I learned about a wonderful project last week - the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games Scarf Project. The goal is to give a scarf to each athlete participating in the winter games, which will be held in Boise, Idaho in February 2009, so they need at least 5,000 scarves. I heard about the project on Ravelry, the fabulous online knitting/crochet community to which I belong, and it is being enthusiastically discussed on many of the special interest boards.
The requirements are very basic: knit or crochet a scarf using two specific colors of a specific yarn. The yarn is an inexpensive acrylic brand and while I would not normally use that type of yarn, I understand why it is being specified: they want an economical and easy care scarf. Any pattern can be used, so I imagine this wonderful array of blue and white scarves in a multitude of configurations!
I was a volunteer at the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Chapel Hill, NC. It was an awesome experience that I treasure, so I am very excited about making another small contribution to this wonderful event.
One of my most cherished memories of those games was riding one of the buses around the UNC-CH campus after working my venue. The bus was filled with athletes and coaches, in addition to a few fellow volunteers. One of the coaches suddenly said something like “Athletes and coaches, there are volunteers on this bus and they make everything possible. Let’s show them our appreciation.” They started clapping and cheering, patting us on the back and hugging us…I still get verklempt thinking about it!
My goal is to contribute at least two scarves to this very worthy cause. So as soon as I finish the lacy scarf that I am making as part of Ravelympics, I will cast on a Special Olympics scarf.
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