i might be an over-achiever

If you've been reading Mad Knitting for a while, you know that Afghans for Afghans is a charity that I feel very strongly about. My only personal connection to Afghanistan is a college friend who currently works in Kabul. I don't know exactly what she does, but I know it's important advocacy work on behalf of women, and I have tremendous respect for her devotion and courage.

Yesterday was the 7th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. Honestly, I didn't even remember what day it was until the middle of the afternoon. I started thinking back to the fall of 2001, and I remembered being shaken up about the attacks and having a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I thought about the U.S. military reaction in Afghanistan. I helped out with a local blanket drive, in which people of all religious persuasions pitched in to send blankets to Afghanistan. It was inspiring, a glimmer of hope for humanity in the face of all that destruction.

That's why I knit for Afghans for Afghans. It sometimes feels like a puny gesture to spend hours knitting a single sweater to keep a single person warm when one badly calculated military strike can wipe out a village in mere seconds. But I'm trying not to think about that too much, and I do what I can.

The EZ child's tomten is one sweater I'm sending. This is another:



It's the Knitting Pure and Simple top-down cardigan in Elann's Highland Chunky wool. I bought the yarn to make myself an Urban Aran, but when it arrived in the mail, the sumptuous "mocha heather" I imagined turned out more "blah" than "mocha." Into the charity pile it went. At least it's not expensive yarn, and it is quite soft and warm. I have to finish the button bands and sleeves, and then this sweater will be done.

I also want to make a sweater out of this:



The sweater my mom made for me last year used 6 skeins of Noro something or other (chunky angora blend, quite warm), and she had 4 left over, so she sent them to me. I should think 4 skeins will be plenty for a child's sweater if mine only took 6. I have to swatch this to find my gauge, but I imagine it will go quickly, especially if I use bigger needles (I'm thinking size 10).

And then I'm knitting something for myself. Really.

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