Thursday, March 09, 2006

New Challenges for Team Alaska

Here are three possibilities for charity knitting that we could consider, to do as a team.

1. Kathy in Juneau commented... I was very interested in the Dulaan Project which Stephanie mentioned in her blog on Friday. This project distributes hats, mittens, socks, neck gaitors, scarves and sweaters for all ages from babies to adults - especially for children ages 2-10, in Mongolia. http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2005/03/03/kens_dulaan_hat.html and http://www.fireprojects.org/dulaan.htm. We could gather our knitted items together and send them as a group – perhaps by June or July?

2. Erin commented…There is one called Warm Up America that knits/crochets blankets for those who may need them. The organization encourages people participating to donate to local organizations. http://www.warmupamerica.com/home.html The object is to knit 7 inch squares to make into a blanket, using any pattern you like. If we did this as a team, one of us could collect the squares and sew/knit it together before donating it. I can imagine that we’d probably want to set a date by which to complete our squares.

3. And I found this one: www.ptyarn.com/longestline.html "Opal Sock Yarn is sponsoring a project to knit the longest laundry line of baby socks in the world. The project began January 20 and ends April 30, 2006. Knit only baby socks, any size, in any brand of wool, please no acrylic. Enter as many pairs as you like. The socks will be donated by Tutto GmbH of Germany to charity organizations there. There is Opal sock yarn as prizes for the three people who knit the most socks, and some special items as well. However, you must be a member of the OpalChatters mailing list to qualify for a PRIZE. Prizes will not be awarded to non-members. Mail socks to PT Yarn, PO Box 2784, Brookings, OR 97415, Attn: Baby Socks. Socks must reach them by April 30."

Has anyone else run across any other charities that sound good? What do you think of these? Only the third one has an imposed deadline.

Another thing that we could consider doing is a “one gift a month” challenge, to help those of us who like to give knitted holiday gifts avoid the last minute December rush! This sounds good to me. I think I could even do this, plus a charity project, if I keep the gifts small (hemp bath mitts!)

2 comments:

Ketchikan Choc said...

Something that had appeal to me was knitting hats for "premies". It is something that has a local impact, at least for those of us with hospitals in our community, each hat would not take a huge commitment at any one time and would serve a continiuing need.

Anonymous said...

I've also been giving this some thought and had also been thinking that it might be nice to do something on a local level - either the hospital for premies, or maybe a hospice group for hats for patients who have lost their hair because of chemotherapy? Or maybe a women's shelter?