Mod for a month

So, I have been thinking...a lot of our goals so far have been established by jpettibone, funfairiegirl or myself. And I have to say, especially recently, those goals, all of them, have been smashed. Without mercy. Whether it's monthly goals, the square contest...doclegs put out a call for I think 30 VA bags originally and that goal also was smashed.

Therefore, in order to shake things up, get some new perspective, and spread some wealth, I'd like to initiate a program here called (you guessed it) mod for a month. Major points:

• In order to be fair, the winner will simply be the first comment that shows up on this post, either here in lj or at blogspot. No voting or anything that would risk hard feelings. Just first come, first win!

• Mainly what I am thinking is that the monthly mod will come up with the monthly goal and organize/pimpinate any projects that he/she would like us to concentrate on. The monthly mod will also ideally carry the torch of spreading the word about this group to other organizations who might be interested or who might be able to use us as a resource

• I will be happy to continue to tally and assist with maintenance type issues, though if you really WANT to do that (and I don't know why you would, really ;)) you can

I'm posting this at the same time to both blogs (2 browser windows open) so everything is totally fair.

Party on!

I don't even know what makes you all as awesome as you are

I think it must extend beyond pee at this point. Maybe even beyond Richard Simmons. *gasp*

So, I have to tell you all, I did not think we had any shot of making our goal of 1200. It's the weekend before July 4th...heck, even I'm busy this weekend. Been busy, in fact. I have to say that had we stuck at 1100 or so like where we were this MORNING, I would still have been pleased as punch. Funfairiegirl and I discussed at length whether the goal for 6/30/07 should be 1,000 or 1,200. We decided on 1,200 knowing that 1,000 still would be like, the coolest thing ever.

Today, I had a family outing. I left my apartment at oh, about 4:30. I tallied some beautiful jewelry by eliseamelie and some gorgeous squares by gypsyamaranta. I think we were at 1,115 when I left. I figured we might get pretty *close* to 1200, but I REALLY did not think we'd make it.

I definitely did not think that we'd whup its butt.

I know that these comments are meant mostly for summaries, but June 2007 will always hold a special place in my heart, not only because this group finished its 1000th item, but also because we exceeded yet another goal during what is one of the busiest months/times of the year. Please reflect on what you have contributed and feel really really really good about yourselves. Seriously.

To quote Wayne's World, "I promised myself I wasn't going to cry!"

Oh, and if you want to know what this group accomplished during the time that I was out having a good time...117 items. In about 7 hours. Yeah, that's how awesome you all are.

Square Update

I have counted squares for the following people toward the contest. If you name isn't here, please email me at craftingforacause at gmail dot com and let me know - linking your post will be best. Please make sure your post is tagged as the square contest since that is how I am tracking this.

I will be doing the official tally sometime on Sunday, so please make sure you let me know if you aren't on the list ASAP!

jpettibone
treebhugger06
zipper208
zortified
nehnhaa
gypsyamaranta
craftyone
Littleknittinkitten
Priscilla
Venka

Thanks.

20 more...

Christi had collected these and got them to me last night. Well, 17 of them. The other 3 I knit in the last couple days. I have another on the needles downstairs, but I think I am going to work on something else for a bit - 20 is good :)

These are (of course) not being counted toward the contest. I will be adding contest squares up tomorrow sometime, but Julie just posted 43!!! (3000in2007.livejournal.com if you don't usully read over there).

sixteen squares at the halfway point

wanted to check in with an official picture of all the squares i've made so far for the Warm Up America challenge. these sixteen squares are my halfway point. as well as my addition to the june total. although i think i've already added like seven of them. but still ...

A dozen and 2

Or a baker's dozen and 1. However you count it it's 14 squares for Warming Families. Check 'em out!

They're crocheted with Bernat Berella 4 on a 5.5mm hook. I based them on the Monochromatic Granny Blanket from the Happy Hooker, only I extended them out to 5 rounds instead of the 3 in the pattern. I also added a border of hdc to make 6 rounds or about 7" square. Since the Warming Familie's volunteer collector only collects 8" squares I'll make them into blankets before donating them. I'm just going to keep making them until the end of July and see how many blankets I can get out of it.

=^_^=

Calling All Knitters For Some Good Help

Hey folks! I have just started a new project, to try to warm up the homeless in the city I live in, Winchester, VA, this winter coming.

Warm Up Winc

I know that we're all busy knitting for various charities, but when my mom (who works for the city government), told me that we had THREE tent cities last year, I just had to do something. And I thought that I would enlist some of ya'll to help, if you're up to it.

