The Winners!!

I have been slammed with work and holiday craziness, but I did not want 2008 to pass without announcing the winner of the Personal Achievement Contest!!

The totals are as follows:

sen_ici_rei - 6

typo_13 - 12

Priscilla - 17

spitgirl - 19

knittingforever - 41

megamintinkon - 43

Risk2Much - 45

soapfaerie - 84

doclegs - 116

asceline - 130

zortified (third place) - 147

sandy (second place) - 155

robyn (first place) - 168

Thanks everyone for participating!!! I would like the winners to send me their mailing addresses to jezebelsf@yahoo.com. I will post the prizes before they are sent :) 

Happy New Year!!!!

A Few Final FOs

I haven't posted since September because life has been kind of hectic lately. However, I have done a little more knitting and crocheting for charity the past couple of months.
4 preemie hats that were donated to my local hospital.


2 hats, a pair of wrist warmers and a scarf that all went into my crochet guild's sale.

I have a few more items made that haven't been donated yet, so I will post them next year when I decide where they are going.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year!

We're almost there!

Well, it's December 29. How did that happen?!?

It's been a great year, as I've said before, and I'm really excited for 2009!

Please remember that even though we've been talking a lot about the square drive for January, you do not HAVE to do that. Indeed, with the hard times our country is going through, shelters and other charities will need items now more than ever, especially after the "season of giving" is over. So keep those items coming in to our own Sandy's Bridge Project and other causes near and dear to your heart.

Remember too that once January 1st hits, we will be starting our participation incentive. You make an item and post it, you get entered into a drawing for a skein of yarn of your choice. It doesn't matter what the item is, and everyone only gets entered once, so it's a completely equal drawing. The one thing I ask is that you do post a picture to participate!

Hope everyone is well and staying warm and dry and safe. If you have any questions or concerns, just ask!

Square drive update

Hi Everyone,

Regarding the January drive, let's narrow it down to three options.

You can make squares and drop them off at your local Michaels Store if they are collecting for Warm Up America

If we have volunteers willing to sew and ship, we will collect those addresses and you can ship your squares to them

Or: You can simply send your squares to Warm Up America.

Sewing volunteers, please raise your hands!

flickr group set-up!

i set up a flickr group for people to feature the squares they've made for Warm Up America after searching and not finding one.

it's called Warm Up America Work. there's not even any pictures in it right now, but i figure as we start knitting and crocheting away in january, we can add a bunch pretty fast!

Happy Holidays!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. This year has been another fantastic year, better than I could have imagined. We have had some excellent folk join us, excellent folk have stayed with us, and we kicked last year's record right out the door.

I am very much looking forward to next year, where hopefully things will be a bit more organized as we all want :)

Remember, beginning in January 1st, anyone who posts anything will be entered once into a drawing to win a skein of yarn of your choosing.

Love to you all. May this end of 2008 be joyous and safe for you.

yarn bank update!

hey all. so, apparently i have to delete and re-upload the yarn bank
list every time i make an addition, which isn't a huge deal, but i
just want to let you all know about it.

margie has a bunch of yarn that got added, so i've updated the list
and re-posted it.

also, from now on, if you have a ton of yarn and you want to donate it
but don't want to mail it all out to me, shoot me a note and if you
include all the info, i'll get it added up. then i'll list in the
"donated by" section your name instead of mine, so i'll remember that
you're the one that has to send it out if someone requests to use it.

this doesn't mean i won't still take yarn mailed to me - it's just
another option.

Funny!

We just reached 3,333 items :)

Is there any significance to that many 3s? It seems like there should be...

baby blanket

baby blanket
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

last item, i swear! this is one more blanket to be donated to the local NICU.

preemie hats - 8

preemie hats - 8
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

eight more hats for the NICU!

preemie booties

preemie booties
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

one pair of preemie booties to be sent to the NICU.

(sorry for the massive number of posts here, guys. i'm posting out of flickr, and can only post one pic at a time)

preemie hats - 6

preemie hats - 6
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

not sure if i've posted these yet - i looked back in the archives to early october, but i made these in late october. so here's six more to go to the NICU.

kid-sized blankets

kid-sized blankets
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

two baby-sized blankets, finished for the local NICU.

babe hat

babe hat
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

was going to send this to Mamatomama.org, but i'm too late for it! so i'm donating it to the local NICU instead.

baby sweater to donate

baby sweater to donate
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

one more baby sweater, made over thanksgiving break. this is in the donation pile for my local NICU.

for the nicu

for the nicu
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

here's ten hats and a baby sweater that are heading to the local NICU. yes, the ends aren't woven in on like half, but i always do that one at the last minute. so these are for my personal achievement.

