OUTREACH PROJECTS

We will never give you a per-item account of items made or distributed, nor do we keep count. For us it is not a numbers game but a matter of the outreach of our hearts. I encourage everyone to find projects important to their home areas or of special interests to themselves. I try to tithe with my knitting project with one in ten going to some outreach program.

• TROOPS NEED KNITTERS AND CROCHETERS - There is a long tradition in the U.S. that knitters are needed to supply troops with warm items. Now knitters are needed to supply wool caps for our troops. U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Korea, as well as many parts of the United States, are exposed to winds and bitter cold during the winter months. Riding in open trucks and humvees, they often encounter sub-zero wind chills. The military head gear issued to our troops is made of synthetic material which is not as warm as wool. Just as in WWI and WWII, volunteer knitters and crocheters are needed to make these wool caps for our troops. Volunteers are needed now to knit or crochet these wool caps for next winter. The wool knitted head covering which can be worn under the Kevlar helmet provides warmth to the head and neck but does not restrict vision.
  According to Dr. Richard H. Garretson, Crossroads Community Hospital, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, approximately 30 percent of a person’s body heat loss is through the head. It is important to keep the head warm, so the body temperature stays up. The brain controls everything else in the body, the ability to think and act as well as the ability for the body to maintain a particular temperature. Playing With Yarn in Knife River is serving as a collection point for knitted liners. Anyone interested in knitting liners can contact Playing With Yarn for the knit or crochet pattern or go into www.geocities.com/helmetliner for the patterns. Playing With Yarn will also serve as a drop-off center for finished items and will forward them to Helmetliner. You can call Playing With Yarn at 218-834-5967 for more information.

• Visit www.silentwitness.net/sub/Shelias_shawls.htm for the website that: Promotes peace, healing and responsibility in adult relationships in order to eliminate domestic murders in the United States by the year 2010.

• We still collect hats, mittens etc for Lake County and we have increased our distribution beyond the Salvation Army to include the Visiting Home Health Care Nurses. They get into many homes where they see a need and can get things to people quickly.

• The Chemocaps are such a popular program and the need is so great. And we still have free patterns for chemocaps. http://www.knitlist.com/98gift/chinchillahat.htm is the link to the most popular pattern. If you haven’t access to a computer, we will send you the pattern.

• Pippi has increased her Gruffle Ball project. Besides donating them to Animal Allies, we are sending them to United Yorkie Rescue. These little crocheted balls are given to small dogs and cats awaiting their ‘forever’ homes and they then have a familiar toy to bring with them into their new home. www.unitedyorkierescue.org is the link to United Yorkie Rescue. If you click onto Buffy you will see a picture of Mom with her new Yorkie, Buffy. The pattern is on our new Otreach page at the website or we will send you one.

Gruffle Balls                 
I use regular worsted yarn for the bigger (4") balls and baby yarn for the smaller (2"-3") balls. Use the appropriate sized hook. Or whatever yarn that I can find.

1. Chain 5 - join with slip-stitch to make a circle.

2. Chain 3 - counts as 1st double-crochet (dc).

3. Make as many dc as you can inside the circle - approximately 70-90, or whatever you can fit it. This first round will be all ruffly. Join to top of 1st chain 3.

4. Chain 3 - counts as 1st dc.

5. Put 4 dc in same stitch as the chain3.

6. Put 4 dc in each dc on first round. Join to top of 1st chain-3 on this round.

7. Tie off and hide ends.

8. VOILA! GRRRRRRRRRUFFLE BALL!!

These are very, very simple and only take about a half hour to make.

We are still collecting needles and yarns to make available to youth groups learning to knit. We are now asking them to donate a knit or crochet square to be used in a blanket that will be donated to a charity. This way they will be ‘paying’ something for their tools and yarn. We invite others to knit or crochet a square or a strip and bring them to us. We’ll sew them into a blanket and see that they get to someone who needs them.

The basket with a Healing Shawl always sits near the back door. Everyone is invited to sit and add a couple of rows. When one shawl is done, we give it to someone we know who needs one and start another. I take a shawl in my purse to work on in Church. More information on the Healing Shawl project can be found at www.shawlministry.com.

The Monday Night Group has started their own project. They have a jar for loose change and by next Christmas they hope to have $500 to purchase a Yarn Basket from the Heifer Project. The Yarn Basket consists of 2 sheep and 2 llamas. The jar is on the checkout desk, if you want to help. For more on these projects, visit the Outreach page on our web site. We hope to add linkstars to other projects there and keep track of our special ones.

The Knitting World Attacks Breast Cancer

Sometime ago The National Craft Council and The National Needlework Assoc. decided to join in a huge effort to raise funds for breast cancer education and research. Among the many ways that we are participating is the ‘Knit For Her Cure’ project.  Knit For Her Cure has partnered with Muench Yarns & Buttons. The objective of this partnership is to serve as a catalyst and rallying point for encouraging knitters to join in the fight against women's cancers.

The program is a multifaceted promotional effort that gives those with a passion for knitting and a heart for helping an opportunity to support women in their community who are coping with cancer in a way that will lift their spirits. The initiative also provides hope by contributing 100% of its net profit to women's cancer research.

The program inspires women to purchase and knit soft, comforting scarves to be gifted to women with cancer in their community. It's like sending a big warm hug to someone who really needs it. Whether kits are purchased to be given to a friend or loved one with cancer, donated to a shop's Knit For Her Cure distribution effort, or worn personally, their purchase will help to fund much needed research. Each scarf kit includes designer patterns and gift tags. Designers include: Suss Cousins, Nicky Epstein, Melanie Falick, Melissa Leapman, Sally Melville, and Lisa Daniels.