Fellow Knitter Needs Our Help

August 23, 2012 by Sarah White 2 Comments

It’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

Heather Ordover says
August 23, 2012 at 11:33 am
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
Sarah White says
August 23, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Of course!

Have you read?

A Beautiful Way to Keep Your Head Warm

I haven’t knit a lot of hats, because I don’t wear hats that often, and because I don’t wear hats that often, the ones I have knit tend to be pretty basic and utilitarian. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s also nothing wrong with treating yourself to a lovely hat that takes a little more time to knit but will also be a joy to wear whenever you need to.

I think the Two Grey Hills hat from Tressa Weidenaar is an example of that second kind of hat. With its allover colorwork design and use of DK weight yarn, this is going to take you longer to knit than, say, a ribbed hat in bulky yarn. But you’ll also get that time to enjoy the process and reflect on the meaning behind the colorwork, which is inspired by Navajo weavings.

The pattern calls for two colors of DK yarn and is available in two sizes, adult medium and large. Two colors with a nice contrast will be helpful for seeing the design, which is somewhat intricate in places.

Despite that, this isn’t a difficult pattern if you’ve done stranded knitting before. You need to know how to cast on, knit, purl, work in the round, do colorwork from a chart and decrease stitches to make this hat.

Make this hat with a soft yarn and you’ll want to wear it all day, every day when the weather is cold. You can grab the pattern on Ravelry, and also check out the Rug Weaver’s Headband, which has a different look but is also inspired by Navajo weaving. The headband might be a better choice to knit if you don’t live somewhere where you need a winter hat that often.

Looking for more hats? Check out these hat knitting patterns that use worsted weight yarn leftovers.

[Photo: Tressa Weidenaar]

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Have you read?

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