Your hands are a window to your heart

With autumn just around the corner, our store customers who knit have been keeping busy through the summer months on projects for the holidays and charity projects we help support throughout the year. We're always setting goals and sharing stories around the knitting table. Some are huge goals like our knitter Mary Ford, who completed the Coeur d'Alene Ironman along with her husband Jim. Others are focused on learning to knit socks or picking up the challenge of a hand-knit sweater. Setting goals and sharing time with others is key to a healthy lifestyle.

Right now, we're gearing up to work on hand-knit red scarves for the Red Scarf Project.

This program was developed by Joseph Rivers in 1981 through the Foster Care to Success (FC2S) charity. He was a foster child himself, and knew firsthand how difficult it is to turn 18 and enter the world of adulthood with little or no support system. The outreach program helps foster teens prepare for the overnight adulthood they experience after high school graduation or upon turning 18. These foster kids "age out" at 18 and no longer have support or assistance from the government, which most children receive from their parents in subsequent years.

According to recent research, only between three and 10 percent of foster youth graduate from college. With the support from Foster Care to Success, their success rate rises dramatically: more than 61 percent of FC2S scholars graduate within five years, a percentage higher than that of the overall U.S. population!

Through the program, handmade red scarves are sent in every care package at Valentine's Day. They are treasured keepsakes that students wear for years. The Red Scarf Project offers a unique opportunity to use your creativity to give a personal gift to a student as he or she moves forward to graduation and a brighter future.

Your hands are the window to your heart. There is love in every stitch, and a scarf is like a hug. Since the first Valentine's Day care packages were sent out in 2005, the Red Scarf Project has delivered over 20,000 red scarves to foster youth in colleges and training programs across the country.

If you would like to get involved, you can knit or crochet a red scarf for a foster child. Just visit our store for details and a free pattern and bring in the scarf on or before Dec. 1. We will arrange to have it delivered to the program, so the kids get their scarves on Valentine's Day. Thanks for helping us help others and showing that we care about our foster youth!

Even if you are not a knitter, there are always unique gifts at Alpaca Direct for that special person. We have a wide array of artisan-quality gifts like scarves and hats, along with our wonderful line of alpaca socks for winter and summer. We carry a full line of fiber art accessories, including hundreds of needles and thousands of yarns. Our unique selection of products also includes Peruvian hand-loomed lace scarves, luxurious alpaca socks and cuddly alpaca teddy bears.

Our building is handicap accessible with ample parking and is easy to find. We are located just two blocks west of Highway 95 at 1016 W. Hayden Ave. in Hayden.

Our store is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Visit us at 1016 W. Hayden Avenue or online at www.AlpacaDirect.com - your local destination for luxury yarn, socks, apparel and gifts.

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