Get out your needles and dance! The Red Scarf season is almost upon us. The OFA will take scarves from September 1-December 15, 2009. Approximately 3,500 scarves are needed.
Please remember QUALITY. This is not for beginner knitters or crocheters.
The goal is for gift-worthy tasteful unisex collegiate scarves for middle class American college students -- something they would feel proud to wear, just as if they were your own college-age son, daughter, or grandchild -- using the following guidelines:
Soft yarns, a drapey gauge, evenly knit or crocheted (but not anything that could be interpreted "lacy")
Does not have to be machine washable (but please include washing instructions)
DK or light worsted weight is the preferred weight (can be fingering weight doubled)
NO BULKY or SUPER-BULKY (it does not fit in the care package boxes)
5-8 inches wide
60-70 inches long
RED! is the MUCH PREFERRED COLOR. Other tasteful UNISEX colors are acceptable, but RED is PREFERRED. Absolutely NO PINK or LAVENDER, and no colors that the general public might not like. Yellows, oranges, and certain shades of green are examples of what I'm talking about. Some people (me included) love those colors -- others really get turned off by them.
NO LACE. NO FRILLS. NO ROTINI SCARVES. NO FUN FUR.
UNISEX, please.
No felted scarves.
No used scarves.
Thank you, and happy knitting! Let me know how you are coming. Send me a photo of your finished scarf at the email address in the sidebar, and I will post it here.
The deadline for scarves has been extended to December 15th, 2008.
While scarves have been coming in steadily, the OFA tells me they are not quite where they had hoped to be by this point in October. So get knitting, everyone!
So you might have gleaned that I was in D.C. for a few days. One
reason I went, as many of you guessed, is for more Red Scarf/Orphan
Foundation fun.
What can I say about this organization and association that I
haven't already said? I just can't stop enthusing. How I stumbled upon
this and got involved in it I can hardly remember, but now it just
seems like it's a part of me -- a part of my family, a part of my
being. Gah, now I'm getting sappy. All right, Norma. Focus.
*stopping to pull myself together*
Doug Sprei couldn't ferry me around personally because his daughter
had a basketball tournament, but that did not stop him from hooking me
up, big-time. Lynn Davis, Manager of Partnership Development and a
perfect match for me (a real pistol), took over the job. Did we have
FUN! She picked me up at my hotel and brought me to Georgetown where
we met up with five Ohio teens in the program. They are spending the
summer in internships on Capitol Hill, and they are fantastic!
Laura Adkins, who is the Ohio shepherd (Her official title is the
Ohio ETV Coordinator. I don't know what ETV means, so I'm going to
call her "Shepherd Queen Laura") for the interns and
the aged-out-of-the-system foster kids, was on hand to take us all out
to lunch at a French restaurant she knew from her days going to college
in Georgetown. What a wonderful, fun, and engaging woman she is! Such
a force! And her daughter and son-in-law joined us, as well.
Total.wonderful.fun. Keep in mind that I hate kids. Really.
But when Laura introduced me to the interns, she said, "And this is
Norma. She is the blogger who..." and several of them interrupted and
said, "The scarves?! Wow!" They of course had me in the palms of their hands from that point forward. Come on: I can only hate kids to a point, ya know.
None of the interns had ever been to a French restaurant before.
After we got seated, Laura said to them, "Now, I want to hear what you
are going to order for an appetizer."
Several of them protested, "Appetizers! But it's so expensive!"
Laura said, "No. I want to hear how many of you are going to join me
for escargot. This is the day when you don't restrict yourself to
living like you used to live. Today you live like you are going to
live in the future. Now, think about your appetizers. How many are
ordering escargot?"
I could have plotzed. She was frickin' awesome!
I overheard in the conversation that Laura was responsible for
having sent them all to an etiquette course before their internships so
presumably they would know how to conduct themselves properly with the
hoity-toity Capitol Hill folks. Of course, as we all know, and as a
couple of the interns pointed out, nobody has any manners anymore, even
those who were raised with all the advantages in life. A couple of the
interns were savvy enough to have observed that in many of the
situations they'd been in where they were following all the rules of
etiquette, the very hoity-toities that they were meant to impress were
breaking all the rules. Don't you just love it?!
This is Ralph, who sat opposite me, taking his first bite of escargot.
William is next to him, going, "Dude!" when he takes a bite.
Actually, he didn't say "Dude," but I could tell he wanted to. I love
Will. He apologized to me for wearing his do-cap. Love.him.
