Wayyyy too much news

Okay not sure where to start with all the happenings, but I will try:

First off, the lovely and talented Carlene dropped by my house last week, with some fantastic sweaters.  We decided that we had enough stuff to put together some boxes ASAP to ship up to Moosonee, so off we went.  At some point, I received these adorable items that we decided to throw into the box (no label on the bag, came from one of the LYS).  The teddies are actually crochetted.   Bottom line, we shipped 3 more boxes (about 100 pounds) off to Moosonee, just in time for Christmas, yay).

Second thing:  I got an amaazing box from Maddy Rosamond of Waterloo, ON.  Maddy found us on Ravelry and is an INCREDIBLE knitter.  This blanket is fab, also because its huge.

Maddy also made this one

And these hats

But my all-time fave is this baby sweater/hat combo.  Can you not totally see this as a "new baby" gift for someone?  I loooove the yarn.

And just today (Sunday), Lynn W of Toronto, dropped by this beautify lopi sweater.

and these socks PLUS about 20 pairs of new merino socks which will be much appreciated.  Lynn has been part of the Warm Hands team since the beginning, and has a very cute blog called Minding my Own Stitches

Okay, so the third thing I actually forget at the moment, because my brain is getting split between too many things.  Just want to say though that - okay wait, I just remembered the 3rd thing:

Here it is: Kwedzo (rankin inlet) took pictures of the kids wearing your stuff and sent the camera back in the mail.  Its going to Carlene who is going to scan them and post them on the site and the blog and the rav.  I am wayyyy too excited about this.  Way.

Okay back to "Deep thoughts by Anita":  I'm not Christian but I love this season.  One of the Ravellers reminded me that she was busy during festivus.  I laughed out loud  - that is so my family: the airing of grievances, the festivus dinner and the Feats of Strength. 

In spite of all of the above, I love this quote by Max Lucado:
"Were it not for the shepherds, there would have been no reception. And were it not for a group of stargazers, there would have been no gifts."

To all you Warm Hands stargazers knitting and crochetting up a storm: thanks for making this year a little sweeter.

See you in 2012~

Erin of Waterloo and Kwedzo of Rankin Inlet

So last week I received a mystery box from Waterloo.  It contained 4 lovely scarves:

I don't know what the stitch is on this one but I love it.

Then last Friday, I received an email message from Erin McKee of Waterloo.  Mystery solved.  Thanks, Erin.

I also wanted to share a super-sweet note I received from the Executive Director of the daycare in Rankin Inlet.  This year, we shipped over 50 blankets to them, and our US partner, Wool-Aid, committed to making the hats and mittens.  Our goal was to provide a blanket for nap-time at the school, and hats and mittens for each child.  We reached our goal, and the lovely Kwedzo sent us the following message:

Hi Terry & Anita,

 

I want you to know that everything has been received and distributed to all three daycare in Rankin Inlet. Permissions have been sent out to parents for the picture taking and I will send you back the camera as soon as we finish taking the pictures. I can see the happiness in the face of the daycare staff and children when they received the packages. The children will really enjoy having and wearing them. Thank you very much for you donation and it is the first time such an important donation of wool items has been made in Rankin Inlet.

 

Once Again, Thank you,

 

Kwedzo

I have to say, that little note made the whoooole thing worthwhile.

Thank you to our sponsor, First Air and to all you Warm Handers out there!

So the next knitting deadline is roughly Jan 15th.  I'd like to get items up to Moosonee for the end of Jan.  Last year, the temp dipped to -45, and I think they will very much appreciate your great stuff.

Anita 

Yvonne's Moosonee Adventure

First the good news:  Oh my gosh, the house actually is normal again.  A final set of boxes went to Shesatsuit this weekend and it feels quite calm.

Now the slightly less good but nevertheless good news:  Yvonn of Minnesota:  unfortunately I got your box for Moosonee after the shipment went out.  Here's the thing though:  I totally understand that you'd like the items to go there, so I am planning a shipment of gently used winter outerwear in the next 2 weeks.  I am going to include your items in that shipment - hope that's okay!

