There are lots of different charities and places where you can send knit items to bring a little warmth to other people, but one that I really love the idea of is the Seamen’s Church Institute’s Christmas at Sea.
The institute was founded in 1834 by the Episcopal Church and it provides advocacy, training, legal help and pastoral care through visiting chaplains to mariners working in the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Port of Oakland and on inland waterways and the Gulf of Mexico.
Christmas at Sea aims to bring a little holiday cheer to people working away from home during the holidays (and in foul weather throughout the winter season) by providing knit and crocheted garments and accessories to maritime workers.
The group has an approved list of patterns, any of which can be made in washable yarn of your choice (though dark colors are best).
This year the group has teamed up with North Light Fibers and Deborah Newton to produce a new pattern — the Block Island Hat — available as a standalone pattern or a kit complete with North Light Fibers’ Ocean Avenue worsted, made in maritime colors especially for this project.
The hat includes diamonds, ladders, cables and chevron and takes one skein of yarn to knit. The kit, which comes with a project bag and your choice of yarn, costs $75, while the pattern alone is available from North Light Fibers for $35, with all proceeds going to the institute. Learn more from the institute’s newsletter.
Is this a cause you’ve given to in the past? I’d love to hear about it!
[Photo via North Light Fibers.]
I have started this hat, and want clarification on the BC and FC. Is the cable done with one stitch twice in the four stitch section? Or two stitches, once.