My goal right now is small, but I'm thinking of holding a few contests as well for insentive, for those who join up. And, ya know, to make it fun!

So please, go check it out!

More Squares

Here are 10 more squares that I made for Rebuilding Greensburg. I will try to get a few more squares made by Saturday, but I'm not sure how many I will get finished.

I've been following a new-to-me blog called Gracious Parcels. They are collecting 7" knitted squares to be made into afghans that are donated to people moving into Habitat for Humanity houses. They have some nice patterns available, which I think would also work for WUA squares - I will just knit until the squares is 9" long instead of 7". I am going to try some of the patterns out next.

Almost there!!!

1066!!! WOOHOO!!!! 3 days to go and we have 1066 items in total! WOW!

Don't give up now! We are only 134 items from our goal! Lets keep it up and get there for the month of June! I think this may be the farthest from our goal we have ever been at this time of the month, but I SO think we can do it!

Let's go!!!

Don't forget - The Squares Contest is going strong. I will be out of town on Saturday, but I will be announcing the mid-contest winner on Sunday sometime. Who will it be??? You still have time to knock out a lot of squares between now and Saturday night!

ETA: Math = bad. I have fixed that.

Purple and Pink. It's time to protect women, I think.

snoopingmother raised the idea of sending baby things (blankets, clothes, etc) to a battered women's shelter located in Flint, Michigan. Many of these women have gone through abuse while pregnant or while with children in their lives.

My only concern is that we don't want survivors to feel guilty or queasy or weird...I worry that if we send them something "dedicated to lacey peterson" they might get the wrong idea, and what we want to do is uplift them.

I have been rolling this around in my head and talked to snoopingmother a bit, and what I was thinking was that maybe we could have kind of a backburner project (yet to be named) where we donate primarily purple and pink items to women's shelters (battered, homeless, or both) in our own local areas. The purple and pink could signify the desire to protect women and children, who really seem to be under assault all over the world. Perhaps someone could think of a name and a tag that could be attached to these items.

This is a rough draft of an idea, but let me know what you think, yays or nays.

ETA, I neglected to mention that Priscilla thought of the purple and pink theme...the bows that have been hung in honor of Jessie Davis and her unborn daughter have been in those colors.

Square contest, amongst other things

I've been keeping myself busy, and productive! I was surprised when I realized that I haven't posted since the 5th. So here we go.

I have my box for the Dulaan Project ready to go. I am dropping it off today. This is what is in the box...



They are blogged here, here and here. I was so happy to accomplish 12 by my self imposed shipping date.

I have also been knitting squares. I finished 3 last week, and another 3 last night. I also finished one this morning and cast on for another right away. I will have the opportunity to do a lot of knitting in the car this weekend, and I think I will pretty much dedicate it to squares.

So, officially, I declare 6 squares done for the contest, as these are the ones I have posted.

Come check out the blog for other stuff I'm working on.

Venka

This trend is far too disturbing to be ignored

I'm sure some of you have been following the story of Jessie Davis, a woman who was due to deliver a daughter on July 3rd. She has been missing for about 10 days, and police believe they found her body today. Her boyfriend, a police officer, is in custody.

I will be honest. I have not been following this story until today because I just ... don't cope well with how the media covers these stories, quite frankly. But this seems to be a growing trend in our society. Men and women both are really targeting pregnant women with startling regularity. It's scary.

I did a real quick search for a charity that makes items to honor women that are tragically cut down when pregnant, and I did not find anything. I'm wondering if perhaps we could make a little effort somehow to memorialize these women and to spread awareness that this trend is becoming just that...a trend.

I am envisioning making baby blankets or maternity packages or something like that, as many of us do already, but to somehow envelope those contributions to honor this cause.

Any suggestions, comments, ideas, etc would be most welcome.

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Oh, sorry. You might be wondering why there are goose eggs flying across your screen.

Well, I'll tell you.

We have just reached...

1000 Finished Objects!!!!!

This is really incredible, and it's not even funny how far this exceeds anything that I thought was possible within a year. If I was wealthy, I'd send everyone in the community a skein of yarn to celebrate, but alas, I have not the power. But consider yourselves all virtually yarned :)

♥

Number Crunch

Because she is so super duper cool, nehnhaa let me know that our tally numbers for June were not jiving. After looking and looking at her spreadsheet, I came to the conclusion that we agreed on everything that has been done so far. Ten items were missing from my tally, and I am willing to bet millions of dollars that those ten are represented by my ten little bags of sunshine that I made earlier this month. I posted those late at night and in a rush and was wanting to get them packed up and ready to go, so I am guessing I did everything EXCEPT tally my own stuff!

