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Fellow Knitter Needs Our Help

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madame defarge knitIt’s funny how small the knitting community can seem sometimes. We all interact in different ways online and it feels like we know each other even though we’ve never met.

So I feel like typing here “my friend and fellow knitwear designer Heather Ordover is in trouble.” She’s probably not really my friend, but in this case I think she’ll take all the friends she can get.

To make what could turn into a long story short, you might know of Heather for her CraftLit podcast, which involves literature and crafts, or from her book What Would Madame Defarge Knit? or from her other designs. What you probably don’t know, what I didn’t know, is that she has a son with a condition called microtia, which means he was born with one ear that’s much smaller than the other and had no ear canal.

He had surgery in 2008 that involved skin grafts on a plastic frame that make it possible for him to have a normally functioning ear. The problem is the plastic is poking out and he has to have surgery, possibly a very long and complicated (read: expensive) surgery to re-form his ear. And they have to travel to get the surgery, and though airfare and accommodations have been covered, there are still a lot of expenses involved.

Being a professional knitwear designer does not pay the bills very well or consistently, so Heather is asking for help. She’s having a sale on her patterns at her Ravelry store through Sunday, and she has lots of other ways to give support in the form of taking classes, getting her to speak at a shop near you, or just making a donation. I know the crafty community is very generous and hope you will help if you feel moved to and can.

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Comments

  1. Thank you so much for posting this. My family and I deeply appreciate it. It reinforces my belief that the fiber community is just made up of the best people.
    Again, many thanks,
    Heather

Have you read?

A Blanket Knitting Pattern Where Yarn Selection is Everything

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]