Go here, and you will find that Casey has made a special search on Ravelry for pattern sales that are benefiting Haiti relief. Most of them are donating 50% or more of the sale price to Médecins sans Frontières and some to the Red Cross. Ysolda is donating 80% of everything sold from her site or Ravelry until January 31st. She's even adding in any of the Twist Collective patterns if you let her know you've bought one. So far, she's been able to donate over £3700. Wow. What she's noticed is that people are buying patterns at an amazing rate instead of waiting till they're ready to start a project, they've been gifting them to each other...I have no words. There are lots of other top designers joining in too - WendyKnits, Miriam Felton, Connie Chang Chinchio, Laura Chau, Cecily Glowik MacDonald, Woolly Wormhead...the list goes on.
Just goes to show what amazing people knitters are, huh? Stephanie is approaching the ONE MILLION DOLLAR mark for MSF. $1,000,000.
I have no words.
Y'all are amazing.
~*~
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Well this week has flown so far. I think this is down to my advancing years, my mother did warn me this would happen :-) Appraisal with the boss went well, he seems a happy bunny so that's good, the yarn money should keep flowing. Also I may be getting to spend some time over in Edinburgh, which is of course the home of K1's other shop and MCA...and of course Tynecastle where I shall have to go and pay my respects. So that might be rather good...apart from getting there which will be an almighty pain in the rear. One hour to Glasgow, then a trip across to Queen Street then the express across which takes about 1/2 an hour I believe. Oh well.
The Dad sweater is progressing well, it accompanied me to Knit Night where suitable sympathy was expressed at having to knit a 48" jumper in double knitting. One sleeve is completely finished, with the phoney seam added, the body is at about 10" long and the second sleeve is about 4" in. So it's going fairly well. I'm not going to say too much as I do not wish to arouse the ire of the knitting gods :-)
I finished a woolly hat for myself (I'll put the pictures in later, I'm at work just now) - I admit, this was going to be for charity but I liked it so much I'm going to keep it and I've already cast on for some (vaguely) matching mittens. Yarn is Wendy Fusion in Allspice (I think) on a 5.5mm needle. I'll have to knit a replacement for the Mission to Seafarers. Fortunately hats are ideal commuter knitting so I should be able to knock one out pretty quick, then I really must get them posted off.
Excitement planned for the weekend - a Stash Sort, to check for m*ths and just generally reacquaint myself with the lower strata, and if I get chance I might pop up the road to a quilt exhibition. Not that I'm going to start on that just now. Absolutely not. No. *whimper*
~*~
The Dad sweater is progressing well, it accompanied me to Knit Night where suitable sympathy was expressed at having to knit a 48" jumper in double knitting. One sleeve is completely finished, with the phoney seam added, the body is at about 10" long and the second sleeve is about 4" in. So it's going fairly well. I'm not going to say too much as I do not wish to arouse the ire of the knitting gods :-)
I finished a woolly hat for myself (I'll put the pictures in later, I'm at work just now) - I admit, this was going to be for charity but I liked it so much I'm going to keep it and I've already cast on for some (vaguely) matching mittens. Yarn is Wendy Fusion in Allspice (I think) on a 5.5mm needle. I'll have to knit a replacement for the Mission to Seafarers. Fortunately hats are ideal commuter knitting so I should be able to knock one out pretty quick, then I really must get them posted off.
Excitement planned for the weekend - a Stash Sort, to check for m*ths and just generally reacquaint myself with the lower strata, and if I get chance I might pop up the road to a quilt exhibition. Not that I'm going to start on that just now. Absolutely not. No. *whimper*
~*~
Sunday, 24 August 2008
I am Woman...Hear Me Roar
Or whimper, as the case may be. Quick catch-up, as I have been remiss with the blogging. Training course - complete, good, hard work, waiting to see how much has been retained. Good dinners. Marginally more clear on what I'm actually going to be doing for a living :-) and the training course only covers the techie part, which is not my first responsibility, the rest I have to figure out as I go. Won't be the first time.
