it’s that wonderful time of the year

Posted on Posted in projects

festivus3.0SnowMiserBox12_09

OK, everybody, get your needles warmed up—it’s kick off time for our annual Red Scarf Fundraiser and KAL!

snowFiliesScarfBarb12_09405

when these samples skeins arrived the other day from yarn hollow, barb and i cast on right away at knit night—her snow flies scarf in progress (above) and my small stripey cowl (below) are just the beginning.

snowFiliesCowlIP12_09

this first one took no time at all;  it was done within 24 hours. i love me a quick holiday knit. but the nice thing is that this festive stripey version also has a nice vintage look that carries on well once the holidays are over.

snowFiliesCowlSoak12_09405

now that this cowl is finished i plan to cast on this evening for a larger one in solid red.

snowFiliesCowlDoneB12_09405

i couldn’t be more excited to be releasing the latest red scarf pattern and yarn—this is what makes christmas a holiday for me. each year the release of our red scarf fundraiser pattern brings the true meaning of the holidays to our community—when we devote december sales from this pattern and yarn, then knit along together to raise money for our knitspot scholarship, which goes to one student who participates in foster care to success programs. Our previous student brandy, has graduated and gone on to study further. our current student is jelissa, who attend the fashion institute of technology in new york city—the organization even found a student who plans a career in our industry; how much do we love that??

foster care to success is an amazing organization with all sorts of programs to assist young adults who are aging out of foster care to navigate a journey to college and beyond. if you can imagine your own kids getting through the challenges of college AND taking care of their own housing, groceries, cooking, paperwork, doctor and dentist visits, car payments and maintenance, insurances, PLUS negotiating the complexities of adult decision making, relationships, interviews, important meetings, and interior life without you you as a safety net, then you can grasp how urgent it is to provide whatever support we can.

rdScarves12_14

For me, it started in 2008 with knitting scarves for the scarf drive that year. the next couple of years, i sent along a little cash as well to help with mailing, to pay forward the good fortune this community has provided me. then in 2011, i had the idea of increasing those funds by designing a pattern to raise money . . . and we raised enough to put the knitspot name on a scholarship. the next year we raised even more with the 2012 red scarf pattern, fall line and the scholarship drive became an annual event.

festivusErica12_09

a couple of years ago we expanded our fundraising by having one of our yarns dyed an exclusive shade of red—it is available only at this time and only in very limited quantities.

festivusDoug12_09

the first part of our shipment arrived today; doug and erica got the listings ready for purchasers and they are live right now!

festivusLillian12_09

lillian labelled them all before she left the office and is excited to get to work monday to pack and ship your orders.

we would LOVE to exceed last year’s amount of $4500—can we get to $5000 this year??

want to be part of it? you can participate in several ways:

  1. purchase a pattern and/or add an extra donation on our website—use the pulldown menu to increase your gift and the entire $7 price PLUS that amount will go into the scholarship fund. we are happy to add the pattern to your rav library if you let us know!! (but we have to do it manually, so please tell us)
  2. purchase a pattern on ravelry—the entire $7 retail price will go into the pot.
  3. purchase a nifty scarf kit which includes the pattern PLUS enough special edition festivus 3.0, to knit a scarf, wrap or cowl. we will add 10% of your purchase price to the fund.
  4. buy one or more skeins of festivus 3.0 for any project and we will add 10% of your purchase price to the fund.
  5. please, please, PLEASE tell everyone you know about the fundraiser—they don’t need to be a knitter to throw $7 (or more!!) at this wonderful cause. please mention it with a link on your Instagram, Facebook page (and link it), tweet it (with a link!), pin it (yes, with link) and finally just drag your friends over to look at the blog, haha. we’ll even give them a “knitter for a day badge” if they help out.
  6. join us for a fun red scarf KAL in our ravelry mothership—we promise a rollicking good time, plenty of support, and of course, neat-o prizes.

and with that, i’m going to sign off and go cast on for my big cowl while dinner heats up on the stove. thank you all so much in advance; let’s make 2016 our biggest year yet!

snowFiliesStripes12_09

5 thoughts on “it’s that wonderful time of the year

  1. Kits purchased. I love that festivus time of the year. Hope we reach the goal. Thank you, Anne, for another great red scarf pattern.

  2. I look forward to this every year. This is such a worthy cause. Thank you so much for doing this.

  3. It’s so much fun to join in the red scarf KAL and feel virtuous too! And boy am I looking forward to this year’s yarn arrival chez moi!

  4. I love this project! It’s hard enough to be a college student, and it’s got to be even more difficult without a safety net. Thanks for helping young people help themselves! <3

Comments are closed.