In any case, we are now at 985 instead of the 975 that I thought we were at...which is pretty darned amazing. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this FO flurry today. Keep it up! We are almost at quadruple digits!!!!!!!! :D

Share a Square

I found a new charity project this week that I wanted to let everyone know about. It is called Share a Square, and she is collecting 6" traditional granny squares to be made into afghans for children attending a cancer camp in Texas. As it turns out, I had 11 such squares that I had made when I first joined the Granny Along. I was just playing with colors when I made them, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. Well, now I know what to do with them, and they are going in the mail this morning! (I know these won't count towards the squares contest, but it occurred to me that we could count them in our ongoing total.)

Dulaan Pics!

Proof that we are really doing some good out there!

I was checking out Mossy Cottage Knits, and she has a few posts of pictures from Mongolia, with the recipiants of Dulaan items.

WARNING : You may need tissues. I know I was getting a little misty eyed!

Photos

More Photos

Even More Photos

Squares Contest UPDATE and a NEW PRIZE!!!

The lovely Priscilla has donated a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Sock Yarn. This will go to the winner of the "Middle Challenge". A reminder to win this pretty skein of yarn, you must have at least 5 squares posted for the square contest by 12 midnight EST on June 30 and I will figure out the winner and post it sometime in the couple days following that - not that you all can't figure it out :) These squares go SUPER FAST so you still have PLENTY of time to get in there and get some squares in! Good luck and happy knitting!!!

So far we have squares from:

craftyone - 3

Priscilla - 3
gypsyamaranta - 13
doclegs - 8
snoopingmother- 13
joriejc2 - 4 (although she has taken herself out of contention for this since she helped me devise it)Looks like we have some interesting competition shaping up on this one!!!

hey all. just wanted to let you all know that if you're at a loss for a charity to donate items to (ha! i know, it sounds so silly!) or want to see your favorite charity listed somewhere new, check out the newly expanded and ever-growing warm with love charity list! i'll admit most of the charities listed are coming from other charity lists right now, but i've also found plenty of them through googling charities and from bloggers just like you!

check it out and help me keep adding to it!

(sorry for the shameless plug, but the more charities that get listed, the more chances those charities have of getting items donated to them)

three squares for WUA

here's three squares to throw in for the Homespun Helpers charity squares contest. I've got one more done, and another on the needles already! i've got the worst luck ever, so i probably won't win this contest, but it's worth trying. what's nice is that i'll be in vegas for five days, and i'm bringing tons of square-worthy yarn for the plane, the poolside, and the intermissions of the shows i'm seeing! i could get tons done! that's the hope, anyways.i love so much about making these squares. i love how fast they go, how much variety i can get so fast, changing up the pattern i'm using and even testing out new stitches on them. i love that i'm going through all the little leftover balls of yarn i've got and finding good use for them. and i love that i'm able to whittle down my stash considerably (thus making room for new yarn!) while helping out some amazing causes.so here's my first three, with more on the way!

The Real World

Hey everybody,

We didn't really follow up from that poll on who lives where. It seems the highest concentration of people that responded live in Chicago, interestingly enough. I thought it was neat to see how widespread we are.

Anyway, I'm getting pretty excited about the idea of Homespun Helpers starting to grow offline as well as online, and I know some of you are as well. So, what if we start setting non-online goals as well? For example, could we say that we'd like to have five groups loosely set up to meet regularly in a month? Something like that?

What would you all like to see accomplished in the offline world, and how would you do it?

Speak speak speak! :)

Why we do what we do

Lately, we have focused a lot on our tally, which is great -- all charities and organizations need some kind of goal-oriented system I think. It keeps it fun and allows for the gratification of meeting goals. Gives us a direct and close-to-home sense of accomplishment.

But what we should all really feel good about is that we are making items with our time and with our hands that are going to people who could really use some sunshine. To that end, I thought I would write up a little reminder of who we have contributed to and WHY we are contributing to those groups. The numbers are nice, but in the end, reaching 3,000 is not going to be the end of our story. It will just be the first chapter.

Afghanistan

50% of the Afghan population is less than 18 years of age with almost no education
One out of four Afghan children dies before the age of five
Over 400,000 children are maimed, because of land mines
Over one million Afghan children are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
From AfghanOrphans.org

Animal Shelters

Over 10 million animals are put to death every year in the U.S. alone because they are abandoned and unwanted.

From the Animal Rescue Site

Bag O'Sunshine

This story

Blankets for the Gulf
More than half of the 1,504 people surveyed by the foundation after the disaster said they had money problems because of the hurricane and resulting floods, and 17% said they had lost a job or had to take a lower-paying job.

