An All-Weather Pursuit

I bet you thought I forgot.  I didn’t write a post on Wednesday, and I bet you thought I was just being lazy.  Well, I sort of was.  I sat down to write a post, just for the sake of writing, yesterday.  And then I had a great idea: to wait.  Today, I attended the second Craftin’ for CASA Craft-In on campus.  It was a supreme showing of solidarity, knit goods, teaching, and learning.  I could have written a blog post yesterday, but I decided to wait and tell you all about this magnificent event.

I went out to the Chapel steps around 12:15 to start setting up, but none of my set-up crew was there yet.  I stood around, knitting on a cabled had, for most of the next hour.  If you haven’t been outside in Conway today, you probably don’t know how cold and windy it is, but let me assure you, I was no prepared.  I wore a sweatshirt, a jacket, and a scarf and wasn’t warm enough.  After about twenty minutes, my fingers were so achingly cold that my knitting needles felt like intricate torture devices.  Still, I did not put them away.  I continued working on my hat until my students arrived to set up and kick off the craft-in.

We had literature about CASA: flyers, brochures, information, even suckers and mints with contact info.  We had a band, Handmade Moments, to help attract attention.  We put up a large banner and two smaller ones to tell people what we were doing there.  And then the people came.  Knitters, newbies, and the press.  People were learning, snapping pictures, and having a great time, all in the name of making a difference.  Out in the cold, we underlined the message of warmth: foster children deserve the warmth of a loving family, and while we can’t be their parents or siblings, we can give them something that says we care.

Donna Bowman and Els Strickland accept my second donation

Also, I proudly handed over another 4 items for donation!  I knit items with CASA children in mind:

• the Tiny Touchdowns Football for a one-year-old
• the Trudie Rattle for a one-year-old
• the Bus Hat for a 13-year-old
• the Tassel Scarf

Now, the Tassel Scarf was originally knit with a high school girl in mind, but due to a slight mix-up, another student worked on a blue and white scarf for the same person.  As the TA of the class, it was only right that I take my object out and allow the student to grow and learn.  Still, I knit the scarf to benefit a particular person.  So I decided to sell the Tassel Scarf as the pair of the other blue and white scarf.

See, in December, Craftin for CASA will do a sale that’s a “buy one, give one” event, so each object made for the CASA kids will be paired with an item for sale and people who come to buy can literally feel the good they’re doing.  I didn’t want to make my Yarn Diet objects for sale because I thought that was too impersonal.  But all the money from these items will go to CASA so they can train their volunteers who in turn help these kids.  So by selling the scarf, I am still benefiting the girl I originally knit it for.  And I am okay with that.

I was ecstatically happy about the work I did today.  I taught new crafters.  I helped spread the word about CASA.  And my knitting found a new home, sent out in the world to make children and teenagers a little bit warmer.  It was a good day.  And well worth waiting for.