I have pictures of the yarn and fabric, but Blogger is not cooperating. Maybe it will let me upload the pictures tomorrow. Update: Blogger finally let me upload the pictures. 8/29/2006 11:52 am

Website Update - Easy Ripple Afghan Pattern

I've updated my Easy Ripple Afghan pattern. I added gauge information for sport weight/3-ply yarn. I also made 2 small corrections/clarifications in the Row 2 instructions. Most of you figured things out with no trouble, but I occasionally got email from someone having problems.

I've added a page with information about the baby ripple afghan pictured above. There is a link to it from the Easy Ripple Afghan pattern.

Review: The Art of Knitting (DVD)

The Art of Knitting DVD provides a varied assortment of knitting information. With a total running time of 3 hours and 39 minutes, there is a little over an hour of knitting instruction. A knitting library and a resource guide contain information in a still frame format. The index provides quick access to any subject on the DVD. Three patterns are included on the DVD, a hat, a bikini, and a wire bracelet.

The basic knitting instruction is presented with a teacher showing how to knit and then a student repeating the steps. This is a good approach for teaching beginning knitters. As an intermediate knitter, I found it very tedious. A separate segment showed the Continental vs. American style of knitting. The intermediate skills segment covered fairly basic skills: gauge, increasing and decreasing, picking up dropped stitches. Overall, the instructional material seems targeted at beginning knitters.

In the yarn topics, we see alpacas being sheared, wool being cleaned and spun into yarn and dyed. The baby alpacas are cute and the overall presentation is interesting. My mom enjoyed this part and ignored everything else. Only natual fibers are shown. Acrylic and other synthetic fibers use different processes.

I was a bit disappointed in the segment on fiber types. The speaker described it as a presentation on yarn, yarn construction and how yarn behaves when it is knit. Garments made from various fancier/glitzier yarns are shown, but little unknitted yarn is shown. No samples of more basic yarns are shown. I wanted to see more samples of yarns for beginners and more utilitarian yarns. I tend to the utilitarian yarns.

The knitting lifestyles section discusses knitting circles, knitting events (e.g., workshops and conventions), and physiotherapy. The fit-to-knit physiotherapy segment discussion potential injuries and presents techniques and exercises to help prevent injury.

Here is a detailed contents listing with some added description and comments. The length of the video segments is given in parenthesis in the format hours:minutes.

• Overview (Detailed table of contents in a still frame listing.)
• Topics
• Knitting Demos
• Getting Started: The Basics of Knitting (42:05)

Casting on, knit stitch, purl stitch, fixing mistakes, increase, decrease, garter stitch, stockinette stitch, ribbing, bind/cast off, adding/changing yarn, weaving in ends, hat pattern.

• Choose Your Knitting Style: American or Continental (2:39)
• Intermediate Skills (17:33)

Making a swatch, measuring gauge, more methods to increase and decrease, ripping out, picking up dropped stitches, stripes.

• Designer Workshop: Swimwear (8:33)

Features Ashley Paige discussing her swimwear designs. There's a brief glimpse of the studio/workshop. A few celebraties who have worn her designs are mentioned. A bikini pattern accompanies the segment, but there is no demo. I gained little understanding of the design process.

• Fashion Inspiration: Wire Knitting (10:28)

Instructions for knitting with wire and a pattern for a bracelet.

• Yarn/Tools/Color
• Fiber Types (16:24)
• Shearing (11:48)
• Spinning (4:08)
• Dyeing (11:27)
• Tools (4:07)

Discussion of different types of knitting needles and useful knitting tools.

• Color Theory (19:46)

Covers the color wheel, primary, secondary and complementary colors, warm vs. cool colors.

• Zen Knitting (11:45)

Features Bernadette Murphy, author of Zen and the Art of Knitting, discussing knitting as a healing and meditative art form and why people knit.

