Ain't No Party Like a Cardigan Party

TGIF, friends! It's been a long, cold week, and we're all happy to see the arrival of the weekend.

I mentioned the WQED Cardigan Party in my last post, and several of you asked for clarification, which made me realize that despite the fact that I was sure I had blogged about this event before, I don't think I actually have! So let me rectify that situation now. I'm fairly certain that if you live in the United States and either were a kid or had kids in the last five decades or so, you have heard of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. But here in Pittsburgh, we live in that neighborhood. Fred Rogers was born in the greater Pittsburgh area, lived here, and filmed his show at WQED, the local PBS station that has been on the air since the early '50s. The Mister has served on the station's board for the past several years and recently was elected its cochair -- and, coincidentally, he actually lived next door to Fred and Joanne Rogers at one point in his childhood! In any case, in his time on the board, the station has been really focused on raising awareness of and support for public television, and a few years ago, they started hosting the Cardigan Party in the Fred Rogers Studio (yes, the studio where the show was filmed!) as a fundraiser and a celebration of the spirit of Mister Rogers. It's a very Pittsburgh event, with food from local restaurants, drinks from local breweries and distilleries, and even a cookie table. Guest are encouraged to show up in their favorite Fred Rogers-style cardigan, naturally.

This year's event was the first one since 2019 and featured four cardigans knit by yours truly:

Patterns are, left to right, Ellyce, Ramona, Edinburgh, and Good Neighbor (all Ravelry links)

Katie asked me if there were any celebrities at the event, and yes, there were! While most were names only locals were know, I'm confident many of you will recognize this man with my brother and sister-in-law:

Speedy delivery!

David Newell (aka Mister McFeely) is nearly 84 years old but is always willing to show up for events like this. The line to meet him was long all night, in large part because he always takes time to talk to each and every person. Here's a little trivia for you: Do you know where his character got his name? Fred Rogers' middle name was McFeely!

I didn't manage to get a photo of the whole cookie table -- in truth, it would have been pretty difficult because it was several tables long and contained 42 different varieties! But I did snap one shot of these cookies, which no one seemed to be taking because they were too cute to eat!

I think it's also worth noting that whoever made these cookies also had them displayed on a very Pittsburgh setting!

So that is the Cardigan Party in a nutshell! No one mentioned it, but it was clear to me that I have two cardigans to knit for next year, for my father and sister-in-law, who were forced to wear store-bought cardigans to the event.