Knit-In at the Islamic Cultural Center, Oakland, CA, Oct. 29

Yesterday, we met at the Islamic Cultural Center in Oakland, CA, to knit for Afghanistan. This was part of the program offerings by the American Friends Service Committee for their Windows & Mirrors art exhibit on Afghanistan. We sat in the cafe where kids and parents and other visitors were hanging out in between their weekend activities. We met a few Afghan-Americans who were quite intrigued by our samples of authentic Afghan knitting and the patterns we wrote to document these designs for knitting here. Many have fond memories of knitting in their own families. We showed our slides of images from our distributions in Afghanistan over the years and many volunteer photos.

Local packing volunteer Laura helped hostess the afternoon. We were joined by long-time volunteers Gail, Keiko, and Jun, who are part of our East Bay gang. We met long-time volunteer Jody -- who drove all the way from Davis to deliver a box filled with wool socks and vests for the current campaign. The color combos were fantastic. And, Jody definitely improved our In-VEST for Peace pattern that has problems in the neck decrease area. (I discourage most people from using the pattern. Other patterns exist -- even if they take a little more skill ... better to have a well-functioning garment.) Big thanks to Jody for coming all the way to join us -- we're so glad we've met now, and we'll have to arrange a packing day around a future day trip to SF so Jody can have the Basement Experience.