Commendable Cause

My friend, Gale, told me about this worthy cause. This year I'm prepared to contribute! It's called The Red Scarf Project.

From the Orphan Foundation of America site: In 2005, OFA launched a unique initiative to warm the hearts (and necks) of college-bound foster youth. We began taking donations of handmade red scarves to put into our Valentine's Day Care Packages. Here are the particulars:

Scarf Size: Approximately 60" long and 5" to 8" wide. Scarves should be long enough to be wrapped around the neck, with tails long enough to be tied in the front.
Style: Think unisex collegiate. Ask yourself if your son, brother, and/or husband would enjoy receiving the scarf. Fringes are optional. Your scarf should drape and tie easily.
Yarn: Preferably DK, double fingering-weight, worsted weight, or light bully yarns. No laceweight, super-chunky, or mohair yarns as there are many people who find mohair too itchy. The yarn should be soft.
Color: Red! However, this could mean burgundy, cherry, russet, red stripes with other colors, or multicolor hues including red. Other unisex colors, including black, navy, teal, olive or gold are also welcome.
Finished and tagged: Yarn ends should be securely sewn in. For a personal touch, attach a tag saying "Handmade for You" with your first name, city, and group affiliation, if any. Donors have also included washing instructions, messages of encouragement, gift cards, burger bucks, books of stamps, etc.

Deadline is December 15, 2009. Check out the site for pattern ideas. My scarf is a modified version of this one. Using size 10 needles, I cast on 28 stitches using Lana Grossa Bingo. Garter stitch first 10 stitches, rib (K1, P1) next 8 stitches, garter stitch remaining 10 stitches. I continued this for about 7 rows, then cabled (in ribbing) the center 8 stitches. By ribbing the cable, it is reversible, so the scarf looks good on both sides. Brilliant!

Come on! I know you've got some red, burgundy or russet yarn in your stash. Whip out a few of these scarves and send them to The Orphan Foundation of America, The Red Scarf Project, 21351 Gentry Drive, Sterling, VA 20166. Thank you!