Knit for Kids

Traveling home yesterday, I was armed as usual with a variety of weapons of mass distraction entertainment options, (i.e., a knitting project, a newspaper, a magazine, a book, etc.) for the plane rides, (because God forbid I be left to my own thoughts for more than a few minutes).

Which option I choose all depends on how much room I have -- if the seat next to mine is empty, I can spread out a little and read the newspaper or knit. If I'm elbow-to-elbow with other passengers, out of etiquette I usually don't knit, so as not to be continuously bumping them with my thrower's elbow. In those cases, I pull out a book or magazine -- whichever suits my mood at the time.

For my first flight on the tiny turbo-prop, a tiny magazine seemed appropriate, so I pulled out one from my laptop case -- the November issue of Guideposts, with Amy Grant on the cover. And lo and behold, the very first article involved knitting!

Seems there's a project that was started about 10 years ago, called the "Guideposts Sweater Project", (now known as "Knit for Kids"), where volunteers knit sweaters for kids that are then distributed to underprivileged children around the world. This particular article described seeing the reactions of a group of kids in Appalachia as they received their sweaters. I like the fact that they are allowed to pick out whichever sweater they want from the box - that seems to make it all the more personal, that each kid gets one they really like and want.

What a great idea! Guideposts provides the patterns and the shipping information - you knit the sweater and send it to their offices. Maybe that can be my New Year's resolution - to knit my first sweater and give that to the sweater project. Seems like a good way to dive head-first into sweater knitting, since it is for kids and therefore small and should go faster. I guess I have my New Year's knitting cut out for me!

I like to think my Grandmére would be proud.