The pictures are below but I wanted to add an abbreviated version of Yvonn's letter which is so cute:

"This cardi has a special story:

I've started visiting my parents in Europe every year, and so flying from Minneapolis to Amersterdam, I am hooked on watching the plane's route over Canada, Greenland, etc., and I find myself wondering who lives down there and what it looks like, and what their lives are like.  I've noticed that there aren't a lot of spots on the map with names, so figured it was probably not that populated which makes sense for colder climates. 


I've been a member of the Warm Hands Innu Knits group for awhile, although had not yet contributed.  It turns out they now also donate to the town of Moosonee which my route takes me almost directly over.  And how cool would it be to be knitting an item for someone living below while I'm on that plane this time (April 2011 trip)?

And then I made the matching hat on the way back (when the in-flight tracker did work but we took a route much further west, thus not flying over Moosonee).  Okay I will be trying again next year, as I am determined to be knitting for someone in Moosonee while KNOWING I'm flying over it or at least close to it!!!"

Yvonn, I gotta think that when you are knitting directly over a place that is going to source your stuff, there's extra karma in that cardi.  I know you call it the chesapeake baby ballroom cardi but I am christening it the karma cardi.  Thanks so much.

Carlene and Jeanine come over

So Jeanine and Carlene came over and helped open and pack yet more boxes.  Carlene received this beautiful blanket and pair of socks from Jackie Lambert (JCL on Rav) from Washington.

Ellen of Fredricton make these two blankets.  She's the buddy of Janet (bus13knitter).

Janet (bus13) provided us with these beatiful items.  The thing I love about Janet is she knits her stuff, and also keeps the positive vibe going on the Rav group.  J, your buzz helps keep the Warm Hands project alive.

I love this blanket.  You can't tell how big it is but its perfect for a child upto about 10 I would say.  Virginia Thomas of Twinsburg Ohio, you are lovely!

These hats and mittens are also from Janet.  Check out the felted slippers (bottom left corner)

Yet more beautiful blankets from Virginia.  This is two blankies with the same pattern.  Also a kiss to you for sewing the labels in for us.

Carlene smiling as she packs boxes, smiling to herself.  She's picking up socks and mittens from Janet and thinking.

Check out boxes already packed and labelled and ready to go!

And here is Jeanine sewing labels like crazy.

To all of you lovelies (you know who you are), thanks for everything.  I expect to have the boxes at First Air on Friday which means they will likely get to Rankin and Gjoa Haven by mid-October.  Yay!

Knittageddon

My friend Margaret came over today to drop off some great fleece blankets.  She doubled them up when she sewed them, to make them extra warm.  Can you see Knittageddon in the background?  I am sure that there are well over 500 knitted and crochetted items in my dining room/living room/hallway right now.

This sweater and hats, as well as the mittens and hats below are from Claudette of Ottawa.  I got 4 garbage bags from Claudette (more than 20 blankets alone).  Kudos, Claudette!

Here is a sample of Claudette's blankets

And yet more.  I told you she is prolific.

And yet another bag of Claudette's goodies that I opened up (along with the socks below).

The above 3 crochetted blankets are so cheerful you wouldn't believe it.  The camera doesn't do them justice.  They come from Anita Edmonds of Asheville, NC.

Suzanne Atkinson (aka Suzanneknitter) is one of our charter members.  She is incredible because not only does she do her own knitting, she coordinates the knitting of others.  I love the square pattern on this blanket.  Its so pretty. 

These are the same pattern but a bevy of colours (also ms Suzanne's work).

Here is something that Annemarie of New York knit as squares then assembled (WAYYYY neater than my assembly, I might add).

And finallly this from V Thomas of Twinsburg Ohio -3 blankets.  V, I do have your other box as well but I have not opened it yet (I need to get some boxes off to Moosonee before I open up even one more thing).  Thanks everyone!!

