About 24 hours left for entries

And here are the standings!

Team Ohio: 433

Team Godzilla: 349

Team Arizona: 314

Team New England: 103

We're over 2000!!!!

Wooot!!!

In what has been perhaps one of the most trying years of any of our lives, we are still well on track to reach 3,000 items. That is just amazing. I am so proud of you all!!!!!

2006 and counting! :)

With just a couple days left...!!

Team Ohio: 336

Team Godzilla: 326

Team Arizona: 314

Team New England: 80

ETA: Entries will be counted for the last time at 7:00 PM EST on Tuesday night (September 1). My announcement of the winner will happen shortly thereafter!

It's update time!

Team Ohio: 336

Team Godzilla: 326

Team Arizona: 235

Team New England: 80

We are at 1,884 items right now. Do you think we can make it to 2,000 by September 1st? Do we even want to try? :D

Love y'all.

hurricane hat - complete

hurricane hat - complete
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

i made this to kick off my new big project - i'm knitting One Hundred Hats for Warm Woolies! this is the Hurricane Hat pattern (free, and wonderful!), and i've been blogging about it at onehundredhats.blogspot.com

at any rate, i'm sure there'll be lots more pictures like this to come in the future - one down, ninety-nine to go!

This and that

So, even though folks said they'd be willing to participate in an individual contest, I agree with those who said following straight after a regional contest would be a bit much. I was trying to figure out a way to get it in before the holiday rush, but we'll just let that pass into next year.

One idea I did want to run by all of you, either for this year or next -- gift cards branded with Homespun Helpers, so that at the holidays or birthdays you could send a card to someone and say "An item was made by Homespun Helpers and donated in honor of you." Or something.

Any thoughts?

Have good weeks, everybody, and for those of you starting back up at school -- have a great year!

Six More Hats & A Trip to The Post Office

I have six more preemie hats to add to the pile of itty-bitties. Along with 11 others (which have been accounted for), they'll be making the trip to AZ for one of HH's charity crafters.

I've been busy getting ready for my friend's wedding. I'm making 6-dozen cupcakes and a four-layer 8" choc/choc cake. The cupcakes alone aren't that much work, save for the fact that they each have to go into a small, window-having box, which needs ribbon. I've been pasting wedding ribbon onto these pasty, lifeless boxes for days, now. It's fun, though, and the bride is giving me creative freedom, so it's great, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow's delivery. For sure.

Then, it'll be back to the crafty-craft. Here's to one final push before the contest ends. Once it does, it'll be too late.

Contest update and a question

Hi folks,

Here is your update. You'll be shocked at how amazing everyone has been this Summer!

Team Ohio 336

Team Godzilla 289

Team Arizona 201

Team New England 79

Now for my question.

Last year we did an individual contest as well as a regional contest. I was thinking we could do a one-month run of it this year, from the end of the regional contest to the first of October. The winner would be the person who made the most items (all items counted equally this year, so if you want to participate think small!) and they would win $25 worth of prizes and would pick our charity of focus in January.

Is this of interest to you?

help save dogs' lives

Hey everyone,

Please check out this post from our livejournal community:

http://community.livejournal.com/homespunhelpers/427718.html

She needs our help urgently, so if you are an animal lover like I am, you will be inspired and will want to chip in. Let's make a difference!

A star, a new charity to think about, and an update!

Hi everyone!

I don't know that I'll have this much time to sit in front of my own computer again this week, so I'm just going to dump on ya! :)

First...our star of the month. I'm a little bit early, but I just gotta.

Our star of the month is Kelli, aka Ugottafriend!

Kelli joined us around the time that HH was in the Livejournal spotlight a couple of years ago. At first, she was enthusiastic but wasn't sure how she could help us...she didn't crochet or knit. Then A Million Thanks came along, and when Kelli found out she could hand-make cards, she started exploding.

