Category: Charity

Quick Hat For The Simon Community

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warm and woolly

The Olann and Warm + Woolly Campaign for The Simon Community is in full swing.  There are shops and businesses getting involved and signing up to be ‘Drop Off Points’, there are library’s up and down the country popping up campaign posters and we’ve even been on the radio.  Not that I managed to hear it though, as my broadband was awful on the day 😦

Anyway, as some of you probably already know, I’ve been involved in the odd charity knitting campaign in the past and as a result have written a few, easy knit patterns, that are listed on the pattern page here.  (must tidy them up now and make them all uniformly me as Leftfootdaisy).

Quick Chunky Hats
Quick Chunky Hats

One of them, The Quick Chunky Hat, was originally used for our Chernobyl Children’t Trust collection.  I opted for a standard chunky yarn, for a couple of reasons.  The first –  it’s mighty cold in Belarus and chunky hats tend to be cosier.  Secondly, double knit yarn tends to be the most popular weight here in Ireland and if you hold two strands together when knitting, it makes a chunky = Great for using up your ends.

Going back to my original pattern with fresh eyes, so to speak, it occurred to me that the addition of a longer band, might be more beneficial when it comes to keeping out the cold.  Ears are more delicate and therefore sensitive to the cold, so a folded band would add extra warmth, where it’s needed.  The longer band also gives the individual a couple of options on how to wear the hat, depending on what they find most comfortable.

evolve

Those lovely people over at Thomas B. Ramsden (they distribute the yarns from Robin, Wendy, Twilleys and Erika Knight), gave me a couple of balls of Evolve Chunky from Wendy in different shades, for the magazine and I wanted to make good use of the remaining yarn.

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Each 100g ball of Evolve Chunky contains a generous 180 metres/197 yards of yarn.  The fibre composition is 10% Alpaca, 50% Wool, 40% Acrylic, which when knitted to the recommended tension of 14 stitches to 20 rows on 6.5mm needles, produces a lovely, light, warm fabric ideal for most projects.  There are 10 shades of Evolve Chunky available, each with it’s own subtle changing tones and should you want to investigate further there are some lovely patterns available to support the yarn too.

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I’ll update the pattern when I get a minute, but if you do want to knit this hat in the meantime.  It’s the largest size and everything is the same except at the beginning I ribbed for 21 rows instead of 7, which then means you have to work until the hat measures 9 inches before you begin to work the crown shaping.

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I’m pretty sure I have enough left to knit a second hat too, maybe I’ll stripe it with some of the blue?

Before I go…..

Did you notice that my URL has changed?

I’m now officially fibrestrumpet.com on the interweb (thanks to Shane, Dina’s beau).

💖

 

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Psst….Fancy Doing a Little Charity Knitting or Crochet?

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So we have a bit of a dilemma here at Olann and. As you know we’re busy working on our first issue, due for release in November. So far so good, except November is still a ways to go and there are events and campaign (1)

If you’ve been following my exploits for some time now, I’m sure it’s pretty obvious, that I’m a bit of a ‘how can we help’ fiend?  I’ve often found myself knee deep in knitted items, sorting out, bagging up and horror of all horrors – sewing seams 😱 To be fair, my long suffering knitting friends are usually roped in somewhere along the line too 💗 💗 💗

In the past getting a charity knitting and crochet campaign off the ground was relatively easy.  I had the shop and a lovely customer base, who spread the word high and low.  Once I’d got everything together and had a plan in place, I knew I could rely on everyone to champion the latest collection.  Whatever the cause, the response was always fantastic and every time, I was honestly blown away with the amount of work everyone put in.

This time round, there’s no shop.  There is a magazine, so you’d assume it would be much, much easier, but it’s not due for publication until next month 😦

The charity in question, is an Irish one and they’re in need of a long list of things, woolly and not so woolly.

So here in lies a dilemma and I’d love to hear your thoughts?

How do we gauge interest?

How do we spread the word?

How do we collect the items and where are we going to put the drop off points?

It can only go ahead with your help, so I’m looking forward to hearing all of your ideas.

Happy Knitting!

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Debbie Bliss is Coming To Town

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Debbi

I know you’re all expecting a post about my exploits at Yarndale, but this is more important.

♥ Promise ♥

Debbie Bliss, has been a knitwear designer for over 30 years and was recently awarded an MBE for her services to the hand knitting and craft industry.  Her designs are renown throughout the knitting world and include everything from classic shapes and beautiful baby garments to high end fashion knits and quirky accessories.  I’m sure she needs no introduction, as most of you will have heard of her and many of you will have used her designs.

