I finally drove up to Countrywool in Hudson yesterday to pick up the hats and afghan Claudia had. Some of her students and customers knit them and they’re awesome. Imagine trumpets, confetti and streamers. Our total for the hat drive is….. 227! Mostly hats, some mittens, some scarves and one huge warm throw! You all rock! Thank you so much for supporting this endeavor and feel free to send me hats as long as we live here. I’ll get them to those that need them.
Speaking of salivating. Here’s Lucky and Aggie this morning while waiting patiently for their slice of turkey bacon. We told Aggie to get in her bed. Lucky does what Aggie does. Since he’s deaf he depends on her to show him what to do. It’s funny because his bed is right next to hers but he evidently thought that he had to get in the same bed with her in order to get his half of the bacon.
I’ll post a grand total once I get a chance this week to get up to see Claudia at Countrywool and pick up the hats she has waiting for me.
We did the drawings last night and in order to get them up here, I’m just going to load up the winner with the prize. If I know the link to your Ravelry ID or your blog off the top of my head it’s linked below. I’ll try to get the packages mailed out tomorrow. Definitely by the end of the week. The winners are:
Yes! I’m still collecting hats! In fact, as long as you want to send them, I’ll take them down toe Midnight Run, so keep ’em coming. I’ll have another drawing on January 2nd.
More hats arrived in the mail over the last several days. I finally got a chance to sit and open the packages and take a picture:
We are now over 200! I’ll have an exact number next post. I’m still in awe.
Amy (thank you, Amy!) has sent some prizes (sorry about the pictures, pretty grey here today):
2 skeins Plymouth Yarn Company’s Happy Feet in Rapunzel:
We’re at 54 knitted items already! Mostly hats but there are a few pairs of mittens, scarves and gloves.
So, I’ve been emailing back and forth with The Coalition for the Homeless. I think I scared them because I got an email saying they didn’t think they could store more than 2-4 boxes of hats. Store?! Who said anything about storage?! We want them to get out as soon as possible. So Dan and I are going down to the city (not positive of the date(s) yet) so that we can go out on the food vans and help pass them out ourselves. The woman I’ve been contacting has even offered to go out with us.
If this is ongoing, I might need someone down in the city to help out here and there with getting them passed out. If you’re willing to do this, let me know in an email (upper left sidebar). KatyKnitsNYC has offered to help out this first go ’round. Also, I just found out that the youth group from our church makes a midnight run down to the city in January, so they’re going to take what hats I have then. Seriously, I’ll continue doing this as long as people are sending hats. I’ll have the first drawing on the 15th of December and then I’ll do one a week until I’m not getting hats anymore.
I’ve taken a break from hats. My next-door neighbor is going in for a C-section tomorrow so I cast on Helena the night before last. I didn’t have any superwash wool in the right colors so I’m using Bernat Softee Baby. I want it to be easy to care for. I usually do the February Baby Sweaterfor my baby girl gift but I needed a change. Gotta say that so far it’s not a lot different.
On a non-knitting note, I think I’m going to do a bunch of these up for gifts for my neighbors. LOVE them. You can find the instructions here:
And for Joe… it’s the best! I did this poster for his room. Total cost? $9.95 for the template from Easy Digitals and $11.99 to have it printed into at 16×20 poster from Shutterfly.com! How cool is that?? I can’t wait to see his face when he opens it!
When you send your woolens to me please add a note with your email or Ravelry ID so I can contact you. I’ve had several emails asking about details so to recap, I’d rather the items were wool for the warmth. I don’t think laundering is much of an issue here. It doesn’t have to be hats. Whatever you want to knit will be very welcome I’m sure. You can email me from the link in the upper left for my address. I’m taking the first batch down to the city on the 11th. As long as I have hats coming in, I’ll make trips to the city.
The generosity of people astounds me sometimes. We are up to 35 hats, six pairs of mittens, a pair of gloves and three scarves. I took a picture but it didn’t come out very well. I’ll try again later today when the mail comes in. On top of that wait until you see the prizes that Jean (I like her name) sent in. I think she is blogless (correct me if I’m wrong, Jean). Sit down because you aren’t going to believe it. I had to sit down and catch my breath when I opened the box. She sent all of this to be used for the drawings (which will start December 15th).
This week is Thanksgiving. I’m thankful for a lot of things but I find myself sitting here tonight in awe. I’ve made wonderful friends through this blog over the years. This week takes the cake though. What started as a hope to provide a few hats to the homeless of New York City has snowballed. When I first posted I thought I’d be going down to the city on the train with a box or two of hats. It looks like I might have to drive to the city to make deliveries. In the past couple of days I’ve gotten over a hundred emails and Ravelry messages from everyone wanting to help.
If it weren’t for friends like Anna, Cookie, Kathy, Kim, Norma, Sandy, Susan, Suzann and Wendy helping me by spreading the word… well… they did and this has become huge and I’m so pleased to be associated with such wonderful people. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not mushy. Not in front of people anyway. I was in the Army for eight and a half years you know. I’m tough. Just ask me. 🙂 But this G.I. Jean is writing this with tears in her eyes because of the giving nature of so many. I don’t know why I’m surprised. I’ve seen knitters do this over and over again. I am blessed.
Let me tell you about a special little email I just got from Kay Gardiner. She has graciously offered to donate one signed copy of each of Mason Dixon’s books as prizes! THANK YOU so much!!
The first box of hats arrived from Chayah (Ravelry Link)! Eight! Count ’em, EIGHT, hats! Thank you so much! That means your name goes in the prize hat eight times.
I’ve knit up four more hats myself (which I forgot to take a picture of during my little photo shoot this morning). That brings our hat count up to 12 that I have and I know many of you are busy knitting so thank you!
While looking through my stash for prizes I found hats and booties that I’d knit for the Preemie Project that I found out about through Tracy (Woolwindings). I thought I mailed them long ago. Yeesh.
In yesterday’s comments Manise suggested why not have a hat drive on my blog. I was worried about stepping on anyone’s toes that’s already doing one but she’s right. It would mean more hats to those that need them and isn’t that the goal, after all. NYC is a big place and there is a great need.
I’ll collect hats (mostly adult sizes needed) until mid December and then deliver them to Coalition for the Homeless in the city. I spoke with Juan from the organization’s Grand Central Food Program (click on the link and read “Robbie’s Story” in the right sidebar). Juan said that they could hand out the knitted goods as they were doing their mobile soup kitchen that has 31 stops throughout Manhattan and the Bronx each night. At first I thought about contacting shelters but these are the folks that really need them. The ones that are out in the cold. So c’mon!
It doesn’t have to just be hats either…. I’m sure they’d love mittens, gloves, scarves… whatever you feel like knitting. If you aren’t involved with another charity knitting program here’s your chance. Or even if you are…. what’s one more hat? I’m also going through my sweaters that I’ve knit that I never wear.
When all is said and done I’ll do a drawing for the prizes. For each item you send in, your name goes in the… er… hat. lol. I don’t know yet what all the prizes will be. We’ll see what kind of response I get, but there’ll be yarn and fiber for sure and this one:
Yes. It’s the Birch Shawl knit in Kidsilk Haze. So get your needles out and cast on! My email link is up in the left sidebar under the Saving Lucky button. On all the feeds put together I have over 225 subscribers. If just 1/4 of you knit one hat I’ll be elated.
