Purple Stitch Project (PSP) was founded by designer, author and on-air personality, Vickie Howell, who is best known as the host of DIY Network’s Knitty Gritty and the spokesperson for the yarn company, Caron International.

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In 2011, Vickie’s youngest son, Tristan was diagnosed with epilepsy after an EEG test proved that the “grand mal” seizure he’d had was not a fluke. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, epilepsy affects more than 300,000 children in the U.S., but for any one kid who has the disorder it can feel pretty isolating. Vickie noticed this feeling in her own son, and began work to help him feel less different and alone. While reaching out to form a community for Tristan, she met other children with varying degrees of seizure disorders. She decided that she wanted to do something that would help raise their spirits, so she drew from what she’s knows best: the handmade world. Thus, the idea for Purple Stitch Project was born.

Purple Stitch Project (PSP) is a web-based charitable organization to benefit babies, children and teens with epilepsy. The first goal of this initiative is a call to action for people who knit, crochet, or sew to make purple (the epilepsy awareness color) gifts for kids with seizure disorders. These gifts will serve as a reminder that they are not alone — that they have community support. To do this, Purple Stitch Project has teamed up with Craftsy to be able to offer free patterns and project ideas for volunteers to work from.

Who will benefit from your handmade item? Currently, PSP will be working with the Specially for Children Neurology offices, the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit in Austin, TX, and the EFSCT who will distribute the items to patients. It’s their plan to make this a national outreach program as soon as possible.

In the meantime, if you know an individual child or organization who might benefit from a Purple Stitch Project handmade treat, please send info to: psp@vickiehowell.com . She’ll do her best to hook them up!