More than one-third said they lost access to healthcare, while 17% said their health had declined and 16% said they had mental health troubles.

Almost a quarter said their marriages had broken up, their relationships had failed, or they were drinking more since the August 2005 hurricane.

Kaiser conducted the study from September to November 2006.
from Los Angeles Times

Crafting for Hokies

University officials announced this week they will reopen Norris Hall this month to allow engineering programs with offices and laboratories there to return to work, although no classes will be held in the building again. The building had been locked and barricaded with a chain-link fence since April 16, when student Seung-Hui Cho shot 30 people and himself in its classrooms after killing two in a dormitory.

From CNN.com, June 11, 2007

Dulaan

In Mongolia, "Official figures suggest that around one third of the total population live in poverty, defined as the inability to afford a basket of basic food and non-food items. Many others are very close to the poverty line. In fact, increasing the poverty line by only 10.0 per cent leaves well over half of the population mired in poverty. Whatever figure is chosen, the poverty reduction challenge facing the country is significant indeed."

From
here

Local Homeless Shelters

Some humbling stats

Rebuilding Greensburg Block by Block

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/05/07/severe.weather/index.html

Square Contest Addition!

Thank you to Little Knittin' Kitten for asking me to add WarmingFamilies.org to our square contest. Same deal - you have to make squares to their specifications (I don't know them off hand, but I would encourage you to visit their site). All other rules apply. I will update the original post to include the new charity.

Warming Families is an international organization - so if you are not in the US, you may prefer to contribute to it rather than one of the US based charities. Thanks!!!

Aimee

Calling all Torontonians

Here's hoping I'm not the only one from the T-dot on this site. Kerry, from the Toronto Stch n' Btch emailed us all this flyer. Knit Cafe is acting as a drop-off place for Afghans for Afghans.

YOU KNIT, WE SHIP

Calling all Toronto knitters! How about dedicating some of your stash to an outstanding summer project? The Knit Café and the Toronto community are teaming up for this worthy cause.

Afghans for Afghans is a humanitarian and educational people-to-people project that sends hand-knit and crocheted blankets and sweaters, vests, hats, mittens, and socks to the children of Afghanistan.

Helpful hints
- Wool and animal fibres offer the most warmth and perform best in rugged conditions. Please avoid synthetic yarns, they cannot be shipped.
- Knit or crochet your favorite patterns or try something new. For sample patterns see the AFA website.
- Please do not use representational images (e.g. faces or animal designs) or religious or national symbols.
- Avoid white or very light colors. Feel free to mix a bright and cheery palate from your yarn collection!
- Please assume standard garment sizes. You are knitting for a Canadian climate. Hats need to cover ears, sleeves need to go the wrist and torsos need to be long.
- No used items or scarves please.

Drop off and Deadlines
You can drop off your projects at the Knit Café, 1050 Queen Street West. The dead-line for the next shipment is September 25th, 2007.

A hat that you knit will be well-loved and passed down through several families of Afghan children. Make this your summer project!

What a great way to work through the stash and easily get charity projects out into the world. Would this be eligable for the banket square challenge? If not, we've got until the end of September, so that's plenty of time!

=^_^=

Count Me In On the Contest!

I love the idea of this squares contest! It was just the motivation I needed to get back to making squares. Here are my first 3, all for Rebuilding Greensburg and all made since Sunday:

Given the conversation going on over at the LJ community, I just want to note that the top 2 were made with Plymouth Encore. I think the varigated colorway has been discontinued. It's a nice yarn to work with. I love crocheting this square, especially since 6 rounds come out a perfect 8". I hope to get quite a few more done by July 16th.

While I am posting, I thought I would include a picture of a pair of baby socks I made this month. I hope to get a few more pairs made, and then they will be donated to Afghans for Afghans in time for the next collection date (undecided at this point).

project "overwhelm patty with scarves"

(jorieJC2 asked me to post about this here, to explain the scarves i send to my mom, so i'm reposting this blog entry from my blog to this group.)

so, as most of you know, i’m a big fan of knitting up fun fur scarves. my mom is, too. we make them for Alexian Brothers Medical Center, to be handed out to the women undergoing chemo for breast cancer. in an effort to overwhelm my mother (and the hospital) with the goodness of knitter’s hearts, i’m posting the basic pattern we use here, and asking people to knit some up and mail them out to her (address at the bottom of the page). i’ll also be collecting them at the Lime and Violet slumberparty this june (or whenever it’s rescheduled for)! Once a month or so i mail them out to her, so yours will go with that next package, warming and loving on someone in a rough spot.

what you need: two balls of fun fur (or comperable yarn); size 11-13 needles

cast on 15-22 (any less will make the scarf a little to thin, while any more will mean you’ll be knitting for-EVER.)

simply knit every row until you’ve used up the two balls of yarn. the more stitches you cast on, the shorter the scarf will be, but that really doesn’t matter a whole lot because women are all sizes!

and that’s all it is folks! a super simple way to love on others! feel free to shoot me pics of your scarves as/after they’re made, and i’ll add them here for everyone else to see (i may or may not take pics of the ones that don’t already have pics, so if you want to show yours off, best to just take the pic yourself).

address:

patty corwin, 731 n. douglas ave, arlington heights, il 60004 USA

CONTEST TIME!!! SQUARES!

