I put aside my 'Earl Grey' temporarily this week, for a very important knitting mission.
Friends from our church have a son with the Forces in Afghanistan. He was given a temporary leave this week to come home to be married on Saturday, then a brief honeymoon and back to the front lines.
His mom was telling me how cold it is there, when it dawned on me that I could be of assistance ... the Helmet Liner pattern! I only had a couple of days to do it in, but I knew I could do it. The pattern says that it fits an 'average' soldier's head. I did some searching on Ravelry and determined that that would likely be too small, as this is a big boy. Actually, most men found the original pattern to be too small/tight. Fortunately, Meilynne modified the pattern to suit (as she puts it) 'linebacker size', which I knew would work perfectly. An aside ... I don't think I have a particulary large head, but the large size was only slightly big on me.
Heads up -- the original Paton's pattern says that it takes 2 hours to complete -- who are they kidding??? I'm a fast knitter and I'm telling you that it took me at least 8 hours to knit!
Anyway, it feels very gratifying to do a little something for our troops and show them that we care. If you're in the US, the Paton's pattern tells you the specifications for knitting, plus where you can send them. I'm looking into the requirements for Canada and will let you know in a future post.
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4 comments:
We have friends in church with a son in Afghanistan, too. I should see if he needs a helmet liner. Thanks for the info!
I'd actually queued that pattern a few weeks ago for Phil. He wears a helmet when he goes kite-skiing :)
Please let us know the requirements as soon as you learn anything. I have a friend whose son is over there as well and would really like to help our boys out.
God bless.
Ohhh, that's a great idea! I'll definitely look into that. Seems like it will be easier for me, being in the US and all. I received lots of lovely gifts for knitting for Christmas and my birthday, I'm looking forward to digging into some projects! :)
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