 

Shipping advice

I was talking with the friendly folks at UPS this week. If you are shipping to us from outside canada, please try and keep the shipments less than $20 value, and label them as gifts. This saves us the costs for duty and handling at the border. I was also in touch with our contact in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, and they are excited a shipment is coming their way. Word travels fast in a small community like Gjoa. It's already dipping below freezing there, so warm things are needed! Thanks to all of you crocheters and knitters out there, Amy

We Made It!!

So Jeanine came knocking on my door with Jean-Claude and boxes, and bags.

She opened the box and SHAZAM!  13 blankets, all machine-washable for the Rankin Inlet Project.  Okay, so remember, there are 67 kids in daycare.  We had 44 in the last post, add in Jeanine's stuff and we get 57.

Jeanine calls this her kool-aid blanket.  She hand-dyed it and its sooo cute.

Trinny is admiring one of Jeanine's blankets.  We named it "fall colours".

Then we started open the additional bags she sent in.  Here are a series of Jeanine's hats.

And her mittens - my favorites are the light blue (azur? topaz?)

the socks are extra thick - great for long cold nights.  Right now we are talking about shipping these ones to Moosonee.

Jeanine made this sweaters for the Sheshatsuit campaign.  They asked for sweaters, and ms J delivers.

Awwwww duckies.  Can you not totally picture a baby loving this blanket?  It comes from Diane Suzak and is going to Rankin (okay so that is #58.  Will we make our blanket target?  Is the suspense killing you?).

Diane, thank you so much for the sweaters for the Sheshatsuit campaign!  Jeanine and I were talking about how this one is great for an older person, because its soft, and a cardie.

And even more sweaters from Diane.

My favorite from Diane.  I love the border on the bottom.

Frieda Pelletier from Chateauguay Quebec sent in these gems.

She also made the cutest labels for her socks.

And the mittens too.  Thank you so much Frieda and thank you for your sweet note!  

Still in suspense?  Okay so we also received an additional 4 blankets from the Royal Canadian Legion (thank you folks, please let me know if you are on ravelry so we can connect), and Fibre to the World, the fabulous group of AT and T knitters are sending 10 blankets directly to the community so that makes (drum roll please) 68 blankets.  Yay!  In addition (now I'm just bragging), we're expecting to get at least another 10 in from various shipments, plus Marie-Claude, plus Suzanne.  In my dream-world, we actually send extras to Rankin to accomodate the fact that new kiddies are arriving all the time.  PLUS we also send a critical mass of blankets for the program in Gjoa Haven.  I have no doubt now that we'll be able to do both!  Yay!

C'mon Carlene, it'll be fun to sew 2000 labels!

So here, Carlene arrives at my house at 6pm to drop off blankets.  I am very happy to say that we've got 40 machine washable boxed for the Rankin Inlet Daycares.  Now, our target is 67, so if anyone out there has some handwashable blankets ready, please fire them to us by September 30th, and we will be thrilled to include them in the shipment.

And here is Carlene's insane contribution of stuff.  The blankets almost block our windows, the pile is so high.  Also, I just start to say, "Carlene, how about you stay and we get a head start on the tag sewing for the hand wash stuff?". 

And here is a picture of my favorite Carlene creation.  I loooove the colours, and the blanket is huge. 

This contribution is from KaffeKaren for Rankin Inlet.

And these are from Jenny Two Hands - Carlene tells me that people like the circular blankets for strollers because nothing gets dragged on the ground. 

Jenny's hats and mittens

plus two great Jenny vests.

This one is from Bonnie Bélanger - very pretty beehive.

▲

The picture above and all the pix below are from the Purple Sock Posse in Coldwater (thank you ladies!)

And here we are at 9:30 still sewing labels (thank you Amy and Carlene for a great evening!).  So we've got one more night of packing to go, I think (Jeanine and Suzanne, get your needles ready, 'cause we'll be sewing up a storm).  This time around boxes are going to Labrador, Moosonee, Gjoa Haven and Rankin Inlet.  To all of the knitters and crochetters who have put so much time, energy and love into the items that we have received, thank you for making this a great Warm Hands season.