I continually thought higher and higher of all of the work Kelli was doing, and then I found out that she battles chronic illness while doing all of these amazing things. She steps beyond herself in every way imaginable, cheering us on, adding to our count, and brightening so many lives. Much like a star would.

As part of Kelli's star power, she has mentioned a charity that folks might be interested -- especially if you like to do things other than crocheting or knitting sometimes. Here is her post:...now I have taken on a few gift projects for a wonderful organization called Spirit Jump. SJ members send gifts to people who are seriously ill in an effort to lift their spirits. As someone who is chronically ill myself, I know what a blessing it is to receive a happy little something in the mail. It can be the simplest thing...a postcard...a bookmark...anything can make a difference in someone's day.
So I'm asking for your help! I am hand making cards, gift tags, and bookmarks for Spirit Jump recipients and would love to be able to include a little gift in their package. It can be a book, a piece of jewelry, a humorous plaque...the sky is the limit here guys. Please note that most of the recipients are terminally ill, some given weeks or months to live. Others are still in the midst of their battle. Women, men, and children. The gift does not have to be hand made (unless you want to...and it would be counted on HH whereas bought stuff wouldn't), and it doesn't have to cost much. The only rule is that it be something that will bring a smile in the midst of someone's suffering.
If you have something to contribute, please email me and I will give you my snail mail address.
ugottafriend4life@gmail.com
Thanks so much everyone!

And now for our contest update, which is getting steamy red hot!

Team Godzilla: 273
Team Ohio: 242
Team Arizona: 156
Team New England: 71

You all are fabulous. Have I mentioned that lately?

8 Little Hats

Hello all! Here are 8 hats I crocheted over the last few days. Most are for preemie heads and some for small children. I'm sending them to a HH crafter who does work with kids.

I've been on a bit of a crafting break: I was in Ohio for a friends' wedding two weeks ago and prior to that I'd been on a reading kick.

Back to it, though, since I just placed an order with the Yarnbank.

Stay cool, all, depending on where you are. It's toasty down here in SoCal.

Yarn Bank Liquidation

new to the yarn bank today
Originally uploaded by craftyone77

It’s with a very sad heart that I write this all. I’m closing the Yarn Bank as of October 1.

Over the last year or so, I’ve had such a great time collecting yarn from people’s stashes and turning it around to people to use for charity purposes. It’s been such a treat to hear about all the great charity projects that have been made, all the lives that have been touched by this venture.

And then, two months ago, I was contacted about helping someone unload several trailers full of yarn meant for charity knitters and crocheters. Thinking it would be an amazing opportunity, I signed on, not realizing the trouble I would be causing for myself.

In these two months I have talked to countless individuals who wanted nothing more than to knit and crochet for charity, and have been stymied repeatedly in getting yarn to them. I have stuck through it, knowing that eventually this yarn would end up in the hands of charity crafters who wanted to make items for those in need.

All the while, I continued to try to keep up with the yarn bank. The two were kept separate, although I was contacted about helping out with this large yarn liquidation due to the yarn bank’s modest success. I hadn’t thought any of this would be an issue whatsoever, until the last few days.

In the last few days, everything has fallen apart. I have been accused of stealing business from local yarn stores, stealing potential charity crafters from this larger yarn liquidation, discovered people have not received yarn who should have, and in general lost my stomach more than once at the demanding, selfish, and greedy nature of a large number of people.

And so I’m closing up the yarn bank. Any yarn that is sent to me between now and September 15th I’ll go ahead and list, but as of October 1 I’m shutting down shop for the foreseeable future. Any yarn left in the yarn bank will be sent to reputable charities for use by their members.

I have always been someone who believed in the good of humanity, and this two month experience has left me sad, disheartened, and closed off to the thought of doing something like this again. I will never say never, and hold onto the yarn bank account indefinitely, so that if I have a change of heart I can start things up again.

From now on, I will continue to focus on my personal charity knitting, on loving on and supporting the charity crafting community as much as possible from a distance, and participating in Homespun Helpers joyfully. If there’s anyone in the group who wants to take the reins with this project, please contact me via e-mail (rmcdevine@gmail.com) so we can discuss it.