• Knitting Lifestyles
• How to Start a Knitting Circle: NYC (6:52)
• "Knitting as Soul Food" Circle: CA (6:07)
• Knitting Events: Guilds/Workshops/Conventions (11:49)
• Fit-To-Knit Physiotherapy (7:06)
• Knitting Library
• Stitch Library (20 still frames)

Each screen shows a photo of swatch and chart for making the stitch.

• Glossary of Terms (6 still frames)
• Abbreviations (5 still frames)
• Patterns (7 still frames)

Patterns for hat, bikini, and wire bracelet.

• Tips (9 still frames)
• Music to Knit By

Piano, flute and punk selections, running 10:18, 5:16 and 3:46 respectively

• Resource Guide (all still frames)
• Local Yarn Stores (listed by state)
• Product Index (contact info for the companies represented on the DVD)
• Books (photos of book covers)
• Magazines & Websites (5 listings)
• Knitting Charities

Listed alphabetically with contact information. Listings end in the O's and some contact information is out of date.

• Events (listed by month)
• Education (classes and workshops)
• Index

Quick access to any subject on the DVD.

This is a good instructional DVD for the beginning knitter. If you have knitting experience and want to brush up on the basics and learn more intermediate/advanced techniques, consider The Art of Knitting/Crochet 2.

Needlework at Missouri State Fair - Part 2

As promised, here are a few more of the needlework exhibits that were at the Missouri State Fair.

First: embroidery. Some things were hung above some of the glass display cases and I looked for items that were framed with no glass to avoid a reflection from the camera flash. I'm sure a lot of work went into these 2 samplers.

This lighthouse makes a striking display. I think it's counted cross-stitch, but I don't remember for certain. (Darn brain cells.) My mom likes lighthouses which is part of the reason I photographed this piece.

These last 3 photos are 4-H exhibits. Happily, there were few glass display cases in the 4-H building. Instead they used rope barriers to keep people from touching. The 4-H exhibits show that some of the younger generation is developing needlework skills. Some adults wish they could do needlework like some of the 4-H exhibitors.

This skirt has a youthful flair and I would love to see it worn. The afghan is pretty and lacey.

I was impressed by this doily. I doubt I could do any better and I've been crocheting considerably longer than the 4-H exhibitor that made this.

This 4-H exhibitor displayed an understanding of how the size of the crochet hook changes the size of the crochet fabric. This is something every crocheter should understand and apply to getting the correct gauge. Lately I've been making some crochet designs that are new to me and gauge is very important. I've spent a bit of time making swatches to determine the correct hook size for me to get the right gauge.

This is the last of my pictures from the fair that I will be sharing. I hope you enjoyed them.

Needlework at Missouri State Fair - Part 1

The Missouri State Fair ended yesterday. On Friday, for the first time ever, I went to the MO State Fair. I took my camera and was frustrated by the needlework entries being displayed in glass cases or way up high. I managed to get a few good pictures.

This quilt is an interesting version of the card trick block.

This applique quilt with the animals is really cute.

This heavily starched doily has 3-dimensional bells. Very nice work. I rested my camera on the glass top of the display case to take this picture.

This hexagon flower doily is pretty.

Look for embroidery and 4-H exhibits in Needlework at the Missouri State Fair - Part 2, coming soon. In the meantime, ramble over to a Trip to the State Fair on my other blog to see what 4-H'ers can do with John Deer fabric. There's a couple of Budweiser Clydesdales there also.

Hearts for Linus

Our third Sunday Project Linus group met at JoAnns in Independence, Missouri this afternoon. I had precut pieces for some heart blocks and took more fabric/scraps to cut at JoAnns. There were 5 of us today and as usual I did something different and the other 4 worked on heart blocks. The block is an adaptation of the Hearts for Linus pattern from Quiltmaker magazine a few years ago. I enlarged it and eliminated the paper piecing.

These blocks can be used with crayon squares to make a quilt top or on their own. We plan to save them for the next influx of crayon squares. We have more pieces cut ready to sew and I moved some of the scraps and donated fabric out of my closet and work area and out of the house. Some of the fabric isn't quilt fabric and the twins know someone who can make good use of it. And it really feels good to either turn the fabric into quilt pieces or send it on to someone who can make good use of it.