OK - I promised a contest, so here it is!

Squares. That's right. They are small and easy so everyone can participate - ok all the knitters and crocheters. Warm Up America, Rebuilding Greensburg, or Hokie Blanket squares - all count. In addition, we have added WarmingFamilies.org to the charities to donate to in this contest. The person who knits, crochets, etc. the most squares and gets them posted starting today and ending July 15 wins.

The Prizes:
First Prize wins a $25 gift certificate to your choice of one of the following: Joann Fabrics, Michaels, The Loopy Ewe, Webs or Knit Picks. I will let the winner choose one (1) of these options.
ummmm....its just me frontin' this here thing so this is all I know right now. Maybe some yarn from my stash for more charity knitting, I don't know yet. (If you would like to donate a prize for this, lemme know. Thanks!)

Midway: On June 30 the person with the most posted squares will win a little something. Please don't ask me what, it will probably be yarn from my expansive stash, but it will be something! I promise.

I would like to encourage you all to post squares more than once during the next few weeks in order to encourage each other and compete and whatnot. It makes it more fun!

The Rules (cause, well, there have to be some, sorry, its how it has to be):
1. You have to post pics of these squares. I know we honor system on occassion, this time you have to post. Even if it is a link to your personal blog, we have to see them.
2. You MUST have a minimum of 15 squares to be considered. (Midway point must have a minimum of 5 squares for consideration).
3. All pics must be posted by 11:59 pm EST on July 16 to be counted.
4. Squares must be knit or crochet for one of the above mentioned groups.
5. Please use the tag Square Contest on all your posts for this
6. HAVE FUN!!!

These, of course, go toward our square drive count for the year! Thanks, have fun and happy crafting!

(if you are wondering, only Jorie knew the contents of this contest prior to this post and she and I will not be participating in the contest. We will try to come up with something else in the next few months to include non-knitters/crocheters, if you have ideas, please contact one of us if you have ideas. We are open to whatever, but I happen to be a knitter and I am running the square drive, so it goes first. )

adding to the count

wanting to throw in some numbers for june, without pics (but i have them all at my blog). so far in june i've made:

* one blanket to be donated to the mother/child talked about here
* three scarves to donate to my mom for the breast cancer area of Alexian Brothers

not a lot, but four is better than none. today and tomorrow is going to be WUA! square knitting and crocheting time, so that should not only bust my stash but put up some big numbers!

I realised this morning (while looking at my Spreadsheet of Doom Items) that I'd made a typo on May's summary - we actually made 381 items in May (still for a total of 717), not 336 items. Somehow I typed in the total objects made for January-April rather than May's individual summary. Sorry about that, I am embarrassed.

However, this makes funfairiegirl's suggestion that we aim for 444 items in June even more doable than ever.

And you think our goals are crazy!

So I signed up to receive a few updates from the folks that are running for president. The most recent e-mail I received stated something along the lines of needing to raise 2.3 million dollars in 2 weeks. Yowzer.

Which is to say I do not feel so guilty about throwing a couple more goals onto the giant 10 foot goal-cake that funfairiegirl baked for us. Consider these kind of...Summer goals I guess.

1) A website. We know that cacunai will be getting started on this soon. Based on the reactions the name "homespun helpers" received, I think that is what we are going to go with. I know a couple of you were not especially excited about the name and I do apologize. We will strive to work other ideas into the pages of the website, as I have said before. So, step one...buy domain name Homespunhelpers.org.

2) Revise the tags once we are assured of having that name. Made by Homespun Helpers.

3) Revise the blogspot blog address to be HomespunHelpers.blogspot.com. Hopefully that isn't taken :)

4) Apart from these webby type goals, I also would like to make a *gasp* non-internet suggestion. I would like to see Homespun Helpers start creeping into the "real world" with get-togethers among our members...or get-togethers started by our members and attended by others. I don't know where we are all clustered...I think there are a few people in Columbus, Ohio. There are some San Franciscans, I do believe. I would love it if we could become a grassroots real-life organization as well as an internet organization. Let us know if you have a get-together like this and how it went. This could also segue into folks volunteering to be collection points for other crafters...that person could post the pictures, do the mailing, etc. After all, when we become a force to be reckoned with...we are going to need regional offices :)

So those are some thoughts I have rolling around in my head. Let me know what you think.

