What is hope? Merriam-Webster defines hope as to “expect with confidence”. We all need hope, hope that the tomorrow will be a better day. How wonderful life would be if each of us could expect with confidence that tomorrow would be better.

For the past several months I have been following a craft group that uses their talents to do just that. With so many people in the world that are hurting, Craft Hope allows people to use their crafting skills to bring a little hope to the lives of those less fortunate. It is a simple concept really. Periodically a project is announced. People around the world are asked to make a particular item for a charity that will then distribute the items.  I finally took the plunge and decided to participate in a project. They are currently collecting hats, scarves and blankets for the people of Romania. To learn more about Craft Hope and their current projects head to www.CraftHope.com

Tomorrow I will be putting in the mail one lonely hat and scarf for a little girl. I know it is not much but believing every little bit helps here is my contribution.

I began with the scarf. Using a #6 pair of needles, I cast on 25 stitches and continued with a garter stitch until it was long enough (about 36 inches).

This scarf brought me extra joy and some tears. For recently, as my father helped to clean out Dobb’s house, he found a pair of my grandmother’s needles that I was able to use for the first time on this project. She has been gone for a little over 15 years now. My grandmother was a spunky lady, full of determination, but she had a heart of gold and was always willing to help. With each stitch I reflected on my memories of her, I couldn’t help but think she would have loved to use her needles for a cause such as this.

Then came the hat. Since I did not have enough of the dark rose to complete a hat, I opted to try my hand at changing colors. I really did not have a pattern per se, but used the basic hat that I had made previously as my starting point. Here is what I did.

Cast on 90 stitches onto a set of size 8 double point needles, and join in the round being certain to mark where the round begins.