Crayon Quilt Finished - August 15

My quilting has been a bit sporadic. I finished this crayon quilt on Tuesday. Part of the reason I didn't get pictures up earlier is the streets in my neighborhood were repaved yesterday and I had a lot of fun watching and learning. Check out Hot Steaming Asphalt and Hot Steaming Asphalt - More Pics on my other blog to learn about repaving streets.

These crayon quilts are from our KC Project Linus "Kids Helping Kids" program. We cut 8 inch squares of muslin and trace pictures with an ultra-fine point Sharpie permanent marker. Youth groups trade new muslin for the traced squares and children color the pictures with Crayola crayons. The squares are ironed with absorbant paper to protect the iron and soak up any excess wax. Then the squares come back to Project Linus and our coordinator begs people to make them into tops.

Recently we've been alternating the crayon blocks with pieced blocks. String pieced blocks were suggested, but I don't like string piecing. This heart block is a super-sized version of the "Hearts for Linus" block from Quiltmaker magazine a few years ago. They are quick to make and add some interest to the quilt.

This crayon quilt is backed with twill fabric, no batting. Just like the one I finished earlier in the month. It's ditch-quilted between the blocks and next to the border. I've got at least 3 more crayon tops to finish, so expect to see more.

Second Saturday Charity Quilting

It's Tuesday and I've been absent from blogging for a few days. My second Saturday charity quilting group, a.k.a. Quilts from Cornerstone, met last Saturday. Three of us did at least. Other summer activities, vacations, house guests and moving into a new house rather diminished our turnout this month.

Our leader was moving and with everyone's schedules we met for 4 hours instead of our normal 7 hours. I have no pictures, but we worked on piecing some more of the flying geese UFOs like the top I finished last month. I brought one kit home to finish piecing.

I took advantage of our late start on Saturday to finish quilting an H-block quilt that I made with some cute froggy fabric. I quilted all of the ditches and quilted an "X" through the rectangles of frog fabric. I finished 2 partial spools of purple thread and opened a spool of Essential thread to finish the quilting. This quilt will go to Project Linus.

Yeehaw Lady - Finished

Yeehaw Lady is finished! (Imagine big happy dance.) The round of edging is crocheted over floral wire so you can shape the brim however you want. Crocheting over the wire was easy. Crocheting 120 reverse half double crochet  stitches with 2 strands of worsted weight yarn was not easy. Click on the pictures to see bigger versions.

If you haven't been reading the nearly daily reports on this project, here are links to the earlier reports

• Yeehaw
• Rippit, Rippit
• Yeehaw Progress
• Yeehaw More Progress

Yarn Out, Afghans In - Aug. 09. 2006

I played yarn lady today and visited Dolores, a Project Linus volunteer in her late 80s. Dolores has crocheted about 50 afghans a year for PL for 9 years. I took Dolores yarn and she gave me these 5 finished afghans. Thank you Dolores.

Yeehaw More Progress

I now have half of the brim done on my Yeehaw Lady hat. I might be done by now, but I frogged the 4 rows of cluster stitches at the base of the hat. The hat was too tight, so I redid the cluster stitch band with my tension slightly relaxed. That increased the circumference about 3/4 of an inch and the hat is just the right size now. Getting so close to done. Hopefully no more frogging!

Website Updates - August 8,2006

I"ve added several charities to the Handmade for Charity page. A lot of them come from resource sections in library books and DVDs. Please vist Handmade for Charity for descriptions and additional listings.

• Adopt-A-Native Elder
• Children in Common
• Christmas-at-Sea
• Cubs for Kids
• Cuddles (UK based.)
• Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts
• Gifts for the Unborn
• House of Dreams
• Knit for Kids
• Magic Mittens and Mufflers for Mongolian Children
• Pathways to Spirit
• Paula's Knitting and Crochet National Charity Project
• Pine Ridge Reservation
• The Ships Project
• Stitches From the Heart

Yeehaw Progress

I made some good progress on my Yeehaw Lady hat today. I'm halfway through the fourth and last round of cluster stitches that form the hat band. Before long I'll be making increases for the brim. Yeehaw!