Debbie will be appearing at three yarn shops, whilst visiting Ireland and is keen for the shops involved to use her visit as a way to support and raise funds for their charity of choice.  As Debbie is extremely busy she will only be able to squeeze in appearances at three shops this time.

The shops are, Crafty in Wexford, Vivi Trading Co in Kinsale and The Knitting Room in Malahide, all have promoted Debbie’s visit by way of a ticketed event.  With the proceeds from the sale of the tickets going to charity.

Knitting room

Debbie Bliss kicks off her whirlwind tour of Ireland with a visit to The Knitting Room in Malahide this coming Monday, 5th October.  Tickets are €15 each, with 100% of the proceeds going to The Simon Community.  Brendan from The Knitting Room said ” he couldn’t think of a better way to kick of the busy Autumn/Winter season, than with a visit from Debbie Bliss”.

Debbie’s visit is also timed perfectly to coincide with The Knitting Rooms promotion of The Simon Community’s Winter Woolly Campaign, which Brendan and Carrie are fully committed to for the coming season.  More about that to come in a separate post, but if you want to get involved now, you can drop off any warm, woollen items to The Knitting Room where they have a collection point set up.  Clair Rooney from The Simon Community will also be in attendance at The knitting Room Debbie Bliss event, where she will talk more about The Simon Community Campaign.

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The tour goes from Dublin to Wexford next.  Diane from Crafty in Wexford told me “everyone is really excited to have Debbie visiting the store.  They are expecting a really great turn out for the day and are thrilled by the level of support from the local and wider community”.  Debbie will be at the shop on Tuesday 6th October between 11am and 3pm.  Tickets are €5 each, with all proceeds going to Wexford Hospice Homecare who provide an invaluable, home based Specialist Palliative Care Service in County Wexford.
Vivi

Last stop for Debbie is Vivi Trading in Kinsale on Wednesday 7th.  The shop is hosting two separate events, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, in order to accommodate as many visitors as possible and raise funds for their chosen charity, Kinsale Youth Support Services who work to support young people and promote positive mental health in the local community.  Tickets are €15 each with every cent going to the charity.

Meagan, proprietor of Vivi Trading Co. commented “Debbie Bliss is one of the people I admire most in knitting. She has set a standard with the quality of her wool and yarn products, and for me she is the reference in design and fashion for modern knitwear. I’m personally really looking forward to meeting her and I have to admit I’m particularly honoured that she has chosen my shop from which to host one of her only workshops in Ireland this year,”

For all three stops of the tour Debbie will have a good selection of her knitted garments with her for people to look at and try on and will be talking about her design process, great for all those budding knitwear designers among you.

Quite by coincidence Debbie’s visit coincides nicely with National Knitting Week a UK campaign, with a slogan that’s close to my heart – ‘Commit to Knit for Charity’.

In the past, when we ran the charity knitting campaigns via the shop,  I was amazed by the support these campaigns generated from the local, national and international woolly community, so I have no doubt that most of you will get your needles and your hooks out to show your support.  There are lots of charities that need your support including the Annual Big Knit, many of the Maternity Units up and down the country are usually in need of premature baby knits (contact your local hospital to check first), Feileacain are sadly always in need of blankets.  Knitted/crochet blankets are often wanted by your local animal shelters and community hospitals too, again it’s better to contact these directly to check first.

I’ll get back to you all with more information about the Simon Community Campaign ASAP.

In the meantime, maybe I’ll bump in to you at one of the Debbie Bliss events?

Happy Knitting!

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Charity Knitting

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Since 2015 began I’ve been inundated with questions about our next charity knitting campaign, what it is and how you can get involved.  With lots of you eager to get to work I’m conscious that for now at least, I don’t really have anything in particular planned.

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In part it’s because the Knit Happens Campaign still needs to be completely wrapped up before moving forward.  The ECCR have given me a rough total of the money they have from the campaign and I can happily report that I have lodged €2157.23 in the Knit Happens Credit Union account 🌟 🌟🌟  I hope to be able to pop up a post in the near future with the total amount of money raised, how many stockings we still have left and what we’re going to do with them.

Then there’s all the other stuff to contend with, including my biggest enemy at the moment time ⏰

As it’s unlikely that little ol’ me is going to master the dimensions of time when it will in itself take time, I can do my best to give you some ideas so you can put your needles and hooks to work.

