Scarving Artists

Posted on January 28, 2017 by prairiemoonquilts in Knitting and Crochet, People

I may have mentioned before that I knit scarves for St. Anthony’s in San Francisco. St. Anthony’s provides support and services to the impoverished, particularly in the approximately 50-square-block area known as The Tenderloin.

They serve meals in their dining room, they have a medical clinic and a recovery program, they offer a free clothing program, and they have a technology lab where low-income residents can come to learn new skills and look for a job. The list of services they provide, for free, is quite lengthy.

Every year, on Christmas Day, they serve hot coffee and pass out hand-knitted hats and scarves and new socks to the homeless. They collect socks all year long, and they also collect hand-knitted scarves and hats all year, so they’ll have plenty to hand out. If I’m not mistaken, I think I read at one time that they pass out at least 1200 scarves and hats on that day each year.

I’m getting an earlier start than usual on my scarves for this year. I have two completed:

A third is in the works, and I have yarn for several more.

I hope to do a lot of knitting this year!

When I get some more scarves completed, I’ll purchase some socks to put in with them, and send the box on its way to California.

If you’d like to help out, too, the instructions for the knitted items can be found HERE.

If you’re not a knitter, they also accept donations of other kinds. There is a list of items they can use HERE. And, as always, you can simply donate money. Or buy some socks and send to them!

Here are the details on the two scarves above:

I used two skeins of Lana Grande 100% Peruvian Highland Wool by Cascade Yarns for each scarf. Knitted on size 15 needles, the red scarf was 15 stitches cast on, and the gray one was 20 stitches cast on. Then I knitted in garter stitch until I ran out of yarn. The red one ended up 6″ x 60″, and the gray one came out at 8″ x 48″. (I didn’t exactly follow their rules, but hopefully, they can use them anyway.)

They were really quick to knit up, and the yarn was wonderful to work with. It comes in lots of luscious colors, and I bought mine at A Grand Yarn in Arrow Rock, Missouri.

3 responses to “Scarving Artists”

  1. Kathy F says:

    Every year my husband makes about 4-500 hats for the schools and for the Dempsey cancer center here. Then he makes about 150 for our troops. We send those to a woman in Florida who in turn sends them to our troops. We go through a LOT of yarn. I also make socks and mittens for our church families. We have about 30 or so needy families in our church. And we also do for a place called the Root Cellar who works with the inner city families. I think most of us have someone or some families who need our help. God Bless you for what you do.

  2. Rose Marie says:

    Good Work, Shelly. I”m so proud of you!!

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