September 13, 2006

The CIC sock story

Everyone seems a little curious about all the CIC socks. What would possess someone to make that many pair of socks for children on the other side of the world?

Every year I pick a charity to knit for. Hats and slippers for soldiers or newborn caps for a local hospital. Chemo caps for a local cancer center. Every year it's something.

Last year I taught myself how to make socks. I just love knitting socks! My grandsons call them "Gram mades" and they love wearing them. So I thought I'd combine my love of children and my love of sock knitting into one charity this year.

I set a goal of 150 pr of socks. I started knitting on 1/1/06. Now my game plan was to knit for the month, weave all the ends, and then pop them in the mail. Good plan. The only problem is I like knitting much more than I like weaving ends. So I just kept knitting and throwing the pairs into boxes saying, "I'll just knit a couple more and then I'll weave the ends."

When I got around to weaving the ends I had about 120 pr done already so I figured I'd just finish the 150 pr and mail them all at once (save a little money on the mailing that way). I finished knitting, got all the ends weaved, snapped a quick picture or two and packed them up to go. I have to say it was just a relief to get them out of the house so I could move on to other knitting projects.

I've got a couple other things to finish for another charity and then I'm back to my own knitting for a while. Come December I'll be thinking about next year's charity project so if anyone has some suggestions please feel free to post them.

8 comments:

the stripey tiger said...

Hi Diane- it's the stripey tiger - saying hello. WOW!! I'm amazed at all those socks!! Well done! :-)

DJ said...

I'm so glad that you chose CIC for your charity this year. I hope you will consider doing more knitting for CIC. We can always use the help. I hope you don't mind, I have your sockie picture on my desktop right now for inspiration. I usually rotate my desktop pics of the family, but liked that one so much I used it for my current one. Love all the colors. DJ in SW MI

Anonymous said...

Well, I tried to post a message to the CIC Yahoo group when you first posted the photos, but it never made it. Anyway, Wow, that is an incredible accomplishment and for such a worthy cause. It's like you met an entire CIC sock challenge on your own!! Congratulations and great work on the socks - they are so cute and colorful, and I smile to think of all the children you are helping.

Marguerite said...

Amazing! That's 300 warm feet and you can feel very good about that.

The thing I love about knitting for CIC is how much the knits are appreciated and used. There's noone turning up their nose at the color or the style.

Those socks are critical to the comfort of the kids and each pair is needed and worn even past the stage of ragged holes.

Thanks for knitting for CIC.

Tracy Batchelder said...

There are so many great charities to knit for out there. I know CIC surely appreciated your help! If you're looking for a new charity, consider The Preemie Project or LucyBug Knit Along.

TPP donates hats, booties, blankets and bereavement sets in sizes preemie-newborn to hospitals in Iowa and Michigan. This charity is one year old, makes regular donations and is well organized.

LucyBug KAL donates bereavement sets (all sizes) to hospitals in Utah in memory of the founder's neice, Lucy. This charity group is a few months old and could really use the help. It is also well organized and you can be sure that what you donate is appreciated.

I am a volunteer for both of these charities. There are links on my blog, if you would like to check them out.

Karen said...

That's wonderful that you do that. I couldn't make that many pairs of socks in my lifetime!

Betty Ann said...

Honestly, somebody (you) should get this story to your local paper. They'd be interested and you'd inspired someone else to do something for the innocent in this world who need help. I used to work for a small newspaper and would love this assignment PLUS think of publicity you'd get for CIC. That's an amazing number of socks and to think they're handmade with hours and hours of love!

Anonymous said...

Diane,

I applaud your committment and goal, especially with CIC. Your '07 charity of choice will be a great beneficator.

JoLynn