A Pre-Holiday Book Review

This hasn’t been the best week. T has asthma, and with the change in Indiana weather from balmy to blustery, he had a pretty bad episode last weekend that involved 3 a.m. calls to his pulmonologist, heavy-duty steroids, and a near trip to the ER. His asthma’s now under control, but he got sent home yesterday with stomach flu, and is as I type missing his toddler holiday party at school. Poor little fella.

Anyhoo, before his health took a downturn, I went to a book signing last Friday night for one of our authors. While at the bookstore, I picked up a bunch of Christmas gifts. I’ve recently been eyeing a new knitting book for me called Knitting for Peace, but have been too cheap to fork over the $20 for it. But with the floodgate of expenditure that is the month of December, the price (especially with my 30% off coupon) seemed a pittance, so I got it.

I rarely say this with any conviction, but I think this book is going to change my life. It’s full of profiles of charities that accept hand-knitted items: whether to clothe people in war-torn countries, to give some comfort and warmth to soldiers stationed far from their families, or to provide some covering for newborns born domestically into such poverty that they otherwise would leave the hospital wearing only a diaper.

I’ve been knitting since my grandma taught me and my brother when I was six. I’m now much, much older than six, so it’s been a lot of years. I’ve been obsessively knitting (hiding yarn expenditures from my husband, waking up at 4 a.m. and sneaking to the living room to finish a couple rows before going back to bed, trolling knitting blogs) for 10 or 15 years. As you can imagine, my friends and family members probably have all the knitted sweaters, hats, wrist warmers, afghans, bookmarks, and iPod cozies they need. What a better place to put the incessant need to stitch than to create items for people who truly, truly need them – either physically or psychologically?

Because I can’t craft for every organization, I’ve chosen Project Linus as my charity of choice. This lovely organization donates new handmade blankets -- knit, crocheted, quilted, no-sew from fleece -- to give to kids in need. The need could be that they’re three years old and undergoing surgery to remove cancer, and they’ll be able to go into and come out of surgery with a cuddly lovey to give them some comfort. Or it could be that they’re a 16-year-old who lived through a nightmare day at Columbine High School, and they go to a group counseling session that includes a stack of blankets in the room, and wrapping in a blanket gives the teens comfort and confidence to start articulating and working through their experiences.

Every year about this time I make vows that I’ll do something somewhat superficial: Lose 15 pounds, start balancing the checkbook every month without fail, put my clothes away in the closet and not dump them on the chair by the bed. This year, I’m planning to look outside myself and bring something good to people who need something good. If a blanket I knit can help a six-year-old I never meet be more brave going into chemotherapy, who cares if my checkbook never balances?