Final Countdown

I've spent the last few weeks busily preparing for my semester abroad, which kicks off this Sunday at 6:30! I've been joking that I'm flying out of the Meadowlands (aka Newark Airport) right as the Superbowl starts, so folks should root for my plane getting out on time as well as their favorite teams :)

I had a chance to visit Rochester over MLK weekend, which was absolutely wonderful. I had a great time seeing friends and watching Frozen (which I highly recommend to anyone who still hasn't seen it). Once I got back, I've had a hectic pair of weeks trying to get everything done before I finally leave. I hit the mall to pick up an adapter (so my laptop will function in the UK) and a few sweaters (it doesn't get as cold as in Rochester, but it does get chilly). Today I hit the salon for a quick haircut ("quick" meaning it took 2 hours instead of the usual 3).

Right now, I'm tying up the last of my loose ends - literally! As I had mentioned, I've been taking regular breaks from my first ever sweater to knit my own mug cozies, including one that's pictured here. I haven't sewn it together or added the button yet, but other than that it's done. The fire engine red (poor photo quality doesn't do it justice) wool yarn came from my extensive donated stash and the button will be from my collection of random buttons. Side note- yes, I have a collection of random buttons.

I've been keeping up my advocacy work while I'm home as well. This week was especially tough because it was Eeva's birthday. For those who don't know, Eeva was a classmate of mine growing up. We were in the same second grade class, and though we weren't close in the years that followed, I still distinctly remember the day she joined my group of friends on a field trip. On January 27, she should have celebrated her 21st birthday. However, she passed away in May 2009 after a lifetime battle with Leukemia. She was only 16 years old. 

Tomorrow, I'll spend one last Friday night with people from home. Saturday, I'll go to lunch with my family and pack up my life. Sunday, my adventure across the ocean begins. 

But tonight, I'll just remember Eeva.

Knitting my way through Europe, one skein at a time

Like the new tagline? I'm prepping for my semester abroad, and thought I'd give blogging another go since my visa just arrived! I'm home for the rest of January with nothing to do but watch TV and knit. Since I have all this free time, I'm knitting a sweater. OK, to be fair, I started the sweater during the semester. Knitting a few hundred stitches in the round has served as a wonderful stress relief, but it can get boring at times. For that reason, I've started designing my own mug cozies. I haven't gotten the pattern quite right yet, but I'm having a lot of fun trying!

Countdown: 24 days

Ribbon Ready

It's hard to believe I'm already moved in for my Junior year! I had quite the whirlwind summer, and am finally settled in for my newest challenge - being a freshman RA!

I've been busy all week with training and preparing for move-in day, but I wanted to write a quick little note about my keychain project. My newest shape may be my favorite - awareness ribbons. Pictured here are multicolored ribbons for autism awareness, which can be made as either keychains or pins. Because I've created the pattern, I can make these ribbons in any color. Whether it's Gold for childhood cancer, Teal for tourette syndrome, or another color, I can create ribbons for all your awareness needs. Ribbons are available either with or without the tail shown in the larger photograph.

Please remember that all the proceeds from my keychain sale will go to Natalie Grace's fundraiser, the information for which can be found at www.willyousendusadollar.com. Interested? Contact me at www.facebook.com/PerfectPurls for more details! 

Summer's End

It has been an incredible 12 weeks at the Children's Defense Fund, and I am amazingly grateful for the opportunities I've had this summer. I've traveled to conferences, met other young advocates, explored the wonderful city of Washington DC, spent time with a fantastic group of interns, learned to crochet, and more. But, as with all great things, it must come to an end.

As I get ready to pack up and head back to Rochester, I've been trying to figure out how to balance all the different things I want to do. On top of classes, dancing with BPG, services at Hillel, singing with Roc Hakol, knitting/crocheting, and learning to be an RA, I'll be preparing for my sister's wedding! At the same time, I'm currently keeping up my work on social media for The Truth 365, transitioning to watch over the new volunteers we're recruiting instead of doing it all on my own. It's going to be a busy semester, to say the least.

One thing I'm getting ready to restart is my keychain fundraiser for The Truth 365. September will be National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and we will see the first anniversary of Monique Williams' death, as well as mark what should have been Hanna Monte's 23rd birthday. At some point, you have to ask: when does it stop? When will we say, we've had enough? And then, once we've said it, when will we start working to make it better?

Photograph from Natalie's facebook page

Natalie Grace, a 3-year-old warrior, and her amazing mother have had enough for quite some time. They're tired of Natalie's treatments poisoning her body to try and get the cancer out, and they're sick of knowing that they're the lucky ones. When Natalie was diagnosed, the doctors knew that they could cure her. They knew that she would be ok. It has been nearly a year since little Natalie's diagnosis, she's officially in the maintenance phase of her treatment, and the light has appeared at the end of the tunnel. But in that year, how many other kids have met a different fate? Monique Williams wasn't one of the lucky ones, and 7 kids follow her footsteps every day in the US alone.

It's time to start working to make it better.

For just a $5 donation to Natalie's "send me a dollar" fundraiser, I will send you a keychain in the color & shape of your choosing. All you have to do is send her a donation, and then send a message to my Facebook page that includes either a picture of your card + donation if you send it in the mail, or a screenshot of your donation online. That'll be your chance to let me know what color & shape keychain you would like as well. In addition to hearts and bows (pictured here) I have previously made owls and flowers, and I am always interested in learning new patterns - peace signs, letters, animals, other symbols, you name it and I'll find a way to make it.

Will you help me be a part of Natalie's 4th birthday?

