Red Scarf Project 2007

FAQ

PLEASE READ THIS THOROUGHLY TO BE SURE YOU STILL HAVE A QUESTION BEFORE EMAILING FOR ANSWERS. 

NEW BLOG UP FOR 2008

I've started the new blog for the 2008 initiative.  Please go see it here and change your bookmarks. 

It's a work in progress, so please bear with me.  Sorry for the confusion all these overlapping blogs is causing! 

In the meantime, knit.....and maybe donate.  :)

Announcing: The Red Scarf Fund For Foster Youth!!

This is the day I've been waiting for and what I tea$ed you about a few weeks ago.  I'm soooo excited about this.

I get to announce the new

Red Scarf Fund For Foster Youth.

When I went to Washington, it was largely for the purpose of pitching the idea of a knitbloggers' scholarship to my friends at the OFA. I explained to them that if there is one thing we knitters and knitbloggers and crocheters can do and do well, it's to rally around a good cause.  And, of course, most importantly for a scholarship/fund type of deal:  Raise Money!

We've been working on this thing together, and Doug Sprei, Director of Communications and Marketing at the OFA, got the Paypal donation site set up this week.  He wrote a nice entry about our meeting in Washington in the OFA blog here. (I lifted his photo, but I don't think he'll mind.)

So the Paypal button was up and running as of August 1st.  I made a donation as quickly as I could after learning that the site was operational, but Doug tells me that a woman from California beat me to it as soon as he put up the button the other night (and before I even knew about it). 

In our meeting, we discussed having the money the knitbloggers raise be earmarked for some special purpose -- for a special group of recipients (i.e., art majors), or a special need (i.e., the Emergency Fund, which can make or break a person's resolve to stay in college.) The idea that was most on my mind was to develop a fund for people who have to leave campus for school holidays but have no place to go.  In the end, however, we all decided that the best use of the money we raise is to not earmark it for any one purpose, but to put it in the general fund so it can be used for whatever is most needed at any given time.   

So what do you say?  Shall we dance?  Go ahead, click!  Let's just knock their socks off!

I would love to show them what I can do with a little help from my friends. 

Mary Beth Temple has offered to sweeten the pot a little bit.  How about you make a donation, and then tell me about it in an email to norma[dot]knits[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject line Red Scarf Fund, and I'll put your name in a drawing for a copy of Mary Beth Temple's fun new book, The Secret Language of Knitters.  Sound good?  Thank you, Mary Beth, for the FABULOUS prize donation!  How exciting is that? 

Red Scarf 2008 Launched

Soon I hope to have a proper blog dedicated to the 2008 Red Scarf project (I'm waiting for some art work from the Orphan Foundation) but in the meantime, please read about it in my regular blog here and get started with your red scarves, your gift cards, and your notes of encouragement. 

Red Scarf 2008 News

I get frequent questions about whether there will be a Red Scarf 2008. 

I wrote about it in my main blog here.  I will update as and when I have additional information. 

Megan Rocks: A Red Scarf Story

I received this email yesterday from Anna H. from New Jersey.  I just had to share it with you. 

The subject line of the email said:  "Daughter earns Gold Award via Red Scarf Project!"

My daughter who is 16 years old just earned her Gold Award for Girl Scouting.  It is the highest award bestowed to a Girl Scout who has demonstrated Leadership, Character and  Service.  She wanted to pick a project that had meaning to her.  She toyed with projects geared towards children or the elderly but none quite clinched it for her. It was thru your website and the Orphan Foundation of America that she felt this was the project that touched her heart.  And she wanted to reach out to her peers.  She also knows firsthand what it means to get a Care Package from home; her older sister is a freshman in college and is absolutely thrilled to get mail, let alone a Care Package.

Megan did not crochet before this.  She does not knit.  But, with a nice lady at our local Michael's Craft Store, Megan was able to learn one stitch.  The single crochet.  Her goal was to make 50 scarves herself and reach out to the community and collect another 50 scarves.  Her goal was a total of 100 scarves.  When all was said and done, she sent in 260 scarves!  She personally made 47 but the numbers alone doesn't tell the whole story.  She taught her grandmother how to do the single crochet and Grandma pitched in and made some.  Megan went to senior citizen's housing, Jersey Knitters, and Girl Scout Leaders' meeting and presented her project.

When it was time to ship the scarves down to Virginia, she sent 13 boxes. The lady at the Fed Ex window was so touched by Megan's project that she helped Megan out by giving her a nice discount.

