Knit a Plushie for a Kid with Epilepsy

Vickie Howell recently started the Purple Stitch Project, which asks knitters, crocheters and sewers to create purple items to donate to children with epilepsy. The project is Howell’s way of supporting and helping to build a community for kids with epilepsy because her son has the disorder.

Epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder after stroke and Alzheimer’s, and is thought to affect about 300,000 kids in the United States. The project aims to raise awareness of the disorder and support kids through donations of hand-crafted items.

Just days after the launch of the project Howell came up with a specific need: producing 40-plus plushies for the kids who will attend Camp Brainstorm, a five-day camp for children ages 8 to 18 who have seizure disorders. The project has sample patterns in knitting, crochet and sewing, but any animal, robot or other small toy made in purple yarn (purple being the color of epilepsy awareness) or fabric will be accepted.

If you want to help you need to get your needles going, because the deadline to get the finished plushies to Howell is July 20. Good thing little dolls are quick projects.

Next Pattern:

Using your yarn stash is important to me throughout the year, but as I start to feel the end of the year coming on I get more excited about using things I already have in the house. Maybe that’s because I don’t want to go to a store in the thick of holiday shopping times, or I like the idea of having a little space in my stash when the new year rolls around.

It’s super satisfying to use up all the little odd balls you’ve made over the year (or years), and I have several stash busting blankets I work on when it’s cold and will maybe finish someday.

If you’d like to start a stash busting project that’s perfect for using up odd balls, check out the Soukish pattern from Neisha Abdulla. This pattern is made for fingering weight/sock yarn, and it’s worked in a tube with allover color work.

This is great for a couple of reasons. You don’t really have to weave in your ends when you can hide them in a tube (this is one time you might even get by just tying a knot when you change colors!) and you can change colors whenever you run out of yarn and it will look good.

Of course the pattern is made with blocks where the designer changed colors, but you can change yours more or less often as you need to make it work for your stash. You can use blank charts to design your own color combinations, or even your own stitch patterns if you like. You can also adjust the length of the scarf as needed or turn it into a cowl based on the amount of yarn you have.

This project looks like a lot of fun and would be a great thing to have on hand to stitch up and then to wear during the cold, gloomy months.

You can get a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Neisha Abdulla]

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