There is still a lot of good yarn in the yarn bank, and there will be some needles, hooks and even some great vintage fabric listed between now and September 15th, so please take a look and grab what’s left – it won’t be there long!

Spirit Jump...help me brighten the day of those who are seriously ill...

Hey folks, Kelli here. I usually post to HH on LiveJournal, but our fearless leader suggested that I post everywhere else as well. This is an opportunity for all, whether you know how to hand make stuff or not. :)

I personally cannot sew or knit, so I look for other ways to give. I am a starving artist and love to make cards for charities like Operation Gratitude and A Million Thanks. I've also recently made cards for Pink Heart Funds, and now I have taken on a few gift projects for a wonderful organization called Spirit Jump. SJ members send gifts to people who are seriously ill in an effort to lift their spirits. As someone who is chronically ill myself, I know what a blessing it is to receive a happy little something in the mail. It can be the simplest thing...a postcard...a bookmark...anything can make a difference in someone's day.

So I'm asking for your help! I am hand making cards, gift tags, and bookmarks for Spirit Jump recipients and would love to be able to include a little gift in their package. It can be a book, a piece of jewelry, a humorous plaque...the sky is the limit here guys. Please note that most of the recipients are terminally ill, some given weeks or months to live. Others are still in the midst of their battle. Women, men, and children. The gift does not have to be hand made (unless you want to...and it would be counted on HH whereas bought stuff wouldn't), and it doesn't have to cost much. The only rule is that it be something that will bring a smile in the midst of someone's suffering.

If you have something to contribute, please email me and I will give you my snail mail address.

ugottafriend4life@gmail.com

Thanks so much everyone!

Kelli
ugottafriend.com

1,496

We're 4 items away from the big 1-5-0-0!!

Who wants to take us there?!? :)

Contest update and some new charities to think about

So I'll keep you in suspense and talk about some new charities first. Cuz I'm evil like that :) A good friend of mine from waaaaay back is working as a missionary in Ghana and she passed these ideas on to me.

First: www.stringofpearlsonline.com

It seems like a similar concept to Afghans for Angels

Also, my friend has done some exploring of a children's home near where she lives. It's called The Anfaani Children's Home, and they apparently need anything and everything. Shipping would obviously be something we'd want to talk about -- maybe see if we could pool things together and ship in international flat rate boxes or something like that. But something to think about.

NOW, the contest update:

Team Godzilla: 213

Team Ohio: 192

Team Arizona: 98

Team New England: 67

Just a mere few weeks left. It could be anybody's ball game. Er...ball of yarn. Er...well. There it is.

august charity!

Doclegs reminded me that I neglected to post our charity for August. Well, you can't win 'em all. Remember, if you are a member of the yahoo group, you can go to calendar and I have blurbs about each month's charity on the far right there :)

So, August.

Our charity focus for August (if you want) is the Red Scarf Project. I know it seems early to start working on something for Valentines Day, but they have been so inundated they wanted to set an earlier deadline so that they don't have to literally stop people from sending. A good problem to have!

Here is the site for more info:

http://orphan.org/index.php?id=9

ETA: SoapFairie said that the link I used takes you to the money donation page. Here is a better link she found:

http://orphan.org/index.php?id=40

A new month begins!

And you thought I'd forget...heh heh heh

Okay, so it's hat shaky shaky time.

And the winner is...Snoopingmother?!? Again?!?

Clearly *someone* has put a spell on my hat, but snoopingmother, since you won so recently, I'm going to pick another name. I hope that's okay!

Shaky shaky shaky and...

Craftingforcats is the winner!

Let me know what you would like for your prize!

I am really really happy about this July contest, folks. We had the most names in the hat this time around!

Keep it up! Remember, just a little over a month left till our Summer contest ends...the monthly contest will keep going though :)