Coming back was interesting to say the least. Virgin Trains from Euston to Glasgow Central at an unholy hour of the morning (06.44, ffs) No WiFi!!! WTF??? Anyway. Uneventful. Knitted quite a lot. Passed Lichfield, felt sad and wanted to get off. (Train didn't stop - probably a good thing, but in hindsight, shame it didn't) Went through Stafford without stopping, wanted to get off to see old workmates and my Mum and Dad. Nearly got off at Crewe, but thought, no, get home, car's stuck on railway car park all on its own, house could have blown away, best get back. Got to Preston.
You know how some days you're the windscreen, and other days you are the bug? This day, I was the bug. Crew changed, and we're still standing at the platform. Tannoy announcement - Flooding at Carnforth. Ah. Problem. Eventually, they terminated the train (sounds painful) and we were summarily turfed off. I went for a fag to consider my strategy, and got rained on. Heavily. Eventually, buses were announced. I damply pondered this. Trains were standing at every platform, confused passengers roamed aimlessly, some sat on suitcases, many glued to phones and cups of waiting room coffee. Bus was going to Lancaster. I considered some more. No trains going North, trains terminating at Lancaster...= bedlam there too. So, I did what any sensible girl does in this situation. I damply phoned my Dad. "Daaaaaaaad, what am I going to dooooooo?" He immediately suggested something that I had already thought about - jump a service back to Crewe, get picked up by him and write the day off as a loss re: travelling, spend the night there (Mum's cooking - excellent) and try again on the Friday. Excellent plan. Enquiries about services to Crewe met with blank expressions from the staff (admittedly, they were having a bad day) and eventually I found one myself. Back we went, I duly hauled my ass across Crewe station and was scooped up by Dad outside. To discover his car was terminally sick and we barely made it back to Stoke. *sigh* Car was dropped in at the garage to the inestimably marvelous Tony, and I settled down for an afternoon of Olympics, watching Dad fall asleep on the sofa, eating biscuits and having a very welcome visitor, if only briefly. Following morning, car fixed by Tony (fuel filter, very easy but seemed terminal at the time) I was ferried up to Crewe by Dad, who was treated to a huge cup of tea and a very large raspberry muffin for his trouble, he indulged in a bit of trainspotting and eventually I hopped onto the Glasgow train. Apart from sharing a carriage with a loudly exuberant African extended family, who had brought enough food, drink and luggage with them for a small army (including a suitcase full of mugs, jars of coffee and a very large Thermos)and who kept sitting on me (I nearly stabbed one with my needles when she sat on me again for the nth time, but they were my KnitPicks and they're expensive)I finally pulled into Glasgow ten minutes early, and very nearly kissed the platform in joy. A short wait, onto the local service, back to my station, car collected intact and started no problem (I love Japanese cars) and the house hadn't fallen down. In fact, it had improved. Not only have they tarmac-ed the road up to the house, the landlord had fixed my wonky laminate and re-set the front step which was wobbling alarmingly.
