348!

First of all, I'd like to send out a big THANK YOU to Shanda in North Carolina for donating three baby blankets and two baby hats (the blankets are pictures to the right) and also to Jenny in Scotland for donating 10 prayer squares!! This makes our total items donated this year a whopping 348! The blankets to the right are being shipped to Melinda in Pennsylvania who is collecting blankets for the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, MD.

On Saturday I will be delivering about 15-20 items, mostly warm hats, to The Covenant House here in Atlanta, which provides temporary housing for homeless youth.

Thank you all for your support and your time that you put into this wonderful cause. Many people wish they could make a difference in the world. Well, we ARE making a difference!

Knits For Needs IN ACTION!

Knits For Needs is really making things happen! Our Ravelry group has really taken the bull by the horns and a few people are taking it upon themselves to head up some special projects for KFN.

Sandi in South Dakota is collecting and delivering items to her local Homeless Veteran's Shelter, which has had an influx of homeless veterans over the past few years and projects growing numbers. They mainly need men's hats and scarves, but could also use things like socks, slippers, gloves, and blankets.

Melinda in Pennsylvania is collecting and donating blankets to the Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, where her son receives treatment from time to time. Melinda says everything there is so white and they need COLOR! :) Blankets are really needed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit as well as the Hemotology/Oncology Unit. All size blankets are needed and greatly appreciated! Another Raverly member has offered to collect and seam together 6in x 6in squares to make blankets to send to Melinda and Sinai Hospital.

If interested in these projects, first join Ravelry if you haven't already (its awesome!) and join our Knits For Needs group there (which is also awesome!), or you could message me and I'll put you in touch with the person you wish to contact. Email: knitsforneeds@gmail.com

Knits For Needs, as always, is working on reaching that goal of 400 items donated in 2009! I'm happy to say, I believe we are going to make it. Our count stands at around 335 and we have many people who are in the process of sending their items in. Plus, the above projects DO count in that total, of course. We are still collecting prayer squares, hats, gloves, mittens, blankets, scarves, socks, slippers, toys.... hey, anything you can knit or crochet for someone in need is appreciated! I am about to send a few hats and some fingerless mitts to a lady who just found out she has cancer. One of our Ravelry friends alerted us about her situation and this is just the sort of thing KFN loves to do, help those in need. We also will be donating to Rescue Atlanta, a homeless shelter, and possibly to NSPIRE, a homeless outreach that will actually pick up the items from my house, which will cut down on shipping costs. First I will talk to them to make sure the items WILL get into the hands of those in need. You know me, I like to be certain of that! We will also be donating to several other places throughout the US. If you have places in mind, please let me know.

THANK YOU once again for heeding our call for monetary donations to help with shipping!! And remember, clicking the ads here on the blog does earn us money. It is up to almost $40!

Have a wonderful day, and, as always, thank you for supporting our awesome cause!

5 Very Special KFN Supporters

As I explained in an earlier post, Knits For Needs's greatest need at the moment is monetary donations to help with shipping and other small costs. I would like to thank four very special people for heeding our call. I know in these tight times it is difficult to part with hard earned money, but you are dedicated to our cause and I appreciate that more than you know. Thank you Mom, Grandma, Jenny in Scotland, and Cathy Carter!! Because of you, Knits For Needs can afford to send out a few packages to people in need this season. You are helping people stay warm this winter... you ROCK!

**Don't forget that by clicking on our ads you can help KFN earn money.. yes, it is that simple. We have already earned about $25 this way!**

UPDATE: THANK YOU Cheryl in Texas for the donation of absolutely stunning scarves and hats (you are very talented!) and for the very generous monetary donation!! I'm so excited to see us growing and growing!

Flooding Strikes Woodstock

UPDATE: The PO Box is fine now!! It looks like they did not sustain much damage, which is hard to believe considering all the flooding. So.. safe to send items now. Send 'em on in!


I'm sure you all have heard about all of the flooding here in Atlanta. I'm in Woodstock and we were hit hard with tons of rain. Many places we frequent are under water, including our PO Box!! The post office is across the street just to the left of this picture to the left, which is right in the same area as the pic below.

Please do not send anything for the next few days... I'll let you know when everything is in working order.

This is a picture of a gas station that is not even a mile from my house.. just down the street!

My home and family are perfectly safe. We are up high and did not experience any flooding.. just tons and tons of rain and erosion.

I'll keep you posted about the PO Box.

A Kink To Work Out

Hello all!! As you know, Knits For Needs continues to grow and grow and grow, which is perfectly wonderful and I could not be happier. We have had approximately 200 skeins of yarn donated and our total number of items donated to KFN so far is 324!! We've almost reached our goal of 400 items donated in 2009. Keep sending in your items as you finish them. I really appreciate all of the loving support this special group has received.

HOWEVER, I need to discuss a current problem with you all and I'm open to any and all suggestions on how to solve it. I really assumed that with all of the support Knits For Needs has that we would receive monetary donations to help with shipping and other costs, such as the PO Box payment that is now due. My plan was to set up an account strictly for KFN and use the collected funds to help with these costs, but we have not received even one monetary donation! Do you know any friends or family members who might want to donate to a wonderful knitting charity?

