Update

Thank you Terri in Ohio for donating 11 hats to Knits For Needs!! Our count is up to 641 now and our goal is 900 for this year... I think we can do it! Keep sending in your knit and/or crocheted items and let's make it to our goal of helping 900 people in need in 2010. If you have any questions/comments/suggestions, please email us at knitsforneeds@gmail.com.

We are running out of funds, and we'll need them very soon so we can start sending out our things to people in need across the US. If anyone would like to donate monetarily to our cause, even if it is just 5 bucks, please just send us a check or deposit it into our PayPal account.. you just need our email address, which is listed above. I hate to ask for money.... uggg... but we'll need it. I think we only have about $15 in our account, which would only cover one shipment. Thanks in advance to all people who will help build back our funds!!

Thank you again to ALL supporters and contributors, without you, we would not work. Thanks so much, and, again, I'm proud to be working with you on this special project of helping people across the US!! Have a great day!

Contest Results

Thank you to everyone who participated in our contest by sending in knit/crocheted items! Everyone who donated from January 1 till June 30 was entered into a drawing for prizes. For every 5 items donated, you got another entry into the drawing. I had my kids help me with drawing names and we have 8 winners!!: Melinda from PA, Michelle from PA, Lynne from GA, Shanda from SC, Terri from OH, Myra from IL, Lorraine from SC, and Alicia from NJ.

I have everyone's addresses, but what I don't have and what I need are your email addresses. 5 of the prizes are E-books of knitting patterns from one of my favorite Twitter Knitters, @fiberfool. Two people will be getting a book of knitting patterns donated by my friend Heidi, and one person will be getting some stitch markers donated by @xxferretgirlxx on twitter.. she's also on Ravelry as NinjaBunnyStudios. Thanks so much for the prize donations, guys!

Since most of these prizes are knitting related, I need to know which of you ONLY crochet so I can make sure you get crochet-related prizes.

So, to recap, for the winners of the contest, I need you to email me:

a) your email address
b) tell me if you only crochet

Our email address is on the left side of the blog. I think that is all the info I need at the moment. Thanks again to all who support and donate to Knits For Needs! Let's keep it up.. onward to 900!

New Donations

Ok, so the picture isn't the best, I just realized, but you get the picture...we'd had over 50 items donated to Knits For Needs within the past week! Many thanks to Lynn in GA, Lorraine in SC, Myra in IL, and Shanda in NC. Your contributions and support mean a lot to me and to the people who will be receiving your items. I love working on this project with you and with all of our other members and supporters across the world! Our total for this year is 613 donated items! We're well on our way to our goal of 900.

Let me figure out how many drawing entries everyone has and I'll announce the winners of our contest with in the week. Happy 4th!

Last Day of Contest!!

Hello everyone and thank you so much for participating in our contest! You all are a very generous and giving bunch and I'm proud to be working with you on this project that is near and dear to my heart.

I have not been able to get to the PO Box in several days because my car broke down and is in the shop (it is only 2 years old!!) Can you say "Cabin Fever"?? I'll go check it this weekend with the hubbies' car and I'll post the winners soon, like within the week.

Thanks again for participating in this contest that is really a mission to provide warm things to people in need!

125 Hats For Halos Of Hope

A few days ago, I sent out 125 hats to Halos Of Hope, an organization that provides hand-knit/crocheted hats to chemo patients. I saw that they had a need for hats on Twitter, so I decided this would be a good opportunity for us to help some chemo patients with our items. Here are a couple pictures of my daughter and me with the hats I sent. Sierra helps me a bit with the charity so I thought I'd include her in the picture. Halos of Hope mentioned something about a press release, so I'm sending these pics to them as well. Many thanks and kudos to those who helped by sending in items!!

New Donation & Contest Reminder

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to Terri in Ohio for sending in 16 prayer squares and 8 hats!

Also, just a reminder that our contest is still in full force. LOTS of things have been sent in, so the competition is strong, but don't let that discourage you from joining in! Simply send in at least 1 knit/crocheted item and you will be entered into a drawing for prizes. For every 5 items you donate to Knits For Needs, you get another entry into the drawing. I'm not sure yet, because I'm still gathering prizes, but we should have at least 5 winners. More to come about the prizes, but they'll all be knitting/crochet related.

As you know, 100% of items donated to Knits For Needs go to people in need throughout the United States, be they homeless, chemo patients, preemies, or anyone else in need.

Hats For Heads

Many thanks to Lorraine in South Carolina and to Robin for sending in a total of 14 hats and 9 skeins of yarn for Knits For Needs! Aren't the hats gorgeous? And Lorraine actually took the time to tag each one beautifully. I love these hats! And the skeins of yarn are up for grabs for people who need more yarn for their charity projects. I just ask that you pay $10 for shipping (it usually costs more than that but I just pay the rest) and I'll send you a box full of yarn.

With the 1 hat that my daughter knit for KFN and the 7 that I just donated, that means our count for this year is up to 439!

A Special Hat For KFN

My daughter (12) has just finished knitting a hat for Knits For Needs! It is the first hat she has ever knit. She decided to knit it for KFN for a service project for Beta Club at school. I'm so proud of her :)

A Blanket For Kyle

Yesterday I sent 50 blanket squares to Melinda, a Ravelry friend, for a blanket she is making for a little boy who was just diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a brain cancer common in children. I love that Knits For Needs loves to do things like this for people, and I'm so lucky to be working on this mission with you all. Thank you Melinda for doing this for Kyle. I'm sure it will make him feel very loved and supported. Thank you also to Michelle, who knit and donated the 50 squares that are making this blanket possible.

Collection for Charity GROWS!

These are exciting times for Knits For Needs! We've had many donations, including a HUGE one from Alicia in New Jersey. Many thanks to Alicia and her mother for donating a whopping 56 hats, 2 scarves, about 8 skeins of yarn, some baby booties, and 50 prayer squares! WOW! You guys have been busy. Thank you so much for your dedication to Knits For Needs. Thank yous also go out to Terri in Ohio for donating 6 hats and Myra in Illinois for donating 3 hats and 3 super adorable purses that I'm sure some girls are simply going to love!

Our total for this year so far is 417! We are well on our way to 900 items, which is our goal for 2010. If you are just now starting to follow Knits For Needs' progress, please take the time to read our blog to see what we are all about. We love to donate knit/crocheted items to people in need, and YOU can help! Every donation counts.

Also, we are currently looking for donations of prizes to award our contest winners. Do you own a shop and would you be willing to donate stitch markers? Knitting needles? Any other possible prizes? We will also accept monetary donations to help with the prizes as well as for shipping costs. We have a PayPal account where you can donate money to our wonderful, charitable organization. You just need our email address: knitsforneeds@gmail.com

Thank you for reading our blog, and have a wonderful day! Thank you for supporting Knits For Needs!