I had heard recently that The Girls Club Cork were after chemo hats and have spoken to Caroline at the service to confirm this.  The Girls Club Cork is a cancer support centre that offers advice, assistance and a good night out to members and their families.  If you’d like to know more about the service and what they do, pop over to their website here.

So Where do you start?

Having typed ‘free knitting patterns for chemotherapy patients’ into the Google search bar, I can happily confirm that there are dozens of them out there for hats.  Many of them on sites dedicated to knitting for charity.

Here are just a few of the ones I’ve discovered.

All Free Knitting  – knitting

Headhuggers – Knitting & Crochet

Bevscountrycottage – knitting & Crochet

Ravelry – knitting & Crochet

There are a few things you need to bare in mind when making hats for chemotherapy patients.

  • The yarn you use has to be soft, heads are sensitive at the best of times.  Baby yarn like Sirdar Snuggly Dk or something similar is ideal.
  • Some people can be allergic to wool, particularly whilst undergoing treatment, so it’s recommended that you use yarn with no wool content what so ever.  Acrylic/nylon are best and cotton hats are fantastic for wearing during the warmer months.
  • Whilst lace hats look pretty, they’re not necessarily the most practical.  I’ve read stories on several sites now from cancer patients that have lost their hair through Chemotherapy.  Most have mentioned that they wear their hats to cover their baldness as well as for warmth.  A solid stitch pattern would be more suitable where possible for this reason, as would a hat longer hat.  One that covers the back of the head like a beanie rather than a beret style would also provide more coverage.
  • Lastly, the hats should be wearable, fun and stylish in order to make the wearer feel less self conscious and warm.  Try to consider colour and style – would you wear it?

You can drop your finished hats off to the centre which is at 26 St. Paul’s Avenue, off Lavitts Quay, Cork (near the entrance to Paul Street Car park).  It’s best to give them a ring to check if they’ll be open, the phone number is  021-4949090.

blankets of hope

In addition to the chemo hats, The Girls Club Cork are also running the Blankets of Hope Campaign.  Their Facebook Page is here and to be honest the poster says everything you need to know so I won’t rattle on.  Having run a similar project in 2013, I can testify that knitting squares an blankets are an ideal way to get involved and to use up your stash.

I’ve had a look around for other campaigns and haven’t really found any that are running at the moment, other than the ones where the deadlines are this month like Knit a Daffodil for Daffodil Day and Age Action Shamrock’s Appeal, so if you know of any please be sure to let me know.

Something worth mentioning is setting up and running your own project for charity.  You could organise a coffee morning and sell knitted and crochet goods, giving the money raised to your chosen appeal.  Another option is to encourage the people in your local area to get involved and organise a community art project.  Ideas including yarn bombing a school, park, street lamp-posts or an event and collecting donations, the possibilities are endless.

I’ve loads of ideas for small, easy knits that are great to get people knitting and small enough to encourage people to part with a Euro or two.  I’ll try and get some time to run up a couple of them and post here, so you can see what I’m on about.

Be sure to let me know if you hear of any other charity in need of bits and bobs.

Happy Knitting!

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And The Winner Is…..

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

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The run up to Christmas was a bit mental here (even more so than usual), but I was organised enough to ask Liz from the East Cork Rapid Response team to draw the winner of the Stocking of the Week.

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Excuse the terrible writing but Jackie Smyth is the winner 🙂

Yesterday Jackie popped into the shop to pick her prize of €100 worth of knitting goodies.

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Jackie picked a couple of projects to work up for herself in beautiful merino and tweed double knit and then lots of odd balls to knit hats and scarves to donate to The Chernobyl Children’s Trust 😀

Happy Knitting!

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There Off and Where You Can Find Them

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

boxes

I’m happy, no throwing cartwheel ecstatic, to report that we’ve done it!

We’ve managed to collect our target 5000 stockings for the Knit Happens Campaign and more 🙂

The stockings have been checked, counted, bagged up into 50’s, (checked twice) and sent out in counter top boxes to the lovely East Cork Rapid Response people to distribute for sale around the East Cork area.

So far you should hopefully be able to find them at the following outlets.