Announcement! Announcement!

Alright everybody. Over the weekend, based on responses to the poll I put up and other name ideas that were so kindly thrown out over the last month, a handful of worthy brains, along with me, had a bit of a pow-wow about the new name of this group.

We humbly present to you the following name for your denial or approval:

Homespun Helpers

It is available as a domain name, we couldn't find it used anywhere else, and it seems to kind of encapsulate what a lot of you wanted to grab with the name.

There were a LOT of great ideas thrown out there, and I am hopeful that we will be able to use a lot of those concepts on the website.

Let us know what you think.

yabba dabba doo!

So, as some of you know, I have been doing a "fun scarf" project for a local women's shelter.

All of you who are opening your etsy stores gave me an idea though. I proposed the proposition to the ladies in charge of the shelter and so far the reception is warm. The idea is:

make a bunch of items that can be sold around Thanksgiving. All funds go directly to the shelter, and then whatever is not bought gets donated to the shelter.

There's still not an exact venue or date or anything like that, and there is always the chance the sale itself won't happen...but regardless, I'd like to make a big donation of "stuff" around Christmas time.

If anyone would like to help, that would be great...or initiate something similar with your own local shelters. This particular shelter is for women and their children, up to 17 years old. I'm dreaming of baby blankets, afghans, socks, hats, ponchos, crocheted toys...whatev.

Additionally...any report on the blankets for the gulf? "doclegs,"... Robyn...?

I should clarify too, Blankets for the Gulf as in Blankets for Louisiana and Mississippi...not Persian :)

Thanks for being great everybody. As usual.

New June Goal...because you slaughtered the old one!!!!

Good afternoon (evening, morning, whatev!). It is that time again. Yes, as you know we blew that goal for June out of the water before the end of the first week of June. We picked up a lot of new members last month and there is a lot of buzz about this community and we appreciate every bit of it. Thank you for all of your charitable works.

As of now, we are at 756 items total. 336 of those were donated to a variety of places in the month of May. Thank you Thank you thank you!

So where do we go from here?? Well, building on the success of months past ... 1200 at the end of June! I know you think I am crazy. And I probably am, but I have a plan and I think we can do it. That is 444 more items this month and I totally think we can do it! That will put us at 40% of our total yearly goal! Half way through the year! I remember when we didn't think we would hit 300 items. I am SO pleased that there are so many out there donating their time, money and goods to so many places.

Don't forget, the Dulaan project deadline is coming up. Read more about it here.

AND there will be a community contest coming up! Yes, folks, as soon as I work out the details we are having a contest. So you can win STUFF! What stuff? Well, I am working some of that out as I am but one little crafter, but the grand prize is something we can all get excited about! If you have something you would like to donate as a prize, let me know. I plan to have all the details worked out and posted next week. weeeeeee!

So it must be June 29th, right?

You know, I must confess that making this post is one of the happier things I have gotten to do in awhile.

Back at the end of April, I posted that we should try to have 750 items done by the end of June. I took a big breath when I posted that goal. Reaching 750 would mean we were at 25% of our 2007 goal. It would mean a lot of work over 2 months that tend to be really busy for people. And it would just be way cool. But I posted the goal anyway, figuring even if we got close, we'd still be doing awesome.

Well, it's June 6th today.

And I have just tallied our 753rd item.

You are all awesome beyond my wildest dreams. Truly.

May Summary

May's finished objects: 336 EDIT: 381 Umm. Oops.
Total in 2007 so far: 717

I'm back. Mostly. Sort of. Way too busy right now, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon....

So the community totally passed the original May goal of 500 items:

The Hokie Square Drive got twelve squares (3+ 1 + 4 + 1+ 1+ 2) from cymbelline, jellybellygirl, doclegs, theonlyevidence, robin_andersen and Priscilla.

The American Cancer Society got four hats (2 + 2) from arian_diana.

The Dulaan Project got a hat from gwendysmile, a scarf and a pair of socks from death_by_yarnfour hats from nehnhaaa baby hat from dirtyplebeian four hats and a cardigan from omly, eight pairs of socks from jpettibone (one of which was made from yarn that Lisa from Poppy Flower Fibres donated) and 32 items from a drive at media_res's school.

afghans for Afghans got a baby blanket fromjoriejc2 and a baby blanket, baby sweater and six hats from annilita, four baby hats and a blanket from eowyn_ulysses and four baby hats fromjoriejc2 for their Mother's Day Project.