One more item

Though I have a few items in the works, this is the only one I can say is done and ready for the count for Personal Achievement.
A sweater, for a newborn. Will go with other items for Caring House, a Women's Shelter in Michigan.

It's Susie modeling again...you know how she likes to do that sort of thing. though I believe you can see the colors and sweater better in the other picture..........shhhhhhhhhh don't tell her, she get's irritable. lol

Sandy

Thanks for doing this.
Sandy

Today is the day!

The deadline for the Personal Achievement Contest is tonight at midnight PST. Please tag any and all entries that you would like to be counted.

I will only tally tagged posts!

I should have the results up by tomorrow :)

One more item

Got one scarf done for The Bridge Project, started 2nd. Going to work now for a very long day, so don't know if I'll get it done before the end of the deadline or not. Will try.

Thanks
Sandy

Drives!

Hey everyone!

Five days away from the end of the Personal Achievement Contest. Are you ready?? :)

Just wanted to let you know that I have listed each month's drive in the calendar area over at the Yahoo page. As each month goes on I will post here and everywhere else to make sure all non-Yahoo-ers are kept in the loop :) I'll be able to get you the information a lot quicker since it'll all be gathered together.

Ninja mentioned Eliseamelie's caps for kids drive... I didn't mention it specifically but thought it maybe could be included as the November "items for men and boys" drive...eliseamelie, feel free to speak here :)

Thanks, everyone!

4 more items to make my 10 for Ninja...made it

3 sweaters and one more hat, mailing out these 4 plus 6 picture previously on my way home from work today. Got everything addressed.

All items are crocheted, slightly different preemie sizes.

Sandy

Drives for 2009

Hi Everyone,

I've gotten a lot of good suggestions for drives we can concentrate on in 2009. Again, these drives are just things we'll be highlighting each month, but once the address is posted you can make stuff for the causes at any time -- or not. Again, this is all just to try to keep information more easily accessible and to help our group become a little more organized and a little easier to follow.

So here we go. Let me know what you think, and if it looks okay, I'll start filling out the content/getting contact info.

December 2008: The Bridge Project (Sandy)

January 2009: Squares for Warm Up America -- I figure after the rush of the holidays, squares will be a nice way to start the year!

February 2009: Warming Omaha (Robyn)

March: Afghans for Angels

April: Afghans for Afghans

May: Warm Up Winchester

June: The Dulaan Project

July: Preemie items for Ninja

August: Red Scarf Project

September: How many People Can We Dress for my local homeless shelter

October: Pretty Bird Woman House

November: Items for men and boys for JezebelSF's local homeless shelter

December: Pick a local cause near you!

I'm open to any other suggestions or options!

Also, a reminder, tomorrow we'll be one week away from the end of the Personal Achievement Contest. Get that last push in! :)

Chipping away

2 more pair of slippers sent off a few days ago to Pine Ridge (both crocheted), and booties, hat, sweater for Preemie Project (6 items for preemie).

9 items in this post, if I'm able will try to get 4 more preemie things done yet this wkend, but fear I may have to call it at these 6. Time, time

Hep me, Hep me!

Hey folks,

So I'm trying to build up some good information, but I need your help!

In terms of links, what are some charity causes that you like to donate to but you can never remember what their URL is? I have links over on our page for Afghans for Afghans, Warm up America, and Caps for a Cure, but I'm sure there are a ton more I could put in there.

I also would like to start filling in our drive schedule. We have Sandy's Bridge Project as a trial run for this month. I was thinking the Red Scarf Project might be a good one to promote in January.

Anyone else have any ideas/preferences?

Let me know!

Yarn Bank Is Now Open!

Hey guys! I’m officially taking over the task of the Homespun Helpers Yarn Bank! I’ve got tons of space (and storage bins) so feel free to start sending out all that yarn that you no longer use! We’ll take any type of yarn, any amount (from full skeins to your smallest leftover ball). There’s a spreadsheet up on the Yahoo Group that will be kept up to date with all the yarn that’s available, so if you’re in need of yarn for a charity project, don’t hesitate to look there first.

