Seeing Red - In a Good Way

At times it seems I've become identified as a sucker an easy mark. You have no idea some of the weird requests I get for charity knitting or causes to promote in the blog. Some of them are downright bizarre -- I'm not even sure if they're real or someone is putting me on. You might think I'm a pushover for every one that comes along, but let me just set the record straight: I'm not. Don't ask me to promote crazy malarky or pass one over on me of someone's hidden agenda that is counter to my values or beliefs. But today I'm going to talk about one I can really get behind. This relates to something close to my heart. You don't need to know why. Just believe me.

This is all about sending Valentine's Day care packages to "emancipated" foster children who are in college. You can read more about it here or here. There are a few things I am a sucker for, and one of them is sending care packages to kids in boarding school or college. Ask entire floors of kids at Walnut Hill School dorms. Ask entire casts of multiple plays at that school and at the college. Ask my daughter and her roommates.

Foster kids who have the smarts, and more importantly the gumption and the self-direction and motivation, to go to college, deserve a pat on the back as often as we can give it. They are hoping to overcome obstacles that the rest of us can barely imagine. More than likely they have no one as a parental figure. The social workers' jobs are "over," the foster parents often have ceased caring, assuming the kids had good, caring foster parents in the first place. The kids have no real place to go "home" to for school breaks, no one to call when times are tough. They don't stop being kids when they're 18, but they are often pretty much left hanging.

My daughter has two loving and supportive parents who care beyond measure about her education and her wellbeing, and it's still not always easy for her. Imagine a kid who is on his or her own at that age, trying to do it. The odds for success are slim, at best.

I was contacted by Mary Beth Temple yesterday to help spread the word about this, if I were so inclined. I am. Inclined. It's a damn short deadline, but I know I can get out a scarf before January 31st.

My red stash.

Now, here is an unglossed observation: It seems to me that when I talk about charity knitting, people get uncomfortable. There is a deafening silence in the comments when I do, disproportionate to other entries. Honestly, that hurts a little. I wonder what it is that turns people off and away.

But regardless, I hope you will pick up your needles and join me in knitting a red scarf for this worthy cause, even if you don't feel you have anything to comment.

For my part, I long ago promised Dave that I would test-knit his awesome scarf pattern, but I've been distracted by a bunch of other things. Now I will do it, in red, and I will kill .... one, two, three, four... birds with one stone:

1) Test-knit a scarf pattern

2) in red

3) stash yarn

4) for the project.

UPDATE:  I should have put this in here the first time.  Sorry 'bout that.

Einstein Bagels locations (it says all 419 of them in the country) are serving as drop-off points, by January 31, 2006. Or, it says you can mail them to:

Orphan Foundation of America/Red Scarf Project
21351 Gentry Drive, Suite 130
Sterling, VA 20166-8511

And (gulp) it says the deadline for mailing is January 28, 2006. This is REALLY a short deadline!!!

Oh, well. We'll do what we can do, right?  "Bulky" is the word, is the word, is the word....  :-)

Comments

[Rachel H]

I adore you. And I adore your charity knitting. It's inspired me to do some of my own, as you know. I'm sorry I won't be able to join you in this one, coz it sounds like a fantastic idea, and very worthy indeed. Maybe next time? And if the Dave you refer to is he of the bamboo torture mitten, I'm very much looking forward to seeing the scarf!

[joan]

Does a sort of bright fuschia/purple/beigish handspun Border Leicester count as red? I'm an ex-social worker and I get it...although I know foster parents whose homes are full at all times of those who have been through the system and are now real family members, many, WAY too many, children don't live in homes like that. I guess the modern-day Waltons are too busy with their own!

If the above won't work, I'll just have to break my vow and buy some yarn. Sigh. A sacrifice, maybe even a mitzvah!

[lyssa]

I dig the charity knitting. This project sounds really cool, though... something new. Maybe people don't comment as much about Dulaan stuff because it has been going on long enough that all the blog readers know about it.

I don't have any red in my stash, but I'd happily knit some of yours! I just graduated from college myself, and I'm trying very hard not to buy any new yarn until I have a job.

