Mittens for Akkol

There is a group out there, Motherless Child Foundation, organized by a woman who adopted from Kazakhstan. A subset of the group (Mittens for Akkol) makes and delivers goods and money a couple of times a year to help out some orphanages there. One of the missions of the group is to deliver a set of clothing to each child as they graduate. At the age of 15-16, the kids graduate from the orphanage and go forth into the world. Mittens for Akkol gives each child a hand knit set: sweater, hat, mittens, scarf, thick socks, and thin socks. We have photos and measurements and favorite colors of the children and we try to give them items they will like and that fit them. It's a good group and this is the second year I have knit for the grad program.

There are women on this list who knit sweaters for these kids. Big sweaters. Gorgeous sweaters. I can barely finish a sweater for myself or N, much less whip them out for lots of teens. It is hard enough to finish a couple of socks! But there are always sock knitters needed since not everyone makes them. There are folks who love to do hats, others who love to do mittens. There is much discussion about coordinating colors for sets.

This year I committed to make a pair of thin socks and a pair of thick ones for one boy named Gena. His favorite colors are black, grey, and brown. His feet are 11" long. The thin socks went pretty fast, given that they are 11 1/4 inch long and knit on size 0's. The thick socks are knit holding one strand of worsted weight and one strand of fingering weight held together and I had a hard time getting the right gauge and stitch count. I had frogged and restarted so many times I was worried about finishing them on time, but our recent trip to New Orleans provided plenty of knitting time and I squeaked through.

The group has also started trying to provide some items for a baby home and so I managed to complete a hat and a set of mittens for the baby home. N loves the hat, and I may use this pattern to make her one in the fall. I have another pair of toddler mitts on the needles that will go later this year and an earflap hat I completed a while ago that was too small for the adult it was intended for, so I will send that along as well. I started crocheting a baby sweater, but I'm not sure I am going to finish it. I bought a book recently that has some good crocheted patterns in it and there is a sweater I'd like to make and send at some point.

The children who don't make it out of the orphanages and into families are close to my heart. If you would like to contribute to this cause, whether you can knit or crochet or not, please look at the link above. The group is on Ravelry and there is also a Yahoo group where all of the organizing is done.