On the doormat, and delivered by the neighbours were some treats - my NCIS DVD's (Seasons 1 & 3), printer cartridges and my Tesco Clubcard points vouchers. So, I decided to go shopping. I bought some new work clothes (all my old trousers are too big, to the point of only being held up by my hips) and I also bought this:
so I can have this:
Porridge with blueberries, pumpkin seeds, sultanas, cinnamon, ginger and maple syrup. Lovely. I also treated myself to this:
I then realised that the lawn had grown to the point where I was expecting to find David Attenborough out there with a film crew, and there was no way my poor little mower was going to manage without some heavy-duty help. Its mainly the edges, suffice to say that there are Issues with my lawn. So, this morning, at 9.30 (on a Sunday, please note) I trooped up to B&Q and bought:
Yes, its a strimmer. Its only a little girly electric one - I was very tempted to get the big manly petrol one, but it would be a bit overkill, the lawn's bad, but not THAT bad, and it was taller than me. I probably wouldn't be able to start it anyway. So I spent a happy hour or so zapping about the very wet lawn edges. I discovered that strimming is Hard Work, makes your arms all achy, and you get grass in places you would not believe. I also realised that what my lawn really needs is digging up and starting again (Not going to happen) but it looks marginally better when you cut the edges and strim off the three foot high bits. If it will stay dry for a couple of days I may even manage to mow it. I felt quite smug at being the proud owner of a strimmer - "Look! I Am Woman Who Know How To Use Power Tools. Respect Me." However, I've decided that strimming is definitely a job for the boys. Too much like hard work and you get grass in your hair and green fingernails. I'll stick to knitting. Speaking of which - we have hats!
For the Mission to Seafarers.
~*~
Coming back was interesting to say the least. Virgin Trains from Euston to Glasgow Central at an unholy hour of the morning (06.44, ffs) No WiFi!!! WTF??? Anyway. Uneventful. Knitted quite a lot. Passed Lichfield, felt sad and wanted to get off. (Train didn't stop - probably a good thing, but in hindsight, shame it didn't) Went through Stafford without stopping, wanted to get off to see old workmates and my Mum and Dad. Nearly got off at Crewe, but thought, no, get home, car's stuck on railway car park all on its own, house could have blown away, best get back. Got to Preston.
You know how some days you're the windscreen, and other days you are the bug? This day, I was the bug. Crew changed, and we're still standing at the platform. Tannoy announcement - Flooding at Carnforth. Ah. Problem. Eventually, they terminated the train (sounds painful) and we were summarily turfed off. I went for a fag to consider my strategy, and got rained on. Heavily. Eventually, buses were announced. I damply pondered this. Trains were standing at every platform, confused passengers roamed aimlessly, some sat on suitcases, many glued to phones and cups of waiting room coffee. Bus was going to Lancaster. I considered some more. No trains going North, trains terminating at Lancaster...= bedlam there too. So, I did what any sensible girl does in this situation. I damply phoned my Dad. "Daaaaaaaad, what am I going to dooooooo?" He immediately suggested something that I had already thought about - jump a service back to Crewe, get picked up by him and write the day off as a loss re: travelling, spend the night there (Mum's cooking - excellent) and try again on the Friday. Excellent plan. Enquiries about services to Crewe met with blank expressions from the staff (admittedly, they were having a bad day) and eventually I found one myself. Back we went, I duly hauled my ass across Crewe station and was scooped up by Dad outside. To discover his car was terminally sick and we barely made it back to Stoke. *sigh* Car was dropped in at the garage to the inestimably marvelous Tony, and I settled down for an afternoon of Olympics, watching Dad fall asleep on the sofa, eating biscuits and having a very welcome visitor, if only briefly. Following morning, car fixed by Tony (fuel filter, very easy but seemed terminal at the time) I was ferried up to Crewe by Dad, who was treated to a huge cup of tea and a very large raspberry muffin for his trouble, he indulged in a bit of trainspotting and eventually I hopped onto the Glasgow train. Apart from sharing a carriage with a loudly exuberant African extended family, who had brought enough food, drink and luggage with them for a small army (including a suitcase full of mugs, jars of coffee and a very large Thermos)and who kept sitting on me (I nearly stabbed one with my needles when she sat on me again for the nth time, but they were my KnitPicks and they're expensive)I finally pulled into Glasgow ten minutes early, and very nearly kissed the platform in joy. A short wait, onto the local service, back to my station, car collected intact and started no problem (I love Japanese cars) and the house hadn't fallen down. In fact, it had improved. Not only have they tarmac-ed the road up to the house, the landlord had fixed my wonky laminate and re-set the front step which was wobbling alarmingly.