Castlemartyr Resort

Garryvoe Stores

Ladysbridge Post Office

Greengrocer Castlemartyr

Castle Holistic Clinic Castlemartyr

Pobail Scoil na Trionaide Youghal

Cobh Leisure Centre

East Ferry Rowing Club

Robinson Tyres Midleton

Ballymacoda Post Office

Crowleys Youghal

O’sullivans Gortroe

Brodericks Garage Shanagarry

Sammy Revins Butchers Youghal

Read n Write Youghal

Sean Twomey Butcher Youghal

Crees Card Shop Youghal

Castlemartyr Florist

Centra Cloyne

Cloyne Post Office

Youghal Library

Wallis Bar Midleton

Midleton Park Hotel

Results Fitness Midleton

Dr. Morehan Killeagh

Colemans Newsagent Killeagh

Arcade Midleton

McCarthys News Midleton

Well n Good Midleton

4home Midleton

Costcutters Carrigtohill

Dr Dorans Surgery

Centra Carrigtohill

Bramley Lodge

Garveys Supervalu Cobh

Murphys Centra Cobh

Keatings Londis Newtown Cobh

Rosies Aghada

Days Whitegate

Nutrition Club Midleton

Ladysbridge Market

Old Thatch Killeagh

Community Radio Youghal

Big, big, big thanks to everyone involved so far.

We’re still in need of more outlets and would love to hear from any in the East Cork Area that would be happy to sell a few stockings to help raise funds for the East Cork Rapid Response.  If you see the boxes in any of the places mentioned, please take a photo and share it on the Knit Happens Facebook Page so we can give a little nod to all of those supporting the campaign.

In the meantime…..

Happy Knitting!

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It’s A Bit Bonkers Round Ere Of Late, Ain’t It?

LeftFootDaisy3 Comments

Wow!

There has been so much going on lately that I’m struggling a little more than usual to keep up.

On Sunday as I’d mentioned, I went to the RDS for The Knitting & Stitching Show. Unfortunately, for my ever suffering husband, my car decided it really had had enough of driving back and forth on the Dungorney Road.

I feel the need to point out to those of you that won’t be familiar with the afore mentioned road, that I mean ‘road’ in the loosest sense of the word. Imagine a road as smooth as silk, a pleasure to drive, that your car no matter the age, make or model, glides smoothly over.

The road from Lismore (where I live) to The shop in Midleton, is the exact opposite.

So Coni and I headed off in the wee small hours and arrived pretty much as the doors to the hall were opening. As usual there was a right mish mash of vendors, many with yummy woolly, fabricy goodness, lots of papercrafting and embroidery too, but there were quite a few stalls selling everything from clothes to hard skin removers, which as always is a little disappointing.

Happily there were a couple of stalls with new items on them including 2 new Irish companies that caught my eye especially.

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Denise Pinnegar is the woman behind the new Irish business Unravel, which she runs from her studio in Co. Wexford.  Denise has created several knitting and crochet kits which use Irish Yarns, find out more about Unravel here.

The Bead & Button Emporium is the brainchild of Sharon Murphy who has developed a unique collection of hand-crafted jewellery, buttons, beads and more.  Working with polymer clay, Sharon’s wares are beautiful and  imaginative with a little quirkiness thrown in for good measure.  As a fan of all things buttons I’ll certainly be looking into the possibility of becoming a stockist of The Bead & Button Emporium goodies.

The other items I purchased were material for my son to make himself a pair of trousers and some grey denim to make a dress for me.  A hank of beautiful Coolree Yarn to have a little play with, a couple of books to add to my library and the ball of Katia Chevrolet is so I can knit it up an see if I’d like to get it in for the shop.  I also picked up one of the fantastic Latvian Mitten Kits from Hobbywool as they were just to tempting to resist.

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If that wasn’t enough excitement for one week TV3 met us at the shop first thing in the morning yesterday to film a 2 minute piece on our Knit Happens campaign for the lunchtime and evening news.  Lee Ann Flemming a friend and one of our knitting group regulars was persuaded to come along and join me for the filming, bedecked in and rocking her woolly creations (thanks babes).

The cameraman Rory was a genius and really managed to bring out the beauty of the stockings when he zoomed in for the piece and I was really happy with how pretty the shop looked on the film.

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What wasn’t shown on the clip was how much of an ‘accomplished’ knitter Paul Byrne is 😉

 

All of this publicity, on the telly and in the newspapers as fun as it looks, is to try and get our message out there and raise awareness of the very necessary service that is the East Cork Rapid Response.

Today I have 100 flatpacked boxes to get ready for the next stage of our Knit a Stocking Campaign – Selling Them.  

