I always want to thank all our participants for their important contributions to our scarf project.  We wouldn’t enjoy our huge success without each and every one of  you.  Just to review, in case you didn’t know or forgot, here’s the process of making a comfort scarf and then shipping it to a shelter.

Yarn and $$$ donations.  Every scarf starts with yarn.  Sometimes we get huge yarn donations (see note about Trendsetter Yarn’s donation below.)  Sometimes we don’t get all the yarn we need to make comfort scarves.  Thenh I have to buy yarn, often Caron One Pound and ICE fun fur.  Couldn’t buy yarn without $$$ donations from so many of you.  Also couldn’t ship to our shelters without $$$ donations.

Measuring the yarn.  We have two teams of yarn measurers.  Paula, Meredith, and Joyce measure the fun fur or other novelty yarn that we knit into the beginning and end of every comfort scarf.  Karen, Bonnie, and Paul measure the B yarns.  

Every week, I select from the measured B yarn, find a matching or coordinating fun fur/novelty yarn, and pick an A yarn.  I package them into bags and give them to Karen, Kayoko, and Paula to wind into Magic Ball kits.  

Ann finishes every kit with a gift tag (made by my husband) and the “directions.”  Then she and I distribute them at a parking lot in Torrance, or we mail them to the various volunteers who want to make comfort scarves.

Ronnie and Theresa host bins of Magic Balls on their front porches.  Alison and Janet pick up Magic Balls in the parking lot at Michaels where they also drop off finished scarves.  The full bins keep everyone who wants to make comfort scarves supplied with kits.  Dropping off finished scarves means they get wrapped and prepared for shipping.  Womaning the bins is a crucial step in our system. 

Many knitters/crocheters make Magic Balls into comfort scarves.  Everyone who receives a kit gives back a finished scarf.  Then I distribute the finished scarves to our team of wrappers:  Chris N, Chris F, Carlyn, Carole, Sari, Elizabeth, Sharon.  They wrap the scarves with curling ribbon.  Then they’re ready to ship.

Ann, Chris and I ship the scarves to some of our shelters on a monthly or quarterly basis.  Before Covid, the schedule was more regular.  Now it seems we ship when shelters request scarves.  As I told you last week, in September, we shipped almost 2,000 scarves to 30+ shelters.  Wow.  We couldn’t have done this without your contributions, whatever they were.

Some of the behind the scene unmentioned important jobs that keep our project running smoothly include box opening (Chris N), quality control and scarf repair (Sharon), and bookkeeping (Ann).  I know I’ve forgotten something or someone, but not on purpose.  I want to mention each and every one of you and each and every job.  If I forgot any, please remind me and I’ll include it next time.  You can see making comfort scarves is MORE than casting on 10 stitches and knitting them.  Every comfort scarf is the result of team effort and you’re an important member of the team.  Thank you so much.