Ralph asked me to help him choose what to order, and he wanted me to
make sure he ordered things that were authentically French. He wanted
me to describe quiche to him. (He ordered it. He said it was
delicious, but not what he expected.)
I ordered brie and apples for my appetizer.
All the interns tried some and loved it. We all tried stuff off
each other's plates. "Like a family," as Ralph observed. *sniff*
(hatekids, hatekids, hatekids)
Then Laura urged that we all order dessert. Who could pass that up? I mean, really, in a French restaurant? You nuts?
Then something interesting happened. The dessert was served to the
five interns with candles lit, and Happy Birthday was being played in a
recording in the background. Laura said, "I never get to actually
celebrate your birthdays with you, so this is my chance to be able to say happy birthday to you all."
The smiles and genuine glee were so sweet.
This is Samuel Jackson. No, really, it is. With his "birthday" dessert:
That's Laura next to him (sorry it's blurry), and Laura's lovely daughter Megan, farther down the table.
Across the table from Samuel is his biological sister, Candace.
Both amazingly high achievers, gorgeous kids.
Devon is behind her.
After we parted from the rest of the folks -- the boys were heading
out to a kayak trip and the girls were heading back to their places of
abode, Lynn and I later went on a fun shopping trip for makeup with
Devon. She needed to find a MAC cosmetics shop, and we found one for
her nearby. She bought her stuff. Then next door was a Sephora, so I
had to drag everyone in there. They sell Philosophy cosmetics, my
usual since Sandy turned me on to it, and it's always good to save on
shipping charges, since there is no Sephora in Vermont. That's where I
bought my Hope In A Jar. I explained to them that since I started
using it, I have not needed to bother with foundation makeup, and I
reminded them I'm staring 49 in the face. Lynn cracked me up. She
said, "Like that famous scene in When Harry Met Sally, 'I'll have what she's having!'" and Devon followed suit as well.
As we were walking down the street to Lynn's car, Devon said, "And
any time I feel a bit down, I'll remember that I have a little hope --
right in this jar."
Excuse me. I need a moment.
Bye-bye, Cafe La Ruche! (That's Lynn Davis on the left with the
bigggg orange bag. See? Told you she was a perfect match for me.)
P.S. Doug informs me that our little Red Scarf Fund and the Network for Good initiative have raised
nearly $40,000. Our little fund that we started last August. I could
burst with happiness.
Maybe we can even do better than that; what do you think?
My Sandy has pledged to me that she will donate 10% of her auction proceeds from the sale of her Starmore book. w00t! Click here for her auction.
More about the Red Scarf timetable to come very soon.
I've been receiving many inquiries about Red Scarf 2009, asking if "I" will be accepting scarves again soon, and when will I be accepting scarves, and what do I do with all the excess scarves. Let me explain again: I don't receive any scarves and I don't make any decisions with regard to the Red Scarf Project. I don't even work for the Orphan Foundation. I'm just a cheerleader with a blog; that's all I is.
I don't have any more information than you have, but here is what I found posted at the Orphan Foundation Website on the Red Scarf Project page. PLEASE REMEMBER, the goal is not to inundate them with so many scarves they cannot handle them all! With so much enthusiasm for the project, it is difficult to strike the balance between "enough" and WAY TOO MANY. So, my advice is to try to curb your enthusiasm! And please consider sending in a donation to the Red Scarf Fund. :)
Dates for the next Red Scarf initiative are projected to fall between September 1 through October 15, 2008. Scarves should be sent to:
Orphan Foundation of America The Red Scarf Project 21351 Gentry Drive Sterling, VA 20166
As we have limited means for storage, please send your scarves only during this time period.
How many scarves can I make and send in?
Please limit donations to no more than five scarves from any one person or organization. Thank you!
I have been getting emails and comments wondering when to send the scarves. If you didn't send your scarf between September 1 and October 15, 2007, for the 2008 Red Scarf Project, I'm afraid you've missed the boat. The ship has sailed. The barn door is closed. The .... well, you get the message.
You can read what happened when you were asleep at the wheel in the older posts here. Stay tuned at the OFA site or here for future events. You can always make a donation to the Red Scarf Fund. The Red Scarf Project is but a teeny-tiny portion of what the OFA's mission is. It is a scholarship organization, first and foremost.
Yes, the OFA is full-up with red scarf love. Doug (pictured above
in the purple with Jim Foti, modeling some of "the more conservative
submissions," he tells me, ha!) says that they got more than enough
scarves, but not the overwhelming number of last year (phew! we did
it!) and they were deluged in the last week, after the 15th.