Knitting On The Go

One of my favorite parts of knitting (and now crocheting) is that as long as I'm not in the drivers seat, I am free to knit/crochet during my travels. I can sit back, listen to the radio or my iPod, and calmly create something out of nothing.

Which is exactly what I did during my 10-hour trip home from Tennessee.

The training was incredible, to say the least. The 4 interns in my department at the Children's Defense Fund joined over 100 other young community organizers for a training on advocacy, organizing, and nonviolent action. Our training occurred concurrently with the CDF Freedom Schools, whose 1,500 servant leader interns, site coordinators and project managers provide a summer of literacy enrichment to children across the country. In addition to our training sessions, we joined the Freedom Schools to attend Harambee each morning (a half hour of songs, reading, and general pump-up for the day) as well as evening plenary sessions (generally a panel of speakers to educate the audience on a variety of topics, such as movement building, closing the achievement gap, and more). In just one short week, we developed the skills we would need to return to our hometowns and build our own Children's Action Teams in order to better fight for the rights of children. Together, we created a network of teams that will establish strong relationships with local communities and begin to generate movements over the coming months, so look out for more information on my role in that.

Of course, I kept up with my other passion - my volunteering with The Truth 365 - all week as well. Because I was away all week, I put the pinterest and tumblr on hold for a bit and focused on the Twitter, which I was able to keep up with on my phone. Now, however, I'm back on all three!

This week has been crazy, trying to get caught up with sleep and get back into the swing of things here in DC. I have spent time reconnecting with old friends and exploring the city, as well as spending some time with my older sister.

But none of that is really that interesting, is it? Back to the crocheting.

Pictured below is one of my first complete crochet squares:

I'm probably prouder of this square than I should be, considering that it's a little bit lopsided and I'm pretty sure I dropped a stitch somewhere along the line. Regardless, I am getting better each square I complete and I'm learning new stitches along the way. As I mentioned, I hope to have enough squares to create a blanket by the time school starts in September.

Square count: 4 (hey, I'll get there eventually!)

Intro-to-Crochet

Week 2 of my internship, and still going strong. I've been hard at work learning about the programs my department works on, and the other interns are all fantastic. I've also started working on social media for The Truth 365. I now manage Pinterest boards and the Tumblr account for the organization, as well as their Twitter handle.

Next week, I'll be traveling to Clinton, Tennessee with my department at the Childrens Defense Fund for a national training institute in child policy advocacy. In addition to our training, there will be over 2,000 young leaders training for the Freedom Schools program, which provides literacy support to underpriveleged children across the nation.

Of course, I'll have plenty to keep me occupied during my 10-hour journey on a bus. In addition to bringing my latest book, I'll certainly have a crochet hook and a ball of yarn. I've decided that to learn to crochet, I'm going to make small squares of various colors throughout the summer. Each 6" x 6" square will be a chance for me to learn a new stitch or pattern. At the end of the summer, I hope to have a large enough collection of squares to be able to compose at least a small blanket out of them.

To create the squares, I'm using yarn that's been left over from previous projects. Right now, I'm working with the red yarn that's left from this pair of legwarmers:

This pair of legwarmers was fun to create and quick to finish. Knit on straight needles in a double rib, I simply had to make sure that I counted the correct number of rows before switching colors and increased evenly on both sides. I love working with red and yellow together (there's a little Gryffindor in everyone), especially when I find the two colors with such strong contrast. By itself, the yellow is nearly blond and the red has a bit of an orange tint, but together, they are the perfect combination for fall, when this photoshoot occurred.

Pictured here is Olga, who has been a wonderful friend to me since I began my freshman year and has been incredibly supportive of my endeavors in knitting. The photos are by Emily, who I feel the need to mention is studying abroad in Vienna right now (mostly because I'm incredibly jealous of her). You can read all about her adventures here.

As always, check out more of my knitwear on my Facebook Page.

My Life as an Intern, Week 1

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm passionate about two things: raising awareness about childhood cancer until a cure is found, and learning about the American education system to eventually reform it.

This summer, I get to do both.

During the day, I am an intern with the Children's Defense Fund. I'll be working under their Youth Leadership and Development department, which focuses on training young advocates. The larger organization advocates for children's rights in areas such as child health, child mental health, early education, and literacy. They speak up for children without a voice. Find out more about their organization at their WEBSITE.

When I'm not interning with CDF or exploring Washington DC, I'll be volunteering with TheTruth365, assisting with social media. TheTruth365 is a "grass-roots documentary film and social media campaign designed to give a voice to all children fighting cancer." I am honored to get to work with this fantastic organization, which you can LIKE on Facebook or FOLLOW on Twitter. Be on the lookout for Tumblr and Pinterest, which will be up and running in the coming days.

Of course, I'll still have time to knit along the way. My current project is actually learning to crochet. While knitting will always be my first love, crocheting will be a valuable skill to add to my repertoire. I've done some crocheting before, such as the cowl pictured below:

The yarn, called "peaches and cream" is naturally striping in one of my favorite color combinations. The small skein is one of my last acrylic yarns, which is astonishing, especially considering that I used to use acrylic yarn exclusively. I used a bit of the scrap yarn to attach the two pink buttons, which I discovered in an old arts and crafts kit. Buttons became my favorite ornaments this past winter, so expect to see more of these in other posts.

Stephanie, pictured here, is a wonderful dancer and choreographer. The pictures, like many of my others, were taken by the wonderful Emily. Many thanks to both of them for joining me in trudging through the snow (somehow we managed to not get Stephanie's pants soaked, and her shoes were only a little wet). As always, check out my Facebook Page for more information.