A local animal shelter got two blankets (1 +1) from arian_diana.

The LDS Church's Distribution Center for emergency relief packages got a vest, a cravat, two baby blankets and a baby sweater from annilita.

The Mary Read Memorial KAL received twelve scarves (1 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 5) from sen_ichi_rei, jellybellygirl, theonlyevidence,
xspicesgrl227x, snoopingmother and funfairiegirl

The Warm Up America square drive got 24 squares (1 + 2 + 16 + 5) from sen_ichi_rei and _fakewings_ and arian_diana and Priscilla.

A local Habitat for Hummanity auction got three hats, a shawl and a stuffed cupcake from eowyn_ulysses.

Project Linus got (1 + 2 ) from doclegs and lindsoriah.

The Public Interest Law Foundation at electra310's school got an oragami flower arrangement for a charity auction.

The Red Scarf Project had received a scarf from kat_denton

funfairiegirl made four loaves of bread (3 + 1) for her work's bake sale for alzhiemers research.

A local vet's office got five catnip mice from cacunai.

Head Huggers got three hats from snoopingmother and her daughter and a hat from funfairiegirl.

A local women's shelter got ten scarves from joriejc2 in memory of Mary Read.

The collection for Jillene got four squares from twotone.

A local hospital got a hat from ndjen04.

maribella_ella made four prayer shawls for families of organ donors.

Tails Humane Society got an afghan from straycat.

sweetcheri's Mother, Maxine, has donated the proceeds from eleven Angels of Hope.

The Lowell Wish Project got a baby blanket from _fakewings_.

Teen Stork Room got four pairs of baby booties and three baby hats from egothmaniac.

Children in Common got two pairs of socks from egothmaniac.

Rebuilding Greensburg got 16 squares (2 + 7 + 6+1) from kat_denton and snoopingmother and Priscilla.

snoopingmother's Church is getting eight rosaries for troops from elmdixon.

Between them, The Preemie Project, Newborns In Need and God's Tiny Angels have got 25 baby hats from Warm with Love.

Project Bag O' Sunshine already has eleven bags: (1 + 6 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) by doclegs and treehugger06.

Ronald McDonald House got a baby blanket and six squares for a blanket from sabina_san.

The Mosaic Yarn Store square drive got five squares (3 + 2) from theonlyevidence and secretsunsp0ken.

The Sunggles Project got 47 blankets (1 +45 + 1) from twotone, quickstitch and friends and theonlyevidence.

A Million Thanks got 55 cards (3 + 52) from and funfairiegirl.

funfairiegirl made a wrist warmer to be auctioned for her works event for the Relay for Life event in Lynchburg VA.

Danbury Hospital NCIU will receive six preemie blankets from Priscilla's Crohect Guild.

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bunny_pwns_you made a chemo cap.

Omly made Two preemie hats, and funfairiegirl one.

leftygirl02 gave a blanket.

funfairiegirl cut her hair for Locks of Love.

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The community was featured in lj spotlight! As a result, we've had a lot of new members - welcome to everyone!

cacuni has very kindly to put together a central website for the community.

Someone bought the community a six month paid account. Many thanks to them for their generosity.

poppyflowerfibr wants donate roving or yarn for people to make charity items with. This has sparked some discussion on how to count that sort of thing - see here and here.

Priscilla invites people to join her community Summer of Squares

These are just the highlights of the other stuff that happened in May - lots and lots of other interesting posts were made. These can be seen here - it's a long list so I've linked to the cut at the livejournal community or this post will be even more enormous than it is!

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January 2007 - 21
February 2007 - 33
March 2007 - 121
April 2007 - 161

My suggestion for a name

What do you all think about the name The Crafty Peas?

It's a play off of something cacunai mentioned about craft-p or something short like that in place of Craft Purposefully. I think it would be easy to remember, and we could potentially have a lot of fun with it with our logo and stuff like that. Plus, those who REALLY want to could possibly draw a connection between the name and that whole..."pee" thing. But ya know, I'd never condone that.

Can't you picture a little green pea knitting or quilting?

I don't know. What do you think?

Making progress

I contacted ARF (Animal Rescue Foundation) last week, and now I have a local resource for snuggle blankets. I was able to use 1900 yards of not quite pretty yellow yarn to make 6 blankets. I have pulled out a box of acrylic yarn, and will be making some more blankets, squares for Warm Up America and also some Wool Ease squares for Rebuilding Greensburg outreach program. At least I know I can utilize a couple of boxes of yarn that were going to languish for quite some time to come.

