Giving

So I’m sitting here, and it’s about 5:30 in the morning, and I’ve been up all night swearing at my knitting. (Those of you who know me are aware that this is not unusual.) And I was going to come here and talk about my knitting, and the problems I’m having with it, and the week’s worth of work that I’m going to rip out, and then the news started to come in about the earthquake in Japan and I just couldn’t. Natural disasters in the Pacific Rim and elsewhere, civil unrest in more than a dozen middle Eastern and north African countries, even turmoil right here in the US, and I’m complaining that I can’t make the sticks and string give me a pretty sweater.

That’s not why I knit. That’s not why I do this job, which I love. I do it to give something back.

So this morning, I’m sitting here, and it’s about 6am now because I’ve been typing and ripping out and typing and ripping for a half an hour, and feeling a little useless amidst all the turmoil, wondering what the heck I’m supposed to do, with my sticks and string and my silly little knitting blog.

Except, wait, knitters can do a lot. I can do a lot. And to that end, 50% of all of my pattern sales for the remainder of the month will be donated, divided evenly between Doctors Without Borders and disaster relief¹. Also, the remaining stock of physical items in my shop will have the same percentage donated until all of it is gone.

Please note that I’m not asking for purchases in lieu of any of your usual or planned donations; if you have been meaning to give elsewhere, please do. However, if you were already considering buying something from me, or have a pattern in your queue that you’d like to get to soon, now would be an awesome time to do it.

¹: In the interest of full disclosure, I have not yet picked a particular organization for this portion. I will do my best to see that it goes where it can help, though.