Knitting

One of my housemates alerted me recently to the 2012 Special Olympics USA Scarf Project, and I thought I'd pass along the information to anyone with an unoccupied set of needles or a hankering to do something charitable.

The project guidelines cover the official yarn and colors of this year's project, as well as the measurement criteria. There are some free patterns linked there as well, but you're invited to use any pattern you'd like, so long as you use the specified yarn brand/colors and meet the correct length/width. The deadlines range from December 16th to March 5th, so there's still plenty of time to participate. Each state's page lists the number of scarves they need/the number they've received (in case you don't have a state in mind and just want to help where you think it will be most needed).

/exposition machine

Personally, I have no love for Red Heart yarns; they're just too scratchy for me, especially for garments worn directly against the skin -- but they're sponsoring it, and it's a requirement that you use the brand. I tried my best to find the "Soft" options, but am starting to suspect you'll have to buy them online if you really want them. (Michaels, by the way, didn't carry the right colors at all; I got mine at Hobby Lobby). On the plus side, it's a crazy-cheap brand, and you get a ton of it. I'll be surprised if I don't get at least two scarves out of the two skeins (one of each color) that I picked up.

The pattern I'm using is a generic striped 1x1 ribbed, and I got most of the specifications from here and modified for width and needle preference. I really thought the bright red/bright blue color scheme would make for the loudest scarf ever, but the two-row stripes seem to subdue it a bit. I'm planning on using the pattern again for my own personal projects; it's reversible (yay!) and stripes without a bajillion ends to weave in once I've finished (yay times infinity!).