I’ve written about Beads of Courage a number of times because it’s such a fantastic organization.It was created by Jean Baruch, a pediatric oncology nurse that felt there was something lacking in the way brave sick children were being “rewarded” for the treatments they had to receive for their cancers. Usually stickers were given and that didn’t really seem like enough to represent the painful treatments they had to endure. Beads were more significant and meaningful. And quite a few glass bead makers participate in bead making days where all that they make are donated to the group to be distributed to the children. Recently CBS News did a story on Beads of Courage and I think you should check out the video. It’s amazing how many beads some of these children receive with each one representing a separate treatment.
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Add Chevron Stripes to a Sweet Vintage Sweater
You probably know by now that I am really trying to use my yarn stash, and that I have a lot of odd balls that don’t necessarily easily make a garment on their own. I’ve been thinking about just going through my stash from one end to the other and making myself use whatever I find, but I also love big projects that can use a lot of stash, and different colors of stash, all at once.
That’s a great thing about the Vintage & Variety sweater from Caitlyn Turowksi. This worsted/aran weight pullover is worked in a colorwork chevron stripe pattern, with raglan sleeves and a V-neck worked from the top down.
You can make it with as many or as few different colors as you want. Make it a sort of retro rainbow as shown, or use all your stash of a single color to make an ombre effect.The pattern page shows the design worked in three colors or 12 colors, and you could do something in between by repeating some of the colors more or less often if you want. There’s also an option for working it in a single color, which would make the chevron really subtle but would still be fun to knit.
This is one where you’ll want to look through all the different projects on the pattern page on Ravelry if you can to see if the colors other people used spark any ideas for what you can pull out of your stash to work with.
The pattern come sin nine sizes, with a finished bust measurement ranging from 32 to 64 inches, or 80 to 160 cm. You can decide how much ease you want; the three-color version in the project notes has no ease, while this colorful version is a little more relaxed.
As you might have guessed, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.
[Photo: Caitlyn Turowski]