Charity Knitting

I have great respect for Sinclair from Nature With Me. I really don't know how she does everything she does. In addition to her main blog she also organizes a charity blog called Sharing Our Gifts which is striving to do 50 Projects for 50 States. The current project is for the Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation. She is collecting "hats, scarves, or shawls to donate to the organization. As always, these can be knitted, crocheted, or sewn, and they must be handmade. If you do not knit, crochet, or sew, you can still be involved by purchasing a handmade item from one of the wonderful sellers on Etsy or Artfire."

This project came at the perfect time for me. My craft shows are done and I was needing something to work on to get me inspired. I am sending in two of my first hats that I've made along with a few scarves. I've been working on the patterns to do hats in flat knitting, and figuring out how many stitches it takes with the different weights of yarn that I use on a regular basis. I used acrylic yarns that are machine washable which I think is important for charity knitting.

Two people that I love dearly have been affected by brain tumors, although thankfully they were both benign and operable. My sister and my mother in law both had tumors within 6 months of each other 5 years ago. It was a scary time because any surgery to the brain can have side effects. They both fully recovered and my MIL even got back much of the peripheral vision that she had lost allowing her to continue to drive.

Here is some information about the Foundation from their website:
"The Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation (OKBTF), was founded by Nancy Thomason after the death of her son Cade Thomason to a brain stem PNET tumor on February 17, 2000. She vowed to fight the disease in honor and memory of her son Cade.

OKBTF is dedicated to meeting the needs of Oklahoma families, caregivers and patients affected by primary brain or central nervous system tumors. We work to provide for needs through education, advocacy, research and service."

There is still time to send your donations in and they are due by January 5. Details are on the website here. She even has some patterns that can be used to make charity scarves and hats listed now. I hope to be able to support more of Sinclair's projects in the coming year and I hope you will too.