Stash Size - How Big is Yours?

The crocheters on the CrochetTalk group have been talking about being yarnaholics and the size of their yarn stashes. My yarn stash doesn't begin to compare with these women, even if you include the Project Linus yarn I have stored. I take yarn to an 89 year old woman who makes about 50 afghans a year for Project Linus. She just called and I need to go see her this week.

Some of the women in the Stash Quilts webring and their friends have challenged each other to not buy any fabric during the month of August and just use their fabric stash to make quilts. I think LA Quilter, Vicky, started the challenge and has named it the "Great Fabric Depression of August 2006". JudyL of Sunshine Quilts has finished A Total Stash Quilt for her niece since the challenge started.

My fabric stash is a bit more extensive than my yarn stash, but I would have a tough time making a 100% stash quilt from my personal stash. I have more fabric in my Project Linus stash. The Project Linus fabric is stored in two 64 quart tubs with some overflow. Since I retired last fall, I've been very restrained about adding to the PL stash. There have been a few purchases of fabric to use as backgrounds. I realized in February that I had a lot of medium to dark fabrics, but not much to go with them for the background area of a block or quilt. I've bought a couple of pieces that were good for quilt backs from the clearance fabric at Hobby Lobby.

My production of quilts and other blankets for Project Linus is greater than when I was working, but still significantly smaller than what some people do. I think I've used most of the stuff I bought for backs, though there is some flannel from before retirement. The overflow from the 2 tubs has shrunk over the last 10 months. I've used a good bit of the batting I had on had last fall, but I purchased a 110 inch by 10 yard roll of Warm Blend when JoAnns had a special purchase and a 40% off coupon, so I'm still well supplied with batting.

So what's in your stash and how do you use it? Or not use it?

Crayon Quilt Finished

Today I quilted the crayon top that I backed with twill. Calling it a quilt is a bit of stretch since there is no batting. No binding either since I used the pillowcase method.* But it is a finished blanket that Project Linus will welcome. The crayon squares are from the PL "Kids Helping Kids" program and I made the heart blocks. I ditch quilted around the 7½ inch blocks. Enough to hold the layers together, but no batting to worry about.

I also stitched a little on the purple H-block quilt. Hopefully that will be finished in a couple of days. I only did 2 rows on my Yeehaw Lady hat, so no new picture.

^*Pillowcase method: Spread out quilt layers as follows: batting, backing fabric with right side up, and quilt top with right side down. Stitch all 3 layers together about 1/4 inch from edge of quilt top. Leave a 6 to 10 inch opening. Trim back and batting to the edge of the quilt top. Turn quilt right side out through the opening. Turn edges of opening to inside of the quilt and sew opening shut. Finger press outside edge and topstitch about a presser foot width from the edge to hold it flat. Quilt as desired.

Rippit, Rippit!

My Yeehaw Lady hat looks a lot like it did yesterday. I wasn't happy with the placement of the increases around the back of the hat (the rounded end). As the hat got taller, it was clear that one side was getting bigger than the other. So I frogged several rows and placed the increases a little differently so they are more centered. I'm happier now.

On a more positive note, I knitted a couple of rows on the brown and white feather and fan afghan. I also have sewn backs to 2 Project Linus quilt tops and have them stitched (pillow case finishing method) and turned right side out. One is another one of the crayon tops and I backed it with twill, no batting. It will be fast to quilt. The other one is a H-block top with batting that will take a little longer to quilt.

U.S. Postal Service Honors Quilts of Gee's Bend

On August 24, 2006 the U. S. Postal Service will issue a booklet of stamps featuring 10 quilts made by quilters in Gee's Bend, Alabama. You can see pictures and order a booklet of the stamps on the USPS website. There is more detailed information on The 2006 Commemorative Stamp Program web page. There are several paragraphs on the Gee's Bend Quilt stamps near the bottom of the page.

