Don’t forget!!
Thursday, March 20, is "Won’t You Wear a Sweater?" Day, in honor of what would have been Mister Rogers‘ 80th birthday (Fred Rogers died in 2003 of stomach cancer).
"Mr. McFeely" (David Newell) appears in a video made for the occasion, which is available at youtube as well as the link above, and it’s worth watching if only for the flashbacks — if you ever watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, it’ll about bring tears to your eyes, with the familiar music and some of the most memorable scenes from the show.
According to Mr. McFeely, your sweater for the day
…doesn’t have to have a zipper down the front, like the one Mister Rogers used to wear – it just needs to be special to YOU.
They also encourage you to send a picture or a video of yourself in your sweater to neighbordays@fci.org. Go for it. You know you want to. Just keep it tasteful.
Here are a few of the most important fun facts about Mister Rogers, from a knitting perspective, anyway. Did you know…?
All of Fred Rogers’ original sweaters were knitted by his mother. Each year she knitted a dozen sweaters, and at Christmas, she gave one to family and close friends. (WPSU TV/FM, Penn State Public Broadcasting)
OK, that right there is an impressive statistic. A dozen sweaters a year = one per month, people. AND let’s not overlook the fact that she did sweaters as her Christmas knitting! None of this last-minute / quick-gifts / one-skein / start-in-late-November stuff for her. Kinda makes me think I ought to get crackin’.
One of Mister Rogers’ handknit-by-his-mother sweaters is displayed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. It’s red and has a couple of cables down the front, along with the ubiquitous zipper.
(See a picture of it at the NMAH site.)
More than 24: Number of cardigans worn by Rogers over his career.
Let’s make the most of this beautiful day!
…and don’t forget to wear YOUR special handknit sweater.
(I wonder if I can knit up that pink MOHAIR into a cardigan by tomorrow?)
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