Tikvah means Hope!

Tikvah Shawl

Here she is, Tikvah Shawl! A charming shawlette knit top down in three triangles with a knitted-on border. Drapey, elegant, and very very pretty. Plus, she's not very difficult to knit. Thanks to Barbara, my test-knitter, for all her hard work.

Here's the best part of this project: all profits will go to the Minnesota chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Why NAMI? The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of adults and children with mental illness and their families. NAMI Minnesota offers education, support and advocacy, and vigorously promotes the development of community mental health programs and services, improved access to services, increased opportunities for recovery, reduced stigma and discrimination, and increased public understanding of mental illness. There are NAMI branches all over the country, and the work they do is amazing.

"Tikvah" means "hope", and my hope is that you will buy the pattern and enjoy knitting it. And then I shall donate my profits which are about 80% of the cost of the pattern, to this most-worthwhile organization. And I'll keep you posted on how we are doing with it.

Daisymum - Sure, I'd be glad to help you. The pattern looks far more difficult than it is. The nice thing about it is that all the triangles are alike except for the 2 garter stitched edges at the beginning and end. My test knitter is not very experienced with lace, and she did just fine all on her own. I was pretty impressed with her!

The Yarnarian Presents Tikvah.

Wrap the World in Hope.

Tikvah is the Hebrew word for hope. For every Tikvah Shawl sold, I will donate 80 percent of my profits to a worthy cause.

Tikkun Olam, which I've discussed somewhere in a previous post or two, means repairing the world. In Judaism, we are all supposed to work towards making the world a better place. It doesn't matter if we don't succeed; what matters is that we try. If everyone works towards repairing the ills of the world, something good is bound to happen. I've been trying to think of a way to do Tikkun Olam, and finally came up with this idea:

This spring, from April through June, proceeds from the sale of the Tikvah Shawl will be donated to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI is dedicated to improving the lives of adults and children with mental illness and their families. Throughout the country, NAMI provides education, advocacy, and support, striving to eliminate the pervasive stigma of mental illness and increase the public and professional understanding of mental illness. To learn more about NAMI, visit their website at www.nami.org.

Over the last week, I designed and knit up a little fichu of a shawl, Tikvah, and now I have to write up the pattern. I'm hoping to get it ready for test knitting in a couple of weeks and then, when everything is set, I'll donate 80% of my sales directly to NAMI.

Just to tease you a little, here are some pictures of the Tikvah shawl.




Holly - Yep. But you have to wait until I get it written up. I've got two patterns in the works. And you know just how much I love writing patterns.

Scrabblequeen - I do indeed have great new software. I'm still learning it.

The Yarnarian's House Is So Quiet!

They left around 10ish this morning and the house is so empty and quiet now. I already miss them.

I did more dishwasher loads in the last week than I have done in the past month! Every time I turned around, another load needed to get done. And laundry? Did a lot of that too.

Seder was wonderful, the usual confusion, giggles, and silly songs, plus the story of Passover got told (which is the real reason for the seder). We went around the tables for the readers, and Miss P did herself proud. I never ever eat at my own big gatherings, and this year was no exception. I had half a bowl of soup with a couple of matzoh balls, and a bit of sweet potato pudding, half a stuffed cabbage, and that was it. And I don't taste as I cook, so big dinners are sort of like diets for me. Now of course, I'm seriously hungry!

Enough of family and holidays and such. Let's get onto the meat of the matter; what's really important: knitting and dyeing. tee hee. Not that there is much to see, but you get what you get.

First of all, here's the mystery cardigan project. OK, it's not such a mystery, but figuring it out is not as easy as it looks. Anyhow, here's the back.



I did a bunch of dyeing today, so no pics because they just got finished steaming and they are still pretty hot! It turns out that I did one almost the same as one that's already on Etsy. I didn't plan it that way; that's what the yarn wanted, so I may keep one of them for myself. I did a Rainbow using pastels and Shelley yarn instead of my usual Penny, and I think it will be charming to knit up. And the neatest dyeing I did was to overdye a skein with a bit of black. Lots of people seem to be doing this, so I thought I'd try it too, and it's deep and mysterious, and I think I'm going to like it. Pics sometime Sunday or Monday, I think.

Charity news: I am donating 3 skeins of yarn and 3 patterns to a NAMI auction in Minneapolis in May. MN DD has volunteered for them, and dearly loves them and asked me to do this. So she picked out 3 very different yarns and we decided on the patterns, and she's going to bundle it together for the auction. This is a most worthy mental health organization, and you can bid on my goodies.

I just completed 4 8" squares for Knit-a-Square. I'm doing this in between everything else, so my count is not very high, but still, I'm pleased, and will continue to knit.

http://www.knit-a-square.com/

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knit-a-square

Debra - Post pics. I'm soooo nosy!

BBronstein - "Refreshing" librarian is another way of saying "retired" librarian. Only I'm not retired from life, I'm refreshing my life. Indeed, I have a new career: that of designer and dyer of yarns. Such fun. My DIL's mother retired and referred to it as "refreshing" herself, and I thought that was such a great way of looking at it. And now I get to love the library as a civilian.