I also have to make some progress on chemo caps, as I have yarn for about 10-12 more. I also looked into The Ships Project, since my Dad was a retired seaman (30 years), and served as a merchant marine in WWII, in the South Pacific and with Atlantic convoys. He loved knitted caps, and one of the last things I made him before he passed away was a wool blend cap that he wore to bed every night. So, in his memory, I will be knitting caps for our service men and women. Regardless of how people feel about what's going on, our service personnel need to know that we still care about them.

I'm going to see if I can get at least 6 charity items finished for June. I will update when I have dropped off the snuggle blankets with ARF. I want to get at least two more done before I go.

Happy knitting, everyone!

Venka

Check out my blog here.

Yay!

i am loving the conversation that is going on about the future name of this community. I think that I probably made a mistake before in recommending the whole contest and poll thing, because I'm not sure people felt as open to talk for fear of offending whomever came up with the various ideas.

Because I reverted the name here (or rather twotone did) and at myspace, we have time to choose a name that will be our identity from here to infinity. I really like the direction that a lot of you are going and I haven't seen a bad idea yet.

Keep in mind, the names need to be entirely available and as funfairiegirl and others pointed out, it should be something easy to remember and easy to type.

This conversation can carry on till the time comes to buy a domain, so keep the ideas flowing. Maybe out of this conversation we will also come to think up new goals and dreams for our group as well.

Mostly...I just want to make sure we keep doing what we do best, which is making stuff for people who need it. :)

Blanket for the Gulf Child - Done

Done! The colors aren't quite true on the pictures, but I used LionBrand homespun Florida Key Lime, Covered Bridge and Colonial (or something like that). It's a shell stitch with a huge crochet needle. About 3 1/2 ft. wide and a tiny bit over 5 ft long -- hope he likes it. :)

Closeup of the rows...



A long shot.... total of 9 skiens.

the name game, continued

Thanks, everyone, for sending out your thoughts on alternative names. In order to avoid the confusion and I fear some of the hurt feelings that occurred the last time we went through this, I am going to be a little more heavy-handed in how we proceed. Make no mistake though, I LOVED everyone's ideas, and perhaps as the website develops we could get cacunai and anyone helping her to weave in these other ideas.

With that said, I would like to recommend that we research the following two names:

CraftPurposefully
ConscientiousCrafts

I feel that these two names come closest to what we were trying to go after with Crafting for a Cause, and they are close enough so that hopefully people wouldn't be too horribly confused when we change our name...again...

Again, I love all of the ideas that were submitted and I am sure we will be able to use them as page headers, project names, or something else.

cacunai and whomever might be helping you, keep us posted on those 2 name options and let us know what is available.

Thanks again, everybody!

Name Game

Hello everyone,

Here at blogspot, I think you know that the original group named Crafting for a Cause has contacted us, asking us to change our name immediately because their name is registered. I have explained that we chose this name before knowing of their group, but both the owner and co-owner are really insisting that we address this as soon as possible.

I believe the name that cacunai recommended was "Craft Purposefully," which she was willing to buy for our website domain name.

If this name is satisfactory to everyone, please let me know.

In the meantime, I am going to change our lj name back to what the username is, and I will change our myspace site back to 3000 in 2007.

funfairiegirl, I don't know what we can do about blogspot. If the name can't be changed, let's do what they asked and please put a disclaimer that we are not affiliated with the REAL Crafting for a Cause.

Any other name suggestions are welcome, but obviously we are going to go through a much more thorough name-research process this time around. Once we settle on a new name for this group, I do not want it to change again. We are not going to be able to get the word out about us or get people to take us seriously if we have to change our name every three months.

Thanks!

Finally!

I sat down to upload a BUNCH of pictures to our myspace page. Once again, the only person from whom I've heard that definitely does not want items posted to myspace is
"twotone". If you have changed your mind about that, please let me know. I didn't post EVERY FO from May, but there's a lot up now. Myspace changed the method on how to upload pictures and it is much easier now, so I don't really have any more excuses. I must keep it updated regularly :)

Also, Robyn, if you see this..."doclegs" is just about done with the child's blanket for Blankets for the Gulf and I have given her the address. If you send your big afghan to her (if you still want to do that) or if you two work something out, both blankets could be sent at the same time. Let us know 'sup :)

Blanket for the Gulf -- Update and Question

I'm almost finished with the blanket request.... Robyn, I don't know how to contact you and your comment doesn't link to your email address. Can you contact me so we can coordinate?

Thanks!

Will post pictures in a few days. :)