This winter, thanks to friends and Facebook, I found out about a really great cause - Scarves for Special Olympics.  Through this program knitters and crocheters all over the country can make scarves as a gift of welcome for Special Olympics athletes competing in the winter games.  Talk about warm fuzzies!

I set myself a lofty goal of six scarves, but only ended up with three, since I was only able to start on them in January and they had to be sent in the second week of February.  However, the colors for the 2012 games should be released any day now, and I'm hoping with this head start I'll be able to knit at least six for next year!

2011's colors were Turqua and Blue in Red Heart Super Saver yarn.  I knit two using Red Heart's Easy Knit Scarf pattern, which was super quick to knit and resulted in a really pretty lacy scarf.  The third one I made using a basketweave pattern.  I attempted a fourth scarf (not shown) but got a little overly ambitious and tried to knit in the year, the Special Olympics logo and their motto, "Be A Fan."  Note to self: when dealing with a time crunch it's best not to go for something complicated...

Finished scarves

All packed up and ready to ship!

My finished scarves went to Special Olympics Maryland.  Click here to view photos from their winter games, including several photos of the athletes getting their scarves!  There's even a shot of the athletes representing Charles County coming into the opening ceremonies. :)  Of course there is no way to tell which one is wearing "my" scarf, but I'd like to think at least one of the lacy scarves you see in the pictures came from me.

I'm very much looking forward to finding out the 2012 colors and knitting again for next winter's games!

If you'd like to take part, visit Scarves for Special Olympics or "like" them on Facebook by clicking here.

Near me there is this super cute yarn shop called Crazy for Ewe (seriously, how can you not love a name like that?)  which I made a point to visit on "Small Business Saturday" this past Thanksgiving weekend.  My mom and I went after a trip to another favorite shop of mine, Material Girls.  I have been getting into quilting recently and had just impulsively bought a quilt pattern and fabrics to make a quilted Christmas wall hanging.  My mother was nicely giving me grief about adding another project to my miles-long project list when she spied a skein of gorgeous hand-dyed wool yarn.  And promptly told me I needed to knit her something to give a good friend of hers for Christmas, because this yarn was "just perfect" for her.

Ah, how many projects I've begun simply because the yarn was "just perfect."

Of course, I couldn't say no because it is my mother, and she had a good point - this yarn was just perfect for the woman in question.

As we continued to browse the store, I turned the yarn over in my hands trying to picture the perfect scarf to knit with this.  I wanted something simple yet not boring.  Conveniently there were patterns for sale right at the register and one of them was exactly what I was looking for - a simple rib knit scarf dressed up with a lacy ruffle at the bottom.

I just love the colors in the yarn.  Half the fun in knitting this scarf was watching how the colors unfolded!

The best part about this project for me is that the recipient is an old friend of my mom's who knitted her a poncho for me when I was a baby, so in a way the knitting came full circle on this!  She absolutely loved it and as she lives near NYC it's been put to good use during this cold winter.