Doug also tells me the quality this year is fabulous. They are all
so pleased. The Red Scarf Fund has had no activity in a while and
seems to have topped out at $5,440.
We deserve to pat ourselves on the back. Yay us! Get ready for Red
Scarf 2009, but let's give them a bit of a breather first, okay?
Please consider knitting only one high-quality scarf for the Red Scarf Project, rather than several, this year. Quality over quantity. Quality over quantity. (rinse and repeat)
Please remember that the OFA received far more scarves than they needed last year, and a quick gaze into my crystal ball (reinforced by the seeming flood of emails I have received expressing concerns or questions or confusion or consternation about the change in dates and the guidelines for this year's project) gives me cause to worry that what was last year a flood of scarves that nearly drowned the OFA in good intentions might this year be a tsunami.
Knitters have a lot of enthusiasm for giving people knitted gifts, but the OFA serves a limited number of college students. They are primarily a scholarship organization, and the Red Scarf Project is but a teeny-tiny branchlet of their mission.
Quality over quantity. One scarf. A very nice, gift-quality one. One that you would be proud to give your own college-age son or daughter. Soft and lovely. One, not dozens.
I'll shut up now. Lecture over.
P.S. The opinions expressed in this blog are mine alone and I take full responsibility for them.
The recent media and emailing blitz has raised awareness and generated excitement and enthusiasm, but apparently also led to some confusion, so let me reiterate a few things:
Just a reminder that the limit of scarves to donate, per individual or group effort, is FIVE. The reason is the Orphan Foundation received far more scarves than they had recipients last year. Any excess scarves this year will, of necessity, be donated by the OFA to other worthy causes.
The deadline for sending scarves is October 15, 2007. That is very early, yes, but again it's because they need more time to process the scarves and get them to the recipients. It is possible they will go out before Valentine's Day this year, so they can be of more benefit in the colder months.
I know knitters want to knit. Knitters want to make a tangible item to send to show their caring and love. However, because of the overwhelming (in the true sense of the word) enthusiasm and response to last year's Red Scarf Project, it was necessary to try to limit the number of scarves to a more manageable level. The OFA and I hope everyone understands. And I will reiterate once again that that is the reason for starting the Red Scarf Fund For Foster Youth. Please consider sending a donation to the Fund, which can be put to so many good uses.
These two scarves will be sent to the OFA from JerseyShoreDeb. Visit her blog or visit her on Ravelry: JerseyShoreDeb
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A message from Doug:
Sandi Wiseheart, Editor of
KnittingDaily.com, has posted our
info online at www.knittingdaily.com
and sent out an email newsletter to 50,000 knitters/subscribers, alerting them
to the Red Scarf initiative, and providing links to our site. She also
shot an impromptu little video of herself knitting the scarf and posted it here.
Sandi has started knitting a scarf and is documenting her
work. She will share her pattern and progress on the scarf through the
KnittingDaily.com site some time next week.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Red Scarf Fund total stood at $4,661.
----------------------------
A big thank you goes out to Lily Chin,
who sent me some of her Red Scarf Fund signature yarn, Gramercy. It's
lovely, soft stuff, in just the right red. I was so excited, I
immediately cast on for another scarf. I have had this "Kiss" yarn in
my stash since Jesus was a baby, and it's just been waiting for the
right thing. Inspiration struck when I saw Lily's yarn, and I'm making
another Corrugator scarf -- the scarf pattern of the month for me,
apparently -- this one stripey. I love how it's working up.
The Red Scarf Project, a project of the Orphan Foundation of America, or Orphan.org, collects scarves to send in Valentine's Day care packages to college students who have aged out of foster care. These brave young people are going it on their own and trying to improve their lives and the community by attending college. The care packages are welcome tokens of encouragement to young people who otherwise receive little to no mail.
Your scarf should be soft (any material), unisex design, and approximately 60 inches long by 5 to 8 inches wide. Machine washable is a plus, but it is not absolutely necessary.
Mail it to:
Orphan Foundation of America
The Red Scarf Project
21351 Gentry Drive
Sterling, VA 20166
..but not until September 1, 2009-December, 2009.
Please read all the info in this blog. Most of your questions will be answered here.
Also, please check out the Red Scarf Ravelry group.
If you still have questions that remain unanswered, please email me at norma.knits@gmail.com
