a knitting pledge

A very lovely tweet came through my feed this morning.

@donna_duncombe: The lovely Jess from Epheriell has put the call out to all her crafty peeps to get busy and crochet or knit 100… http://t.co/zNcsk8Z9

Being a new knitter, I clicked through (the shortcode goes here: http://epherielldesigns.com/100-beanie-drive).

This Jess – a total stranger to me – has a father suffering with Lymphoma. She’s been spending time around the hospital with her father and the various other cancer-sufferers, and she noticed something.

You see, at the Day Oncology Unit at the Royal Brisbane Hospital here in Brisbane, some kind soul has set up a little box. Inside this box are beanies, scarves and mittens that the cancer patients can take – for free – to warm themselves up. Dad has taken a beanie or two from there over the last few months, and let me tell you, he practically lives in the things! Not that he had a lot of hair to start with (sorry Dad) but the chemo process has done strange things to his body temperature, which has left him cold more often than not. A few weeks back, he complained to me ‘there’s just not much in there for blokes, you know?’.

So she decided to do something about it. And so began the #100beaniedrive.

My goal is to gather together 100 Beanies during July that I can donate to that box in the Day Oncology Unit. In fact – I’d love to have to buy them a bigger box to fit everything I bring in!! And you know what? Why not shoot for 100 scarves and 100 pairs of mittens, too?

So – here’s what I’m asking you.

I’m asking the wonderfabulous crafty community that I am so proud to be a part of to help me reach this goal!

I’m asking you to knit or crochet one beanie, scarf, or pair of mittens (adult size) to donate to the drive.

I’m asking you to create said beanie, scarf, or pair of mittens in lovely, understated, unisex colours so that man or woman would be happy and comfortable wearing it.

[quoted from her post]

You can read more at her blog, http://epherielldesigns.com/100-beanie-drive, but I really encourage you to check it out and share it with anyone you know who knits – or wants to start learning. I’ve never knitted a beanie (hell I’ve only ever knitted one weirdo scarf to date!) but I’m gonna give this a go (as well as my fingerless mittens!).

This one is for you, James. I miss your laugh x