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Another Loss to the Knitting Community

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evie rosenI think we just need to get through this week with no more bad news, but I’m also saddened to report that Evie Rosen, the woman who founded the knit and crochet charity Warm Up, America, died recently. She was 86 years old.

Rosen learned to knit at the age of 7 and opened the Knitting Nook shop in her native Wisconsin in 196; it was open for more than 30 years. She also helped found the Midwest Retailers Association and encourage the National NeedleArts Association to open its membership to retailers.

Warm Up, America was founded in 1991 as a local charity to provide the homeless with blankets, and it spread and spread such that in that time more than 15 million afghan blocks have been created and more than 300,000 afghans distributed across the United States and around the world.

Warm Up, America is proof that we can all do a little something even when faced with big problems. The charity collects afghan squares, so you can get a group together and just knit or crochet one block each and still have enough for a blanket to warm one person in your community. Multiply that by every yarn crafter making a square, or a blanket, to distribute locally and you can see what a difference all those little squares can make.

[Photo via Craft Yarn Council.]

Comments

  1. Evie Rosen was a wonderful woman. I met her at The Knitting Nook where she not only gave me knitting tips but thoughtful advise on motherhood. She was so welcoming, always with a smile and a laugh. I’ll always remember her and those years in Wausau, WI!

  2. What a sad week this is turning out to be. I did not know her personally but knew of the foundation through my mother who made blankets and afghans to contribute to this cause. My condolences to all her friends and her family.

  3. Reading the linked Warm Up America article, I thought, “Look what one woman can do.” Think of all the lives she touched.
    Many years ago I taught a classroom of 5th graders to crochet and we made an afghan for Warm Up America. What a great experience that was, I still see those children and they will mention our crocheting time together.
    Thank you Evie for inspiring others and for sharing the fact we are blessed, when we bless others. You will be missed.
    Deb

Have you read?

Learn a Flower Bobble Technique to Knit a Fun Shawl

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier. 

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project. 

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible. 

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge. 

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects. 

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy. 

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project. 

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Xandy Peters]