News and Thanks from Annalisa at the OFA

Excerpted from an email from Annalisa at the OFA:

I will be forwarding photos for you to post of our students. They took them themselves and sent them in. They are so delighted and many of the students should be receiving their Care Package with the Red Scarf right about now.. We remain very busy with volunteers and plans to send the scarves out for Valentine’s and throughout the month of February. We received a large amount of mailings the last two weeks and we are busy as elves trying to open and sort the scarves. There are boxes piled to the ceiling both in our storage space across the street and in our offices. The best news is that the scarves will reach more older foster youth than we could hope for across the country giving them a message of care and the awareness that the option of education and opportunity is alive and well. It will be a few weeks before we can post a Red Scarf Scrapbook for 2007 on our site, but because of your blog and the amazing spirit of its “members”, we wanted you to get the first photos. We are so very touched by the impact and the meaning that each and every one of the scarves represents. We cherish all the Valentines, candy, stamps and gift cards that came with them, too! Those items are very helpful. Warmest regards to all and THANK YOU from the bottom of our “redscarfhearts”! - All of us at OFA

AND NOW FOR SOME CUTE OVERLOAD.  For your pleasure, emails and photos from some more recipients:

Hi!  I absolutely adore my scarf. It is the coolest yarn i have ever seen [ed. note:  It's Fun Fur!!]. I love it!!!!Thank you so much for all the other goodies too.
Sam

This is Sam.  Gorgeous! (click on the thumbnails for larger photos.)

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Hottie Alert!

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Happy, happy grin, grin!

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Sweet!!!

Farewell RSP 2007

The packing and shipping days at the OFA are Feb. 5th and Feb. 7th, and we have far surpassed the goal of 2,500 scarves.  (by a multiple of three!)

If you haven't mailed your scarf yet, please hold it for next year or give it to another worthy cause.  You might want to consider your local homeless shelter or women's shelter, or send it to the Dulaan Project.  There are always worthy charities that are waiting to receive your handknits. 

Or keep it as a ready-made holiday present for next year, OR wear it yourself.  You deserve it! 

Thank you to all the wonderful knitters and crocheters who participated.   I can't wait for next year!

List of Winners

I did the drawing!  Before I get to the winners' list, I must tell you how surprised I was at the outcome.  I was informed of 723 scarves.  Not all of them appear in the gallery, because not everyone could send in photos.  I assigned each scarf a number on a Google spreadsheet, as I was notified.  There were 12 prizes to award.

This morning, I used this random number generator to generate the list of winners, and the results are below. 

158	504	646	553	126   593
73	521	278	374	222   677

It seems a little top-heavy, in the sense that many of the numbers are at the high end of the range.  That's the funny thing about "random," isn't it?  Then it turned out that No. 126 was mine.  I disqualified myself, so asked the generator for another number, and it came up with Amy A.-H.'s number.  Karma must be somewhat at work here, because there are THREE college students in the list, and at least one of the prize donors also won a prize.  Too delicious an outcome for words.

So, without further ado, I give you the following winners and their respective prizes:

1.  Karen, of Hat on Top, for her 3rd scarf offering -- Stitch markers from Melissa (Karen is also a prize donor)

2.   Amy H. -- Stitch markers from Melissa

3.   Susan -- Kaffe Fassett book donated by Pamela C.

4.  Amy T. -- (a college student at my daughter's college, it turns out) Vermont Nut Free Chocolate

5.  Heather H.  -- The lovely skein of yarn from Scout's Swag

6.  Sara G.-L.  -- Elizabeth Zimmerman books from an anonymous donor

7. and 8.  -- Trish's knitters from Michigan.  Both of the numbers 504 and 521 fell within this group.  I don't have the names of the individual knitters, so I am going to send the prize to Trish and let her deal with it as she sees fit.  (hopefully there will not be too much fighting.  The prizes are both lots of phenomenal Fyberspates yarn sent by Jennifer T.)

9.  Whitney -- (a graduate student)  "Here There Be Dragons" pattern and skein of Socks That Rock from Keyboard Biologist Theresa

10.  Heidi from QCSNB -- Kureyon donated by Mary Lou

11. Lauren W - (another college student) Rowan Felted Tweed donated by Karen (who also was a winner in this drawing -- Karma again?)

12. Christine N. -- Lisa Souza Laceweight donated by Susan J.

I have emailed the winners and, if appropriate, the prize donors, so that addresses may be exchanged. 

Another Prize Donation!

Susan J. from WI has generously donated a 2500 yd/8oz. skein of hand dyed lace weight yarn from Lisa Souza in the South Pacific colorway for a lucky winner.

The drawing will take place by noon tomorrow.  Come back to see the list of winners.  I will notify winners by email.

Prize Donation By Pamela C.

Pamela C. has generously donated a gently used copy of Glorious Knits by Kaffe Fassett (Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1985 hardcover edition) to be awarded to a knitter of red scarves.  Kaffe's sense of color is inspiring to any knitter, and this is a lovely donation.  Thank you, Pamela!