For kids in Lesotho

Recently my office started to look like a warehouse with boxes filled with beautiful hand knitted items for our Lesotho campaign. Here is what went out so far; a stunning 209 items:

Thank you to all the wonderful crafters:

On ravelry: Hularac, Hulagirl, Caitysmom,  Sharon F., heibruck, Olaknits, kathleen01, K4U, jmr71156, Barnie, cecilia1, butterbee, JCL, Relaxingcrafting, kathb, campingknitter, BethMizuno, sa3p, nantsyjane, maggieknitty, dobiegirl, blueraven, Laughingwolf, IndyPurl, Jam, kathleenknits, Sophia77                                                                                             Fiber to the World (Atlanta chapter): 

Kim,  Brenda, Karen, Jan A., Jan G., Zern,                                                                                           Fiber to the World (DC chapter): 

Valine , Myra, Darlene,  Mary, Ada, Valerie, Hagi, Cheryl, Inan, Anonymos 

We will keep knitting for Lesotho with the emphasis socks, toddler sweaters and some hats!

I'll keep you updated.

  

Hat Blitz for Lesotho

Let’s try how many hats we can get together for the Lesotho campaign in the short time to the deadline February 15th.
I strongly believe in group efforts. Every contribution counts concerning that every child which will receive a hat will be very happy about this special gift and stay a little warmer during the winter time. So many kids have to work outside in poor clothing. The hats will make such a difference

This is how it works:

• Make hats and send them to me
• For every hat I get I will put your name in a drawing for a give away of 4 prices. 

These handyed yarns from Mountain Colors have been donated by Sandee, owner of Yarns With A Twist, and Sue one of her customers. One skeins of these and a little surprise will be a give away price.

• In case you make socks you will be part of the drawing too.
• Read about the Lesotho Campaign here

Please use yarn which is mainly wool or animal fiber. These fibers keep warm even when wet. The kids who have to be out in the weather will appreciate this…

Let the fun begin!!!

We received more beautiful hats and socks for the shelters in Maine right on time when we shipped out the packages:

            
Thank you Jan!

For now the need for hats and mittens of the shelters we helped are met for now thanks to the generous support of the knitters from HFW! Thank you to all!
We will focus right now on the Lesotho campaign.

Charity Knitting Pattern 1

Kathleen Thomas, a designer from Maine, allowed us to post her free patterns on the blog.
Her patterns have been used for charity knitting many times and are easy to follow!
Here are the first 2 patterns:

CENTER CABLE VEST

download now

download now

Call for hats for Lesotho

Through my friend Helen who joined me on my last delivery trip in Maine, I got a urgent call for hats, scarves and sweaters for people in the highlands in Lesotho from friends of her, Pam & Steve Hill, who are going to bring warm items to rural areas in the highlands.

This is what they wrote in an email I got from them:

The hats will be taken to the rural poor in the mountains of Lesotho. Winter starts in May here. We are making a trip up in March to take blankets, hats and scarves. The people live in round stone and mud huts with thatched roofs. It is cold in the winter due to the altitude and distance from the equator. We get snow and very cold nights. The hats will be a big help to the poor who can’t afford them.

Here are some interesting facts about Lesotho:

Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, completely surrounded by its only neighboring country, the Republic of South Africa. It is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) in elevation.Its lowest point of 1,400 metres (4,593 ft) is thus the highest in the world. Over 80% of the country lies above 1,800 metres (5,906 ft). Winters can be cold with the lowlands getting down to −7 °C (19 °F) and the highlands to −18 °C (−0 °F) at times. Snow is common in the highlands between May and September; the higher peaks can experience snowfalls year-round. About 40% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 a day.

A lot of the hats will go to herdboys in the highlands of Lesotho. They are young boys who are sent out with the animals to watch them. In the winter there it’s a though because of the cold. A lot of them feel lonely too.

Need:

• Hats
• Scarves
• Sweaters

They don’t have to be machine washable!

All the items have to be at my address on the 13th of February or before. I will ship the items out in smaller packages to avoid huge custom costs.

Going to get the mail is so much fun recently. The last few days I got following items for the new lesotho campaign and for the shelters in Maine

Thank you Jackie, Karin and Kathleen! These warm treasures will find a good home and make someone happy.

It's so much fun....

to open packages with cute and beautiful handcrafted items for our campaigns.
These hats, mittens and socks will make kids in Maine happy:

Thank you CC!

Thank you Carol!

Thank you Bernadette!

Happy New Year

This year started already with some wonderful donations for the Family Center in Maine.

made by Bernadette. Thank you!

Made by Sybille. Thank you!

We will keep on knitting for Shelters in Maine. Federal cuts make the situation for people in Maine even harder. A lot of people have problems to heat their houses in the brutally cold winters. It's hard to keep the pipes from freezing...... Here is an interesting article about this from the New York Times. We need hats, mittens, socks........... if you have questions please send an email to heartsforwarmth at gmail dot com. With your help the new year might start a little brighter for some people!

Joyful Time 2

After the nice time at the Wilton school we drove up to Farmington to meet two of our generous knitters for lunch; another high light for me. This was my first "blind date" so to speak, since I only knew them through the ravelry Hearts for Warmth group.

 Donna with one of her creations!  ;-) 

Kathleen and Donna contributed a lot of beautiful hats and mittens through ravelry. Donna, brought 6 more hats for me to take to the Family Support Center in Lewiston. What a nice surprise.

Unfortunately time flies by if you are having fun and we had to say "Auf Wiedersehn" way to soon.

Oh, I almost forgot: I had to buy some yarn at the local lovely yarn shop Needles & Pins. Not that I was forced....... it's just tempting to be in a store like this. 

Tuesday morning we were able to visit the Hope House, Family Support Center in Lewiston.

They Family  help parents and their children in need which see themselves facing overwhelming circumstances like, homelessness, poverty, divorce, drug or alcohol dependency, immigration problems…..

They help with different services, like parenting classes, counseling as well as clothing food and shelter.  The founders Bruce and Jan Willson  pour their heart and live into the center to meet the need of people who are having a hard time. No matter what religion, race or circumstances their clients come from they are respected and loved by them and their volunteers. 

They loved our items! They have a lot of struggling single moms visiting their center who are able to get clothing through their "Bearly Used" second hand boutique. Just recently they have also refugees from Somalia among their clients. Coming from Africa they struggle with the cold Maine winters in addition to the lack of resources to buy warm clothes.

This picture is symbolic for the spirit of this center. They have a open door and heart for people in need. We enjoyed to be invited into their house and get to know them better.

Thanks also to Dale, the husband of my friend Helen, who drove us with his van; a huge help!!