Spotlight: Crocheting for a Cause

A young friend from Los Altos crocheting a scarf.

We love to see you in action! Please send any photos you would like us to post: rowsforrefugees@gmail.com.

What's coming in!

Here is just a sampling of what has been coming in. Although we were aiming for something easy (scarves), crocheted blankets, leg warmers, hats, AND scarves are filling up the donation boxes. We love it!

The donated yarn is also much appreciated. It has gotten into the hands of neighbors and middle school girls who are knitting for this cause.

Yesterday, we had a fun knitting circle with several young beginner and advanced knitters. These will continue throughout November and December. Check back as photos will be posted.

So, THANK YOU SO MUCH for joining us and donating your time, energy, and yarn (we do need needles!) to this project.

Introduction

Hi, 

My name is Ella. I am 11 years old and go to The Girls' Middle School in California. I am very interested in helping the refugees in Syria and Iraq. 

I hope you will join us in making scarves and other handknits for them.  Please see the video below.

Ella

The Camp

Hello and welcome to our project Rows for Refugees. We are excited for you to join us and learn more about this particular group of refugees and, maybe, knit along the way.

Handknits produced through this initiative will go directly to a camp serving Syrians and internally displaced people from Iraq in the Kurdistan region of Iraq . These are people who cannot, for various reasons, make it out of the immediate region.

Camp near Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. Courtesy of G. Haney.

Why this camp? After working in Iraq and the region of Kurdistan for over five years, I have a direct link to a camp near Sulaymaniyah run by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The handknit items will be taken to the camp personally, or in an extreme circumstance sent via DHL, and distributed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and UNHCR. The sidebar contains some in-depth readings about the situation globally and locally.

Knitting

Why handknits? Winter is coming to Kurdistan and the camps in this area often get snow; warm items are welcome. Through the process of knitting, we thought we could slow down our lives, focus on producing something with our hands, and have in-depth discussions about this issue. We both have much to learn about the topic and look forward to improving our knitting.

What to knit? We are focusing on scarves but any easily portable, warm, knit item will be well used (hats, gloves, etc. if you are so inclined and have the skills). We are knitting with light- to medium- weight yarn and generally casting on thirty stitches for a garter-stitch scarf on, approximately, size 13 US (9mm) straight needles with defined ends.

It is basically three, easy steps.

1. Casting on (we are recommending 30 stitches using light-to-medium weight yarn; approximately size 13 US/9mm needles ). The cast-on stitches determines the width of your scarf. A video tutorial can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn4rcAnnS7U. Don't worry about keeping track of knit vs. purl sides.

2. Garter (knit) stitch (we are recommending a scarf measuring approximately 5 feet in length). A video tutorial can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKRAJEj7lcI. Treat your cast-on row as row one.

3. Casting off. A video tutorial can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAMEJD2Q4hY. There will be a tail at the end of your final row. Either weave it in with a needlepoint needle or just leave it (we will weave it in for you).

We are sending information on Rows to Refugees to communities with which we have connections. More detailed information regarding knitting circles and drop-off/mail-in locations for knitted items are forthcoming via these targeted groups.

However, all who are interested are welcome to join us. Please do spread the word. We can be contacted at: rowsforrefugees@gmail.com.

Ella and Gina