ALBERTA FLOOD RELIEF FUNDRAISER
All proceeds from the sale of this cowl from now until the end of September 2013 will be donated to The Canadian Red Cross for Alberta Flood relief. NOW EXTENDED UNTIL END OCTOBER.

UPDATE 18th July.
I have just sent the $100 raised so far to Canadian Red Cross.

August 2013
A further $70 sent to Canadian Red Cross from Ravelry and sales of hard copies at The Loop in Kensington, Calgary. Thanks!

October 2nd 2013
Another donation of $80.20 from sales of the printed pattern at The Loop. Thanks to everyone who bought the pattern!

I live in Calgary and watching the recent severe flooding and subsequent clean-up efforts on TV, I felt I should be helping, although with two small kids, the potential for doing so was limited. The generosity of Albertans meant that donation centres had enough clothes and food and needed monetary donations instead.

I realized that I could help in a way I had previously for the local kids’ play park. I could create a knitting design that could be a fundraiser and the “Hell or High Water” cowl was born.

The lace patterns used are symbolic of the mountains and prairie landscapes and the rib top hem reflects the resilience and strength of the affected communities. The cable represents the rivers responsible for the floods and the purple colour is for Mayor Nenshi, who led Calgarians through the crisis in a calm and effective way.

Size is 19” around and 8” tall (48cm by 20cm tall).

Pattern is both written and charted (two files to download)

The particular yarn I used is now available as Raventwist “Griffin”, but the cowl will work with any other DK yarn with a similar yardage per 50g (or a heavy sport weight).