Getting folks involved

So there are a lot of great projects brewing, and I think it might be a good idea to get some other groups or people from other groups involved.

For example, maybe there are church groups or charities of other kinds who would want to help us gather "stuffing" material...or maybe there are other crafting groups that focus specifically on stuff for schools or animal shelters, etc...you get my point.

If anyone wants to spread the word about a specific project like Operation Bag Of Home, Classroom Crafters, or Ninja's how many people can we dress preemie drive, please feel free. The more the merrier!

charity lists

hey all. so, i'm thinking of moving all the charity lists i've got over at warm with love to the homespun helpers main web page. what do you all think of this?

Classroom Crafters

Hey all,

A new project is underway!

Check out the post about Classroom Crafters over at the livejournal community. The goal is to create little bags of very needed school items for kids that go to a school at which one of our members teaches.

We'll need baggers and stuffer-ers!!

Wuwu! :)

HMPCWD News

Hey everyone,

A new date has been set for the first How Many People Can We Dress drive -- March 15!

For anyone new to the group, the general idea is that we try to make whole outfits for people instead of bits and pieces (although individual bits and pieces can be matched up later in the process to make an outfit). These items are all sent to the gracious Jezebelsf, who then ships the items to various places around the country.

For the second drive, which will have a deadline of June 1st, I'd like to ask all of you for your help for a personal mission.

A few days before Thanksgiving, my uncle passed away suddenly. He loved his hometown and was well-known there. I'd really love to be able to make a huge donation to a homeless shelter or two around here in his name around my dad's birthday (this was my dad's brother). So, I'd like to ask that I be one of the locations for the second HMPCWD drive. I'd really appreciate it and it would mean a great deal to me.

Any questions, let us know!

Mitten Contest

Mitten Contest

So I offered to host a mitten contest, for the month of March. Then I thought of two really good reasons why I should open the contest now rather than next weekend. First, I don't want anyone having the chance to accuse anyone of getting a jump on everyone else by starting a pair of mittens before March 1st. Second, I have no patience. ;-)

So I hereby announce the Mitten Contest!

Make some mittens or gloves: fingerless, convertible, or whatever! Any size, from preemie to huge honking Abominable Snowman sized. (Assuming the Abominable Snowman is in need of charitible donations...)

Mittens can be donated to anyplace you wish, just indicate their intended destination when you post. If you don't know of a place, you can always send them in for How Many People Can We Dress (aka Hemp Quid). But any charity which accepts hats, scarves, and other warm clothing will probably also accept mittens and gloves. Some suggestions are:

Afghans for Afghans
Children in Common
Warm Woolies


Each pair of mittens or gloves made by March 31st is one entry into the drawing. Enter as often as you wish! On April 1st, I will draw one name from the pile at random and the winner will receive a prize. If there are lots and lots and lots of entries, I will draw two names. The prize will be a skein or two of wool yarn, suitable for mitten-making. Chances are good that it will be a skein hand-dyed by myself, but I have to check my blank skeins and see if any are worsted weight wool.

You must tag your entry with 'mitten contest' in order for your mittens/gloves/handcoverthingies to be counted. I don't know how or if tagging works on the blog, but if you put 'mitten contest' in the subject line, I will be able to find it. One hopes. ;-) ETA - it looks like the 'label' is the same thing as an LJ tag, so you should be able to label your posts with 'mitten contest.'

If you would like to comment with a name and link to groups taking donations of mittens and gloves, please do so!

March is National Crochet Month

I mentioned this in a comment over at the LJ community this morning, and I thought I would post about it here too. March is National Crochet Month, and to celebrate, I am going to spend the month crocheting for charity. (At least that's my intention - I'm not entirely sure I can go an entire month without knitting something.) Since I am also trying to use up my stash this year and get it under control, I am setting a goal for myself of using between 2 and 3 miles of yarn during the month. Anyway, I wondered if any of the crocheters in this group would care to join me in part or all of this challenge. (If you don't feel the need to crochet miles of yarn, I would completely understand.) I think it will be a great opportunity to keep the group's tally going up and up and up!

2008 Checklist

Hi everybody,

Well, we have almost made it through February already. This year has gotten off to an incredible start and I could not possibly be happier!!

So, I'm going to give us more work to do :)

Here is a checklist of things I'd like to get going this year. Hopefully we can check things off as we go along.

Ready?

1) Can someone donate a token to the lj community so we can change our name? I have fondness for "3000in2007" but it REALLY does not make sense anymore. Nostalgia is only good up to a point :)

2) And speaking of donations, I'd like to ask that we form a committee whose sole responsibility would be making sure that non-crafted items are always available. We have tried a lot of projects (including the ongoing BOH project) and we always seem to get stuck because we don't have the "stuffing." This is a bummer to me, but I think part of it is that we have always left the responsibility to too few people, so it becomes overwhelming. If we have a committee, they could work together to gather things consistently, they could put out calls for help...maybe we could even form another sister community. Homespun Stuffers? I don't know. People might get the wrong idea. But anyway, are there any volunteers?