[Kathy]

(stands up and applauds) Thank you for sharing another opportunity to help others. I used to work at a group home and saw just how hard it was for all of the children there, especially the teenagers. Hats off indeed to any foster child who gets to college and beyond.

[janine]

Well done. I would join you - Honest I would, but there is no way I could get a scarf knitted in time and get it over to you from the UK. But I'll tell you what I will do. I will knit a scarf or a couple of Chemo caps or something from my stash ( yep I'm broke and can't afford to buy any more yarn at the moment)and I will send them to one of our local children's charities on the island instead. Not quite as good as joining in but better than sitting here and doing nothing?

[Manise]

Very well said! Count me in! Imagine if each of us were to knit just ONE scarf. Let's all jump in for this wonderful cause and bring some warm fuzzies into the life of an emancipated teen!

Where do we send our finished scarves? To you? Please e-mail me and let me know.

[Dave Daniels]

Hey, there. That's great idea for the scarf pattern, to use it for the charity. If anyone else wants it, they can email me at knit at cabincove.com and I can send them a PDF of it.

[Kathleen]

What do you think of a shawly thing in some red Fiesta? I bet a college kid would wear it.

[Laurie]

You are a good person, Norma.

[Beth]

Go Norma! What is the significance of red? Must it be done by 1/31? Where do we send them? My church knitting group meets on 1/21 and I would be happy to spread the word about this project, if the 1/31 deadline is not real firm, or even if it is.

[Chris]

Now this grabs me. Count me in for a red scarf. I'm a slow knitter and the only red in stash is a DK weight, so I'm gonna head to LYS and pick up something red and bulky.

[JoVE]

I applaud you even though I'm crap at doing charity knitting myself. I think this is a good one, too. And even though I don't do charity knitting much, I might go grab that button for Bundle Up New Orleans which is a project a friend of mine is running and stick it on my blog for those who do.

[Leanne]

I'm in. Please send me info as where to mail. Thank you for bring this oppertunity to my attention.

[Amber]

I had some friends that got "lost" after they were out of foster care. No one to look after them or check up on them, and friends are good, but not enough sometimes.

I have some red in stash, Llama even, nice and soft. Email me where I should send this to and I can get it done for (or before) the end of the month :)

[Cassie]

I've known a bunch of foster kids and its really incredible the hurdles that most of them are up against. This is a wonderful charity project.

[margene]

Does it have to be red. It is a great idea and those kids deserve to know they have support all over the country.

[KT]

I'm with you! Going to drop the small hollering boys off at school and then go stash diving for some red! Thanks Norma.

[Kathy]

Thanks for this post -- great. And I'm with you on the charity knitting -- I love it. Beauty and beautiful things should be shared.

[Kirsten]

Yay, Norma! This is a fabulous project. Unfortunately, the deadline is just too tight for me right now.

Others may be interested to know that the OFA has a program called "vmentors"--you can mentor a college-age foster kid through email. I bet there are a lot of people here who would be great mentors.

[Cara]

You go, Norma! Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Laura]

I'm coming out of lurkerville to comment -- I'm in on this project. Thanks for spreading the word about it!

I think I'll knit a Midwest Moonlight from Scarf Style.

[Jan]

What a wonderful project, Norma! Thank you for publicizing it. Just think of how many more kids will benefit because you wrote a post about the program. Kudos!

[naomi]

I think my red knitting for January is going to have to be an overdue baby gift, but this is a great project. Thanks for sharing!

[MBT]

I am going to jump in with a couple of answers to help out.

It does not have to be red. These particular scarves are going into Valentine's Day care packages, so red is the color of choice, but it is not mandatory. Any variation is fine, and if red doesn't work for you they have asked you stick to non-gender specific colors - brights or jewels - so as not to be sending a pink fluffy thing to a college age guy! They haven't mentioned this, but I also think it is good commom sense to stay away from anything that an 18 year old would find difficult to care for.

The 1/31 deadline is close but firm, because of Valentine's Day being on 2/14.

Norma put the mailing address on her blog entry, and it is available on any of the links she included. If you want to find the nearest Einstein Bagels (they are the drop-off locations), go to EinsteinBros.com and click on the store locator.

Thanks to all who jumped on this bandwagon and Norma - you rock my world!

