So Many Boxes and a Fundraiser

This one came from Markham Ontario.  Markham, who are you?

Okay, forgive me.  There are a mountain of boxes and envelopes to open right now - everything is beautiful and though I know that we will collectively ooh and ahh on packing night, because time is of the essence, I'm just going to post photos and creds - I love them all! 

Now before I go off on a tangent (or maybe I'm doing that now...), I just want to draw your attention to a blog called My Knitting Basket.  The gorgeous Sabrina (hint, some of her stuff is here),  is running a fund-raiser.  She's hoping to get $120.00 in Canadian Tire money.  Now let me tell you, CT $ is like gold to Warm Hands.  No wait, its better than gold:  its boots.  We're going to use the CT money to buy some boots for the kids.  Boots and hand-knit socks make the most incredible gift to a Northern child.  Its like saying, "I care that your feet are warm and dry.  You are important."  So Sabrina will gladly take your CT bucks, and next September, you'll be sending a great message to a Northern kid.

Close-up of Markham's hat because I loved the label.

These two are from Wendy Lindquist of Jersey City.  Wendy, thank you!  These are perfect for a 5-6 year old.

And this arty photo is captioned:  "17 hats and 2 socks".  The address was Waterloo but the name is a mystery...

Two pairs of socks from Vivienne Shishkakly (Muffy) of St. Lazare QC.  This is not Vivienne's first time giving to Warm Hands.  Thanks for coming back, Muffy!

Pile'o' socks from Kathleen Walling of Bedford NS (Kathleen01 on rav).  I liked the turn of the heel so much that I took a close-up, below.  Thank you, K!

Bonnie Belanger is also a Warm Hands vet - Bonnie, everything was bagged and labeled - rather than pull things out and mix them up, I just took out one item, the neckwarmer, being worn by our spokesmodel, above.

Tons of hats, contributed by the lovely Sabrina of Mississauga.  Sabrina has a whole knitting collective producing for her.

And finally more hats by Muffy.  Thanks again everyone!

Lots of Stuff...

Okay, so many things to say!

First of all, I just got a note from Hannah Qirqutt, our community liaison in Gjoa Haven.  Once again, it looks like it took some time for the stuff to arrive.  First Air is amazing, but they can't do anything about those crazy blizzards.  Here's her note:

Dearest Anita,

 

I have received your 4 boxes and am very thankful for our community and I am ever grateful that I had signed up for our community to receive these donations!

As our community is finally back in their workplaces this week, I will pass the boxes on to our Mom & Tots workers who will distribute the items to the needy.

Once again Thank you from our community.

Have a blessed New Year Anita.

 

Hannah Q

Cute, eh?

Okay, next thing:  looks like Vogue Knitting wrote an article about all of you Warm Hands knitters.  Haven't seen it myself, but Carlene and Amy did and they said it was mighty thrilling.

Here are some items that came in the mail in December (my apologies for the delay in posting the photos!).  This means that I am all caught up though which is good news:

We got a gaggle of hats from the knitters at the Valleyview Bible Church in Kamloops BC.  Thanks Valleyview.

Kathryn Riosa of Charlottesville made this little blazer.  My boy inserted the candy cane for a little additional flash.

This hat and neck-warmer came from Kathleen Sullivan of Pleasant Hill Indiana.

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And these warm socks and mitts came from Kathleen as well.  Love the woolies from our Southern neighbours!

The blankets plus the hats and socks included in the pix below come from M Rosamond of Waterloo Ontario.  Thanks M!

And finally, kind of a non sequitur but kind of not:  I took a trip to India this Christmas.  It was exhilerating, terrifying, humbling, humorous, a little gross and life-changing, usually all in the same 30 seconds.  When I got back, I wanted to keep the sweet feeling alive so I became a bank for Kiva who I have always loved but never loaned with (partnered with? loaned to? not sure of the correct term.  But I digress:  point being, there is a group of women looking for a loan so that they can buy local yarn and weave it then sell the stuff.  How cool is that?  Women and business:  good.  Yarn: good.  Shopping: good.  Its all good.

Remember Margaret?  She's my friend who came back from dropping off our knitted stuff in person to the daycare in Rankin Inlet.  Toy knitters: be assured that your little doodads are now in the appreciative tiny hands of the toddlers of Rankin Inlet.  Margaret was recently in Costa Rica and she told me about an organization called Not Just Tourists.  Here's what happened: Margaret picked up a suitcase of medical supplies (bandages and stuff) and delivered them to a public clinic in Costa Rica - this is stuff that is not available or cost-prohibitive in the local economy, but is surplus in Canada.  I love it!  Wish I had known about it before going to India.  Not Just Tourist don't want your money - they thrive on donations in kind (bandages, etc and your free luggage space when you travel).  I'll just put a shout-out and mention that one thing that they do appreciate receiving are suitcases that you no longer want - they can be used to carry the items, and the suitcases are also donated to the clinics for future use.  Another win-win-win.

So last of all: let me wish all of you Warm Handers a 2013 that is a bit like my trip to India:  exhilerating, terrifying, humbling, humorous, a little gross, and life-changing.  Its all good.

Love,

Anita