Pro Bono Knitting

"Pro bono"

I always thought it meant something like, 'without charge,' but recently discovered it is a shortened "pro bono publico" which means 'for public good.'  I am sure this is something I should have known years ago, but really I am comfortable with not knowing everything and knowing I don't know everything and being able to be delighted by learning new things, even if they are things that others deem elementary.

Anyway.  Lawyers do pro bono work.  Knitters do, too.

For the third year in a row, I am knitting for my friend Buick Audra's annual project to provide scarves to a homeless shelter in Nashville. Buick is a multi-talented woman with a huge heart - she makes music, charming dresses, juggles a zillion creative projects and still finds time to give back in her community.  And does it so well.  It's a joy to be part of anything she organizes.

Right now,  it is very soothing for me to do a whole project with all choices made at the start after recently doing a lot of intense freeform work which involves decision after decision - at least in the way I work. I suspect others are more comfortable with a greater degree of random in freeform. Maybe for me, I am more form than free. Hmmm, perhaps I should call it meform work...

For this year's scarves, I chose to work with Encore, a mostly acrylic yarn. I want it to be easy care for people who may not be able to fuss over care for such a utilitarian item.  I am definitely in the category of fiber snob, but Encore's acrylic redeems itself with 20-25% wool and a hand that is springy, soft and quite pleasant to work with and feel in the finished item.

The pattern is simple - mistake stitch rib - every row exactly the same. Here's a pattern.

Scarf No. 1 - 19 stitches wide

 

Scarf No. 2, in progress, 23 stitches wide

Size #13 needles with the yarn doubled.
I am complicating it just a bit by using two colors, changing every two rows. (I wind the yarn into center-pull cakes, using the center-pulled strand along with the strand from the outside of the cake.)

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++

Past Mistakes 

I've used mistake rib before, making scarves from two different colors of Noro.

These evolved into my "As Elfen As Ya Wanna Be" caps, a pattern I would like to revisit and refine, maybe even get it written up.  You, of course, will be the first to know.