As you send yarn, here’s a few things to keep in mind, things that will help me out TREMENDOUSLY.

On a piece of paper, please include your name, your e-mail, and the following information:
* The yarn fiber content (wool, acrylic, etc)
* The amount of yardage, if known (usually on the ball-band)
* The brand of the yarn (also, usually on ball band)
* “weight” of the yarn (ie – sport weight, worsted weight, etc)

If you’re sending a full skein, even though this info can be found on the ball band, please write it down. It will ensure that the yarn will get posted faster. If you’re sending along yarn that you don’t have all the information on, don’t feel bad – just fill out what you can. I’ll weigh yarn that we don’t know the yardage on, and then calculating the WPI so that I can figure out the yarn weight, so that should help people out.

Once you’ve got that info on a piece of paper, throw your yarn (and a buck or two to help with shipping the yarn out to the future recipient if you can) into a box and send it to:

Robyn charles
Po box 6487
Omaha, ne 68106

Also, shoot me an e-mail at robyn DOT charles AT gmail DOT com when you’ve mailed a package out, so I know to look in my mail box!

One final note: I’ll be heading over to ravelry and promoting this amongst the charity knitting groups, and if you know of groups in other spaces, e-mail me to let me know about them so I can promote it there as well!

Updates

I know it's not Wednesday yet, but oh well :)

I wanted to let you know, for those of you who are not into the Yahoo thing yet, that we are going to experiment with having a drive of the month here in December. One of our members, Sandy, is working on a very local, very personal drive in her hometown. Sandy has posted about this drive here at Blogspot and you can also read about it at the messages posted on the yahoo page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomespunHelpers/

I have learned that the group is set up right now so that only members can click on files and other places where information will be stored. I don't want to change this because folks may want to post their address for drives, and I want that information to be as protected as possible. I'm not going to let this be an obstacle - if you don't want to join the Yahoo group but would like access to the labels document, let me know and I'll e-mail it to you. If you want to know where to send items each month, I'll still post Wednesday announcements and will be able to more readily e-mail you with information that you need.

It will be easier to get information on your own if you join the Yahoo group, but you will still be able to get the information you need.

Again, as we work out the bugs before the beginning of the year, give me feedback, ideas -- anything at all :)

New Drive

This is my first attempt at setting up a drive of my own, I set up (will be adding stuff), a new blog..take a look to see if you can join? Did I do this right?

Let me know ifyou can help either with directions on the blog issue, or with the knitting or the crocheting.

Thanks
Sandy

Hats, Scarfs, Gloves needed

Some clarification

Hi folks,

There were some very good concerns raised and I'd like to address them.

1) Do I have to join the Yahoo group? Absolutely not! I totally understand that not everyone likes Yahoo groups. I'm in a few that drive me nuts for the amount of e-mails I get. If you don't want to join, I'd recommend you still bookmark that page because a lot of important information will be posted there (labels for sending, addresses, the yarn bank, etc), but you don't have to post there, you don't have to get the e-mails, nothin!

2) Limiting it to one drive a month doesn't mean that we will be focusing on that per se. In fact, if you want to go to the Yahoo page and make items for a drive that happened 2 months back you'll be able to do that now because the addresses will all be easily accessible. I just want to try to avoid 25 different people posting about drives at a time because I think it gets too hard to keep track of.

3) Livejournal, Blogspot, Facebook, and Ravelry will continue to run as usual. Indeed, if you decide not to join the Yahoo mail list, nothing really will change except that I'll direct you to the Yahoo page for information instead of saying "email that person. I don't know."

I am hoping that people who do sign up for the Yahoo e-mail list will get to know each other a bit better, but I'm sure we can think of other ways to do that too.

Hope that helps!

Got Scap Yarn?

If anyone has any scraps of worsted weight wool, wool blend, or acrylic yarn, I'd love to take it off your hands. My plan for next year is to use all these scraps to make Warm Up America squares.

If you have any scraps you'd like to send, please email me (neppennydawn@yahoo.com) to let me know and I'll give you my mailing address. All I ask is that you please let me know what the yarn is so I can sort it all accordingly. Thanks.