On the doormat, and delivered by the neighbours were some treats - my NCIS DVD's (Seasons 1 & 3), printer cartridges and my Tesco Clubcard points vouchers. So, I decided to go shopping. I bought some new work clothes (all my old trousers are too big, to the point of only being held up by my hips) and I also bought this:
so I can have this:
Porridge with blueberries, pumpkin seeds, sultanas, cinnamon, ginger and maple syrup. Lovely. I also treated myself to this:
I then realised that the lawn had grown to the point where I was expecting to find David Attenborough out there with a film crew, and there was no way my poor little mower was going to manage without some heavy-duty help. Its mainly the edges, suffice to say that there are Issues with my lawn. So, this morning, at 9.30 (on a Sunday, please note) I trooped up to B&Q and bought:
Yes, its a strimmer. Its only a little girly electric one - I was very tempted to get the big manly petrol one, but it would be a bit overkill, the lawn's bad, but not THAT bad, and it was taller than me. I probably wouldn't be able to start it anyway. So I spent a happy hour or so zapping about the very wet lawn edges. I discovered that strimming is Hard Work, makes your arms all achy, and you get grass in places you would not believe. I also realised that what my lawn really needs is digging up and starting again (Not going to happen) but it looks marginally better when you cut the edges and strim off the three foot high bits. If it will stay dry for a couple of days I may even manage to mow it. I felt quite smug at being the proud owner of a strimmer - "Look! I Am Woman Who Know How To Use Power Tools. Respect Me." However, I've decided that strimming is definitely a job for the boys. Too much like hard work and you get grass in your hair and green fingernails. I'll stick to knitting. Speaking of which - we have hats!
For the Mission to Seafarers.
~*~
Monday, 17 December 2007
getting closer...
I'm Christmas knitting
(and crocheting)
nearly there
pictures soon...
charity knits are about ready too...
(and crocheting)
nearly there
pictures soon...
charity knits are about ready too...
Monday, 29 October 2007
Knitting for Charity, mate
Well, I am officially a total muppet. Not only do I have the Christmas knitting and crocheting to finish (and I just frogged the stocking stitch scarf, I hated it, so I have to start again) I've decided to do some charity knitting. The Mission to Seafarers have an ongoing drive for woolly items for sailors coming into ports all over the world, but particularly the chillier regions of the planet, i.e. the UK. Many of the seafarers who land here are from hotter climes, like India and the Philippines, and are unprepared for our lovely British weather. The Mission collect up hats, scarves, gloves and balaclavas in all colours and all fibres to distribute to visiting seafarers. If you have a nosey at their website, they have some patterns available, but they don't mind what kind of pattern you use, or what colour. Apparently, after speaking to a nice chap from their office, he says a lot of the sailors like nice bright colours, so I'm going to be doing a little stash diving later.
It's not just about woolly items either. The Mission (who are part of the Anglican Church, but I'm not holding that against them) provide drop-in centres for sailors to have a break from their ships, important when you're effectively a prisoner on it for months at a time, make telephone calls home, access email, provide help with any problems or information about the local area and provide a space for multi-faith worship. The Mission also make visits to vessels in port, and out at anchorage, and at Christmas distribute thousands of presents to sailors far from home. They also help with welfare and justice issues, for example taking food and warm clothing to the crew of a stricken vessel off Falmouth, declared dangerously unsafe by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So what is it with me and sailors? I support the RNLI (see the bottom of the page) and now the Mission. Well, it's really simple. My Dad spent almost his entire working life at sea, so I know better than most people what its really like out there. It's hard, miserable, lonely and full of challenges that fortunately most of us never have to face. You've heard the expression "Worse things happen at sea"? Well, they do. Working conditions can be appalling on some ships, the weather can be fatal (anyone who watched Trawlermen on the BBC and saw the Force 9-10 storm should immediately know what I'm talking about) and you might not touch solid ground or see your family for literally months on end. If anything goes wrong, you have to rely on yourself and the rest of the crew to fix it - you can't call out the AA in the middle of the South China Sea. If you can't fix it - well, you'd better start praying.