I do not have Knits For Needs registered as a charity legally as of yet. I was planning to see where it went and how big it grew before I went ahead and did that, and I most certainly will as soon as I'm sure it is big enough and here to stay. In order for it to sustain itself, we will need monetary donations to help with cost. Now, because it is not officially a charity in the eyes of the government, I cannot offer a receipt for deduction purposes, but I can offer the wonderful feeling you will receive when you donate to a beautiful cause, such as a charity that donates our knit/crocheted items to cancer patients, the homeless, preemies, veterans, and other loved members of society. I can also assure you that all monies would be used for the charity and nothing else, but unfortunately I only have my "word" to give you :) And, of course, you can see all the good that we're doing by reading our blog.

I mean, I'm talking about donations of only $5 here, nothing big. Do you know anyone that could help? I'd really LOVE to see Knits For Needs grow huge and help tons of people across the country and I'm sure you all would too. Does anyone have any ideas to drum up some funds? Any ideas on how to get a sponsor? Oh, I forgot to mention also, I monetized this blog, which means there are ads on it now and we generate money per clicks on those ads, so click away :) All of this money will, of course, go to KFN.

Thanks for listening to my "schpiel" (how do you spell that?), I was really hoping NOT to make it. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all supporters and contributors to Knits For Needs! All of the donations we have received just warm my heart so much. Keep up the knitting and crocheting, and keep sending in whatever you'd like to donate to KFN whenever you can.

120 Hats!

I am so proud to announce that The Crochet Guild of America has donated 120 hats to Knits For Needs! The Crochet Guild of America is a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of crochet. Within it's membership is a group of professional crocheters who work in many aspects of the crochet industry. Among the professional members are designers, teachers, editors, manufacturers, publishers, and contract crocheters. One of our lovely supporters, named Jocelyn, told the group about Knits For Needs and they decided to donate their hats that they made at their Professional Development Day in Buffalo to our organization. All of the yarn for the hats was donated by Lion Brand Yarn, who also sponsored the event!

When I received the boxes of hats I was so excited that I couldn't wait to count them and also add them to what we have already collected. So as I sat amongst a huge pile of items, I learned that we have collected 207 items!! Now, we have already donated 117 items this year, so add these two figures together and we have a whopping total of 324 items (already donated or will be donated by end of year)!! So what does that leave us? 76? 76 more items need to be received for us to reach our lofty goal of 400 items donated in 2009. I think we're going to do it!

Fiber Arts Friday

Please visit and read Fiber Arts Friday on Alpacafarmgirl's blog... Merf's Turf and Knits For Needs are listed there today! http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com/

39 Prayer Squares

Today I'm sending out 39 prayer squares to the group Knit Wits, who attaches a charm and a prayer to each square and sends them to cancer patients, who hold their square while praying. I personally love this idea so much for several reasons. Although they are small, the message is powerful: we care about you. Imagine going through such a stressful and frightening time as chemo treatment and imagine how wonderful you'd feel if given an item that a perfect stranger took the time to create for just for you. The yarn is not important. The stitch is not important. The LOVE is the key, and the fact that you're taking the time to knit/crochet these squares, even just one, means that you do have the love for that stranger who needs some support in this very critical time in their life. I also love these squares because they are so easy and quick to work up, and they put to use those yarn scraps that you were wondering what to do with.

Thank you so much to all who have contributed to this project!! And, don't worry if you have not gotten your squares in yet.... just knit/crochet in your own time and send in when you can... no hurry. This is an ongoing project.

**Update.. I just went to send the squares and I received 10 more from Michele!!! Thank you so much! So the total that I sent in today was 49, not 39.**

Collection for Charity Still Growing

MANY thanks to Jacqueline and Terri, who sent in a combined donation of 33 knit and crocheted items!!

Ok folks, I just counted our items and so far we have donated/collected 153 items so far this year!! Our goal is to get to 400 by the end of the year. Keep knitting and crocheting and sending in your things, and keep up with us on the blog or other venues so you know where these items are headed to when we start deliveries again in September. On to 400!!

If you are knitting or crocheting prayer squares, I'd like to send in a shipment to them soon, so send those in asap! I'd like to send in our first donation of prayer squares in a couple weeks, maybe 3.

Thank you all supporters, followers, and contributors!!! Without you, Knits For Needs would just be me, and I can't knit that fast :)

KFN Featured in Fiber Arts Friday!

Knits For Needs is featured this week in Fiber Arts Friday! I'm so excited. For every person who links their blog to the site Katy is donating a dollar to KFN! And for every 5 people, she's donating one of her handmade alpaca yarn skeins (she's a real, genuine alpaca farmer :)). Here is the really important part: Only 3 more people need to link their blog and we'll get one more skein!! Go to: http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com/2009/06/fiber-arts-friday-16/ to learn more and to read our article all about our beloved group, Knits For Needs!