3) Contests. Yes yes. We have the Caron square contest going on, which I think will be awesome (once we really get going!) Does anyone want to do/run any other contests kind of internally this year?

4) An in-person Homespun Helpers event...I'd love for this to happen *somewhere*. I don't know where everyone is...I think a few people are in the Chicago area. A few people are in Massachusetts...you don't necessarily have to meet people from here. You could gather up some friends and start a Homespun Helpers group. But I'd really like to see this group jump off the internet this year. A big and scary step, but I think an important one.

5) I'd like to see everyone do something for their hometown, whether it's for your local hospital, a local animal shelter, whatever. I'm not going to *force* you or kick you out if you don't do this, but I think it's important to remember that we all have people in our own backyards who need help. Let's not forget them as we knit for Afghanis and Mongolians :)

6) Ideas!! Does anyone have any other ideas of what we could do? I'm open. We're open! And we want to hear from Youuuuuuu *points* :)

Oh, and as for this whole February goal thing, I guess you are all telling me that I'm insulting you with my measley little goals. So how about 450 items by the end of the month? That's uh, not doing 450 items but getting to 450 items, just as an fyi :)

we have more time!

Hey all,

Jezebelsf's computer is down, but she did want me to let you know that the deadline for HMPCWD has been extended. No new date has been set yet, but in the meantime -- keep workin'! :)

Woop, there it is!

Okay, guys...we are already at 259 items!! This is very exciting :)

I'm still not seeing a whole lot of action on the squares for the Caron contest...if anyone is interested in having us compete we need to get started! Yes, I am talking to myself on that one :)

If you are not feeling crafty but still want to contribute, operation boh needs items to stuff some bags with, and more bags would be awesome as well. Please make sure that no one is left stranded with having to supply all the "stuff"!

I also think we probably won't have a big shipment for HMPCWD...maybe we can elongated that President's Day deadline :)

Finally, since y'all smashed the 250 goal with about 2 weeks left in the month, can we shoot for 300 by the end of February? Let's try it :)

More Chemo Hats

I donated 5 more chemo hats to the Danbury Hospital yesterday (through my crochet guild). I made most of them holding 2 strands of yarn together and a P hook, so they worked up very fast and should be very warm to wear.

hey hey hey!

How is everyone?

I had my first experience of thundersnow last night. It is a strange experience to watch a snow storm and then see a bolt of lightning, let me tell you. Crazy weather.

Ehem.

So, I saw a very cool story today about a guy who goes around to different cities and takes pictures of the homeless. He put together a book called Finding Grace (I think) and it really jives with the spirit of this group. His idea is that taking pictures of these people makes you look at them and what they must be going through. It is inspirational and sad all at the same time.

With that being said, two quick things...first, I'd again like to remind everyone about "How many people can we dress." Jezebelsf is looking to make the next shipment around Presidents' Day.

Also, how's about shooting for 250 by the end of February? C'mon, give up that Valentines Day romance in favor of your knitting needles or crochet hooks!! :D

I am so excited about the great start we're off to. Keep up the great work!!

It's been a long time

...since I posted. I got a new job, and my time on the computer has been severely curtailed. However, I have been knitting. Here is a brief update.


Baby hat in TLC Wiggles.


Baby hats in Cascade Cherub Collection (left) and Filatura Di Crosa Zarella (right)


Adult knit hat in Rowan Wool Cotton.


Chemo Hat in Knit Picks Shine Sport Orchid.


Chemo Hat in Knit Picks Shine Sport Sand


Chemo Hat in Knit Picks Shine Sport Violet

I also completed about a dozen squares for Warm Up America.

It's great to see all the good works still going on here. Keep up the great job, everyone!

Venka

ghana project squares

ghana project squares
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

here's five squares that i'm sending out to the ghana project this week. i didn't make any yet for the Caron/WUA challenge because i didn't have a tape measure on me the other day to measure out the size of the squares, and with this pattern i know how many rounds it takes to make the needed size!

ps ~ shoot me an e-mail (craftyone77@gmail.com) when you mail out your contest squares to me so i can know to look for them!

one more january scarf

Originally uploaded by craftyone77

i didn't get this posted in january, but it was made in january, so should be added to that total!

HMPCWD!!

Hey everyone,

The awesome jezebelsf has agreed to once again be the collection point for How Many People Can We Dress.

The next deadline? President's Day!

Let's dress some more people! :)