Sunday, November 12, 2006

Caps to the Capital



We are starting a knitting group at our church, and like any good knitting group, we needed a service project. So, after trolling around the web (my speciality), I suggested the Caps to the Capital project. And since I'm the person organizing the group, hey, it's my decision! You see it modelled here on my daughter's newly rediscovered American Girl Baby (she's been playing with it recently in an attempt to prove that she's still interested, so will I please-buy-her-another-one-for-Christmas?). The Darling Resident Marxist Curmudgeon would insert a commentary here about how it is indeed this type of excess that has utterly contributed to the misery of many in the developing world, but we'll leave that to your imagination.

Next Sunday afternoon we'll have our first meeting and hopefully teach some newbies to knit and make some caps. Today during the announcements our priest turned to me and asked me to say a few words about "...my new knitting ministry". I almost died (laughing? of shock? embarrassment?) at these words, but I did my best to hold it together and not totally humiliate myself as I tried to sound coherent and not like a weird person that you wouldn't want to spend time learning to knit from.

If you're not familiar with the initiative, the charity is organized by Save the Children and is an attempt to collect as many knitted and crocheted caps by January 2nd as possible. These will be distributed to newborns in underdeveloped nations where sometimes just the warmth of a hat will make a big difference. Click here to download the info kit.

I made my hat out of Ornaghi Filati Biberon on size 6 dpns, it took about 2 hours from start to finish. This wool is a merino, not unlike Polo, but without the microfiber. It's Italian (with a cute WWF pandaesque logo), I'd never seen it before, and got it at my LYS-home away from home, Stitch your Art Out, near State College, conveniently located on my commute. This hat will be a prototype to bring to the group, hopefully they'll be inspired to make a few as well. This project has the potential to be a major stash buster, so I'm looking forward to making as many as possible when I'm in between projects.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

great hat, and great cause to knit for too! Hope your new knitting group goes well : )

Unknown said...

What a great idea! I have read about that project and have thought about doing some little hats for it. There are so many good causes to knit for, sometimes it is hard to pick one.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your knitting group. Caps will be doable for the newbies.

Melissa said...

Very cute! I did a knitting group at church once. It went really well and one lady got really good at knitting.

Gingersnaps with Tea... said...

Congratulations on your new Knitting Ministry--I kind of like the sound of that. Charity knitting is a good thing It sounds like a wonderful cause and something new knitters can experience success at as well.

Lone Knitter said...

There's nothing like a little charity and stash busting to make a knitter's day bright. I love your knitting ministry.

Anonymous said...

Your hat came out really nice. I think I'm going to look into that. It doesn't take that long to make, and it seems pretty easy. So, you started a new "knitting ministry group." lol. I would've fell out on the spot had it been me. You know, lionbrand has a pattern for a prayer shawl, which might be good for your knitting ministry's next project.