FOSTER CARE TO SUCCESS/RED SCARF PROJECT

More than 10,000 young people who have come out of foster care are attending college each year, through their own talents and determination, and with a lot of scholarship support from organizations like "Foster Care to Success". They can also benefit from a little moral support...

Remember getting care packages when you were in college? Those wonderful, unexpected parcels filled with brownies, quarters for the laundry, and notes from home? They always seemed to provide just the necessary encouragement to hang in there. But if you're truly on your own, with no family at home, who's going to give you that little boost of confidence that comes from knowing that someone really cares?

The RED SCARF PROJECT, initiated by "Foster Care to Success", is an attempt to fill that need for thousands of former foster kids. For Valentine's Day, they will receive a boost, almost like a hug, in the form of a warm, handmade red scarf.....and you can help!

Osterville Village Library's "Stitching Tales" group is hard at work on some lovely red scarves we'll be sending to FCS headquarters in early December. Stop by the library (our temporary location is 812 Main Street, Osterville, MA) for more information, send email to Ldalrymple at clamsnet dot org, or go online to http://fc2success.org/what-we-do/programs/red-scarf-project.

Fabulous Felting

Felting is the process of turning wool into matted wool. Do you think that sounds dull? It's not! It's a magical metamorposis that can turn mundane into magnificent, and introduce knitters to a whole new world of creativity.

With some wool, water, soap, a washing machine, your imagination, and Nicky Epstein's book "Knitting Never Felt Better", you can embark on a wondrous new experience. Nicky gives basic felting instructions, and shows how different yarns react to the felting process. Wool, mohair, silk, angora, alpaca, and cashmere can all be felted.

I was really surprised and delighted by Nicky's ideas for dimensional felting. You can use small unshrinkable objects like marbles, nuts, shells, or sticks, to produce little balls that stand out against a felted background, and keep their visible stitch patterns.

Felting can turn craft into art - and it's fun! You will be amazed at what a little hot water and careful agitation can do.

Graffiti Knitters, aka Yarn Bombers

Did you see the story about the South End Knitters in the Boston Globe February 23?

Last year, our Stitching Tales group was considering something similar, to liven things up on the grounds around the library. Then we started to worry that maybe Osterville Village was too staid to appreciate such shenanigans, and we eventually talked ourselves out of it.

But, I don't know..... I think I'm getting inspired all over again. There could be some colorful surprises popping up in unexpected places. Keep your eyes open.....

Cape Cod Cooperative Bank Supports Project Linus

Project Linus is a 100 percent volunteer nonprofit organization, that provides gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans to comfort children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need.

Blankets may be made for children (newborns to teenagers) by knitting, crocheting or sewing, and must be washable. The blankets must be free of smoky smells and chemicals, and made without embellishments such as buttons, glitter, beads, or sequins.

If you have made a blanket you would like to contribute, you may drop it off during the month of February at any branch of Cape Cod Cooperative Bank. The blankets will be delivered to babies and children in need throughout Cape Cod.

"Tinking"?!

"Tinking" is the act of unknitting stitches one at a time, to correct a small and recent mistake. "TINK" is KNIT..... backwards !

We Love Lesley!

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO??!! SORRY TO BE SO LATE POSTING THIS....

Our group members were delighted to receive a visit from Lesley Jennings some weeks ago. She is a very talented knitter and pattern designer, who sells kits online at sweatersandsuch.com, and gorgeous handknit items in her Etsy shop "Cape Cod Knits". We pored over her photos of completed projects, passed around colorful design samples, and listened with rapt attention to her tales of working with a particularly challenging client. It was so inspiring!!

WE REALLY DO LOVE YOU, LESLEY!

They Quilt, They Knit......They are Men !

Maybe you saw this article in the Wall Street Journal, March 29, about long-distance truckers in the Midwest.....

Kevin Abraham-Banks learned to knit last year. So far, he has finished a scarf and socks, and is working on a sweater for his wife. "The fact that you can take strands of thread and basically make something out of it, that's awesome, I think. It's pretty cool stuff, man.", he says.

Thomas McConnaughy doesn't let on to other truckers that he keeps fifteen skeins of yarn in his cab and makes what he describes as "really cute slippers".

Dave White has a sewing machine in his truck's sleeper cabin, and spends up to three hours a day stitching quilt tops - seven since last August. Way to go, fellas!!!

(Thanks, Marie, for bringing this to my attention.)