[anj]

I understand the dearth of comments when we talk about charity knitting. I seem to ahve the same echo when I do that on my blog.

I'll dive into the stash m'lady. It is a good cause. My poor father's folks died when he was young. (father died when he was 14 and his mother died the month he graduated high school) and he often had no where to turn when he put himself through college. I have "adopted" gay college kids in the past whose families have either disowned or died before they hit college to give them a place to stay on breaks and a place to do laundry on weekends. It is just shocking how many ways a kids can be left on his or her own when they hit 18.

[jpt]

Your empathetic writing about how scary emancipation can be means a lot to me. In high school, I knew kids who got out of abusive homes & into foster care, and I knew kids who waited out the abuse until they were old enough to leave home without going into the system. I have never forgotten a single one of them. I just finished a lacy red scarf last week, and I'll cast on for another one tonight. Thanks for spreading the word!

[Lisa]

You always inspire me with all your knitting. Maybe the lack of comments is due to the fact that everyone is rushing away to get their needles and yarn - you can always hope... I think I can do bulky by the end of January. My Jaywalkers can take a little bit longer to grow up.

[Carole]

This will be fun! And it's a cool way for me to remember my mom and all she did for me to make me the woman I am today, as Valentine's Day was her absolute favorite holiday. And, I'm not kidding when I say that VD was HUGE at our house. We all got gifts - like Christmas, really - and had a fancy meal together and my mom just made it really special. These foster kids have probably never experienced anything like that and I had it on a regular basis. So, this is a great chance to not only give to someone else but to remember all my mom gave to me. Off to weep with sentimentality now . . .

[rock chick]

Fuck it all to Hell, I do have some bulky red Manos...

[Lisa]

Also coming out of lurkdom to say that I'll add a scarf to my current knitting for this cause. This is the time of year I take a break from knitting gifts and just knit for charities. I think it's a fantastic way to start of the year in the right mindset.

[gale (she shoots sheep shots)]

Yeah Norma! Thanks for using your blog for this, support for kids who age out of foster care has been my passion since I worked on a book project about it, spending time w/ 8 young adults. Some lost their way w/out support and some overcame amazing obstacles. All of the successes were kids who connected to an adult: a mentor, a teacher, someone who reached out to them in their community. Small gestures, like a scarf, can mean a lot. You rock.
The book, fyi is http://tinyurl.com/7clpz

[liz]

Now I have to troll the stash for red yarn. You know, even though red is my favorite color, I don't think I've ever knitted anything in red. Hmmm. If I don't have any yarn, I can go get some - buying/knitting for others doesn't count against the Stashalong and, if it does, it's a really good reason to get dropped ;>

[Dawn]

It's two weeks! The amazing knitters of the internet can totally get a scarf or two off in two weeks. PLENTY of time. In fact, I'm going to go see if I have any red yarn myself...

[Kris]

Crap. I'm only keeping up with the "knitters I know" list on bloglines right now, and now you're sucking me in to a project I don't have time for. :P I'll definitely try, though - I just need to find the time to search for a good pattern for the 2 skeins of red Araucania Nature Wool I have in my stash... I welcome any suggestions for ~500 yards of wool that knits at 5 spi. :)

[Beth S.]

Look at all the comments today--I think the charity curse has been lifted. :-)

[Laura]

Oh I have the red, for sure. There's some bits and single skeins in a 2 gallon ziplock that's just begging to be a nifty scarf. I'm just hoping our drop off point isn't near a yarn store because my knitting room is getting pretty full after all the year-end sales. :D

[Tish]

I have red bulky wool yarn and pink and white novelty yarns (fuzzy and polarfleece-y which make a very warm and fun scarf when knit together) and I also have an Einstein's in town so I'm in for at least one scarf. (And with my son's hockey tny this weekend, I'll probably be able to crank out a second one). My 14yo compulsive scarf knitting daughter can probably get one finished by the deadline too. Thanks for the heads up! I, too, have sent many a care pkg to my kids and their friends in college and HS, to soldiers in A-stan and Iraq (some we knew, some we didn't), as well as cadets and the Army hockey team when my husband taught at USMA. At least I won't have to bake or scour WalMart for that favorite but impossible to find candy. Oh wait, I still have 2 kids in college! So cookies and candy to my kids, scarves to Einstein's for former foster kids.