We hope to have the boxes in the shops and business in the East Cork region,  that have agreed to help us raise funds by the end of this week, so keep an eye out for them.  It would be great if some of you could take the time to post on the Knit Happens Facebook Page if you notice one of our boxes.

Tomorrow is the launch night and I have to make a speech – wish me luck.

I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Knitting!

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The Sweat Shop For Knit Happens

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Dina my daughter said to me on Saturday “to be fair mum you never do things by half” and whilst I’m loathed to admit it, she could be right.

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The best thing about taking on a big project like the Knit Happens Knit a Stocking for the East Cork Rapid Response Campaign and the blankets before, is the laugh we manage to have as the countdown begins.  This Saturday was no exception, as my lovely knitting ladies turned up in force to help with the ‘quality control’ aspect of the campaign.

Every stocking that has been handed in so far had to be checked to ensure it was complete.  I’d noticed as they were handed in, that some of the little socks were without hanging loops, or had ones to small to successfully hang on a tree.  We also wanted to separate the novelty stockings, as we’re hoping to try and sell these for €5 each on a ‘Lucky Dip’ basis.

I need to say a big thank you to the following friends, for generously giving up their time on Saturday afternoon only to find themselves squashed into the kitchen with bags and crates of stockings.

Fiona, Lucy, Sadie, Deidre, Martina, Michelle, Shirley, Agnieszka and Lee Ann.

Hopefully, you can tell from the photos that we managed to have a laugh.

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There’s more to sort and we’re hoping they’ll be a good few more stockings handed in too.  In the meantime we managed to get through a good few of them and have checked, counted and re-counted the little stockings into bags of 50.  These will be distributed to the businesses around the East Cork area, that have kindly agreed to try and sell some of them to help the collection for the East Cork Rapid Response.

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81 bags ready to go so far, or to put it another way 4050 little Knit Happens Stockings which we hope will become €8100.

Happy Knitting!

 

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Come Into Our Crochet Garden

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At this stage I have a good few of you plagued with my constant pushing of The Craft Club’s Guinness World Record Yarnbomb attempt in aid of The Little Haven’s Hospice.  If any of you have missed pop over here to my previous post to find out all about it.

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The final project goes on display in the gardens of the hospice on the 25th August so I sent over a shoe box stuffed with items earlier this week  and this photo heavy post is to share the the lovely little items dropped off by some of you and which will contribute to the spectacular efforts of The Craft Club to raise a good few smiles and highlight a very worthy cause.

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Happy Knitting!

(should that be crochet?)

I Did It!

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He’s a little bashful

Despite being in the middle of our Knit Happens charity campaign for the East Cork Rapid Response I thought it was fair to try and get involved with The Craft Club’s Guinness World Record attempt in aid of Little Haven’s Hospice.  See my previous post with all the info here.

The items needed have to be made in crochet to count towards the record and which I must stress, wouldn’t be my strongest skill.  Undeterred I’ve launched right in and am trying my best to rope as many people in as possible.

Last week I posted a link on our Facebook page for the lovely little owl pattern by Rebecca Homick.  This great little pattern is available free on Rebecca’s blog Hopscotch Lane here and despite being billed as a ‘Christmas Tree Ornament’ I think it’s ideal for the hospice garden yarnbomb.

The pattern is clearly written and easy to understand.  One thing I should draw your attention to is that it is in American terminology.  Once you know this though it’s easy to substitute our dc (double crochet) for Rebecca’s sc (single crochet) and our tc (treble crochet) for the patterns dc (double crochet).

I took my time and followed the instructions and used double knit scraps from my stash and a 4mm hook.

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The great thing about the owl is that you stuff it before you finish crocheting so there’s a minimum amount of sewing up needed.

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I was a little worried that his back is a bit untidy, but he’s made in a spiral so it stands to reason that there will be a little ‘jog’ in his stripes.

2014-06-27 11.08.13Eyes, he needs proper eyes and we have the small  black safety eyes in the shop.  They’re a little difficult to put in, but once in they’re not going anywhere.

2014-06-27 11.27.28 So he can see, but he also has to be able to eat, right?

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Absolutely love him and if I can manage then anyone can.

What are you waiting for?

There’s loads of patterns available on Ravelry, many of them are free too.

It’s such a worthwhile cause, come on have a go and crochet something, anything flowery or whimsical.  If you get your finished items into us by Saturday July 12th we’ll even post them too.

Happy Crochet!