If you would like to send them a woolly parcel, you can drop me an email at
knotty.artisan AT gmail DOT com (I think that's right, Google Mail seems to have a different address in my Thunderbird inbox to what's appearing in Blogger - if it doesn't work, try googlemail DOT com) and I'll give you the address for posting stuff. If you've just an item or two you'd like to send, you could post it to me first and I'll put together a big parcel. Either way make sure your name and address is included so receipt can be confirmed, or if you're sending it to me I can credit you for your hard work!
Anyway, here's a little picspam for your delectation. My apologies in advance for the crappy pictures, the main camera's batteries are dead, so I've resorted to the phone camera (and now the clocks have changed, there's no daylight when I get home *boo* )
This is a new take on the stocking stitch scarf. I frogged the original as I realised I totally hated it. It was curly and didn't drape nicely. I'm carrying two yarns together to make it thicker.
This yumminess is part of a shadecard from Jamieson and Smith on Shetland. Couldn't you just eat it? Or maybe roll around on it for a while? As soon as I have some money, I think an order will be winging it's way north...
There won't be much blogging over the next couple of days, it's my birthday on Wednesday so we're out visiting and stuff - suffice to say the knitting will be going with me!
It's not just about woolly items either. The Mission (who are part of the Anglican Church, but I'm not holding that against them) provide drop-in centres for sailors to have a break from their ships, important when you're effectively a prisoner on it for months at a time, make telephone calls home, access email, provide help with any problems or information about the local area and provide a space for multi-faith worship. The Mission also make visits to vessels in port, and out at anchorage, and at Christmas distribute thousands of presents to sailors far from home. They also help with welfare and justice issues, for example taking food and warm clothing to the crew of a stricken vessel off Falmouth, declared dangerously unsafe by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So what is it with me and sailors? I support the RNLI (see the bottom of the page) and now the Mission. Well, it's really simple. My Dad spent almost his entire working life at sea, so I know better than most people what its really like out there. It's hard, miserable, lonely and full of challenges that fortunately most of us never have to face. You've heard the expression "Worse things happen at sea"? Well, they do. Working conditions can be appalling on some ships, the weather can be fatal (anyone who watched Trawlermen on the BBC and saw the Force 9-10 storm should immediately know what I'm talking about) and you might not touch solid ground or see your family for literally months on end. If anything goes wrong, you have to rely on yourself and the rest of the crew to fix it - you can't call out the AA in the middle of the South China Sea. If you can't fix it - well, you'd better start praying.
If you would like to send them a woolly parcel, you can drop me an email at
knotty.artisan AT gmail DOT com (I think that's right, Google Mail seems to have a different address in my Thunderbird inbox to what's appearing in Blogger - if it doesn't work, try googlemail DOT com) and I'll give you the address for posting stuff. If you've just an item or two you'd like to send, you could post it to me first and I'll put together a big parcel. Either way make sure your name and address is included so receipt can be confirmed, or if you're sending it to me I can credit you for your hard work!
Anyway, here's a little picspam for your delectation. My apologies in advance for the crappy pictures, the main camera's batteries are dead, so I've resorted to the phone camera (and now the clocks have changed, there's no daylight when I get home *boo* )
This is a new take on the stocking stitch scarf. I frogged the original as I realised I totally hated it. It was curly and didn't drape nicely. I'm carrying two yarns together to make it thicker.
.JPG)
This yumminess is part of a shadecard from Jamieson and Smith on Shetland. Couldn't you just eat it? Or maybe roll around on it for a while? As soon as I have some money, I think an order will be winging it's way north...
There won't be much blogging over the next couple of days, it's my birthday on Wednesday so we're out visiting and stuff - suffice to say the knitting will be going with me!
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