[Elizabeth]

This is a marvelous idea. Everyone seems to focus on the little ones in need and not the big kids. I will look for a similar organization in Canada.

[Jean E.]

This sounds like a wonderful cause. I am going to cabincove.com next!!! Thank you for supporting these kids! (My brother works for child protective services.) I think the scarves will be very much appreciated. Maybe I can get two done in time. The neighbor's baby sweaters can wait a few more days!!

[Chris]

Hmm, that looks like the least "silent" bunch of comments I've seen for a while!! :)

Knitting for the community is one of my goals for the year. Now, here's my problem - do I have any red in my stash??? 'Cos, like, I'm in Stashalong... I do live only 10 blocks from an Einstein Brothers Bagels, so I have that going for me.

Off to do some stash excavation. Too bad Wilton's reds don't take that well - I have plenty of dyeable yarn.

[Mel]

If I can't dye what I have in stash, I'll buy some yarn this weekend (I'm not a stashbuster) and get on it! I also posted about this in my blog.

[Kim]

I think this is a great cause, but (1) I don't have red yarn and can't buy it and (2) I'm knee deep in preemie project knitting. I think it's great that you share different charity knitting projects--I always wanted to do some but I waited until I found a cause that was close to my heart.

[Annalisa Assaadi]

Norma- I am Annalisa Assaadi, OFA's National Events Coordinator, working on the Red Scarf Project. Your blog was powerful and knocked my socks off. You hit it right on the head about older foster youth and their issues. It certainly is encouraging as we work hard to get the thousands of scarves we need for the Valentine Care Package to these students in need of support and encouragement.Just to clarify, OFA will accept scarves through Jan. 31 by mail or at any Einstein Bros. Bagel location nationwide. Go to www.orphan.org for address. The knit/crochet community has been so great to us so thank you Norma, and everyone who understands!

[Sue]

Thanks for this great opportunity, Norma. I’ve been following your blog for just about a month or so. I am a beginner at knitting, but was able to make some scarves for Christmas presents, so I was very pleased about that. I will gladly contribute a scarf for this project! In fact, my husband and I are considering becoming foster parents (we have three children of our own, as well) and so I think this project is an excellent way to help these kids know that others are thinking about them and caring for them, even from afar. This is also my first opportunity do a charity knitting project. Thanks again!

[Sandy]

I have a knitting machine! I have a knitting machine! I can crank out some nice scarves on that puppy.

Now, gotta go dig up my red stash.

[Carma]

Oooo One of two of my New Year's Resolutions is to knit more for charity AND I'm going to be in the car for at least 6 hours Monday, a day I TRY to do something "worthy".

Norma, my dear, your fabulous post has come at an EXCELLENT time.

Now I just need to procure some BULKY yarn ;)

[Carrie]

Hey Norma,

I usually don't commit to charity knitting for the same reason I don't do the angel-tree thing at Christmas. I'm seriously scatterbrained and would absolutely KILL myself if some little kid didn't get a toy from Santa because I'm an airhead and forgot to buy it. However, that being said, I remember how fantastic it was when my mother sent care packages, and I can knit a scarf in a day, and I think this might be something I can do. Harlot-giant-bulky-scarf-with-fringe, here I come...

[Lee Ann]

I don't think I can get a scarf done by the deadline (big work project just fell on my head. Yes, it hurt.), but I did want to say that you are absolutely awesome. Go, Norma!

[Doris]

I'm also coming out of Lurkerville. What a great project. By coincidence I just finished a red scarf. I will drop it off at Einstein's this weekend. I wasn't sure who was going to be the recipient of that scarf, and now, while I'm still not sure exactly who it will be...it'll be the perfect person! Thanks for making me aware of this terrific project

[Teri P]

Short deadline? Nah..... Norma, dude. the 28th is sixteen days away. That's 384 hours. Just think how many scarves you can knit in 384 hours!!

ps. Thanks for the info. As a lucky duck with two loving parents, somehow it never occured to me about the emancipated fosters. My heart hurts.