I Want to Do More

You might remember seeing these socks before… they’re my Proud to Be socks, and I released the pattern in June both in honor of Pride month and as a fundraiser for The Trevor Project and the Human Rights Campaign.

I’m so very grateful to everyone who purchased a copy of the sock pattern and helped raise funds for these two great organizations. I will admit I didn’t raise as much as I had hoped, but that’s okay. We made a start. I decided to double the amount of the donation I made to each organization, because I believe in their missions and wanted to do more. So you and I, together, we’ve done a bit more to help. And Julia at Vesper Sock Yarns helped, too, by donating proceeds from her Rainbow Love and Pure Prism colorways to the Ruth Ellis Center.

I want to do more. I have plans to release a rainbow pattern next June, and every June for as long as I can, to promote Pride and fundraise for organizations that support LGBTQ folx. Because I know that many of the LGBTQ folks in my life had very difficult journeys growing up, I want to do whatever I can to make the journeys of the next generation easier.

But there’s something bigger at the heart of this that I want to share with you.

In 2018, I lost someone very close and dear to me to suicide, a young trans person who was part of our chosen family. Their story isn’t mine to share, not yet and not without the permission of their parents, but I will say that I feel their loss every day and carry them in my heart and mind constantly. And every day, that memory pushes me to do more.

I am planning a bigger fundraiser for next March — a much, much bigger one — centered around the Trans Day of Visibility. It will be very much in memory of the dear one I lost, and with the permission of their parents it will bear their name.

Between now and then I’ll be calling on the knitting community to help me. Keep an eye out for announcements, and if you’re someone who wants to do more, reach out in the comments and let me know you’d like to be involved.

Thank you for all your help and support.