Yeehaw

Dot Matthews' Yeehaw Lady hat proved irresistible to the cowgirl in me. The pattern is in Debbie Stoller's "Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker" book. You can find more of Dot's patterns including Giddyup Go, a similar hat, on her Crochet bythehook blog.

The hat is made with 2 strands of worsted weight cotton with a gauge of 14 stitches equals 4 inches, which is really tight. The pattern uses 2 strands of red Lion Brand Lion Cotton. I'm using 1 red strand and 1 white strand of Sugar and Cream. The blended colors won't show the decorative stitch around the base of the hat as well as solid red, but I didn't think a solid red hat would fit into my wardrobe that well.

Gauge is really important so this hat will fit correctly. The pattern calls for a J hook but I was getting closer to 5 inches per 14 stitches instead of the required 4 inches. I had to go down to an H hook. The first few rounds I had to take very frequent breaks as my hand were cramping badly. Since I've got to where there are fewer increases my hands are doing better.

Interesting enough, I get about the same gauge with only 1 strand of the cotton, but the fabric is a bit soft for this hat with only 1 strand. Once I finish this hat, I'm thinking of making it with 2 strands of sport weight cotton or 1 of sport weight and one of worsted weight so it isn't quite so thick and heavy. I should be able to put a few rounds on the hat during "SciFi Friday" tonight.

Teaching Children to Quilt

At the library today, I read "How I Spend My Summer Vacations", by Jan Carlson, in the August 2006 issue of McCall's Quilting. This is the tenth year that Jan has taught children in a summer quilt camp at the DAR Museum. My New Jersey quilt guild teaches a children's quilt class each summer. (Yes, I've lived in Missouri the last 11 years and still belong to Rebecca's Reel Quilters in New Jersey.)

Many children today have parents who do not sew and do not learn to sew in school. Other opportunities for children to learn to sew are important. My second Saturday of the month charity quilt group welcomes quilters of all ages and skill levels and teaches anyone willing to learn. We have 3 young quilters that have been with our group for some time and a fourth that joined more recently.

I inherited my love of sewing and quilting from my grandmothers. I learned to sew in Home Economics class and took my first quilting class many years later. It's been over 35 years since I took Home Ec and evidently Home Ec class as I knew it no longer exists. Help develop these skills in the children in your life.

Crocheted Art

Some crocheted sculptures created a bit of a stir in Washington, D.C. in June. This Washington Post article reports that employees of a law firm in the same building as the art gallery objected to the nude figures. Ming-Yi Sung, the artist, quickly crocheted some fig leaves and added them in strategic places. Thanks go to Erin B. who shared this link with the CrochetTalk group.

Review: The Knitting Answer Book

The Knitting Answer Book uses a question and answer format to present a lot of information in a compact size. Subtitled "Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask", the book includes almost every knitting question you are likely to have. A beginning or intermediate knitter will find much helpful information. The illustrations are clear and the answers are easy to understand.

The book is divided into 13 chapters including: casting on, the basics, binding off, tools, yarn, reading patterns, pattern stitches, circular knitting, color, shaping, fitting, finishing and embellishments. A resources section in the back of the book gives suggestions on finding other knitters and knitting resources and has an extensive list of knitting books, magazines and a few useful, informative websites.

"The Knitting Answer Book" would be a useful addition to the knitting library of most knitters. The book size is 4½ by 6½ by 1 inch thick, a nice size to carry with your knitting. If you have no knitting experience at all, get a book with basic how-to-knit instructions first. Once you have that first scarf or dishcloth made, this book can answer your questions and help you learn the finer points of knitting.

Project Linus Blankets Donated

I delivered 9 blankets to our Project Linus coordinator today. From the bottom up they are: crayon top quilt, appliqued heart quilt, fleece squares rag blanket, fleece strips rag blanket, 3 baseball pillow panel blankets (pillow panel with borders added and backed with twill fabric, no batting), Big Star quilt and the purple and gold ripple afghan. It's good to get the stack out of here. Our donations are way down this summer and I'm happy to free up the space in my house.