The Kiwanis, Pizza, Cake and Packing

The Executive Committee (I dubbed them that on Friday - sounds much better than "the ladies who pack") came over last Friday and eyes boggled when we put together the piles and piles and piles of stuff we got since January (January!).  I'm going to show you the finished product first (I think Suzanne is standing on a chair in the back).  From left to right its yours truly, Suzanne (suzanneknitter), Carlene (Carleneruns), Claire, and Jeanine (douceaubergine).  They were like machines, photographing, sorting, boxing.  I will say that after 6 years of this (I think its been that long, as a group), we've kind of got it down.  There's very little conversation about what goes where anymore - its more catching up as hands and legs move around my main floor, grouping and packing.

Claire is a relative (2 years?) baby to the process, but man we love that girl.  She's does it all - bagpiping, traveling, fund-raising, and yet finds time to come over and build 11 boxes, pack hats and mittens, pile and organize and keep up on the conversation.

What a great way to spend a Friday night.

Lots to say so I'm going to keep things very short and sweet:

1. The boxes were packed for both Arviat (the school will distribute) and Cape Dorset (the Justice Committee will coordinate distribution).  As soon as I hear back from either, I will be sure to post.

2. Needless to say, this was our biggest shipment ever.  First Air has been incredibly generous, but the size of our shipment has been so big this time, that there is no way we could request 100% sponsorship.  To give you an idea, I dropped off just 5 of those boxes at First Air Cargo today and the total weight was 116 pounds.  

This month I went to speak with the Kiwanis of Orleans who presented us with a wonderful cheque to help with shipping.  What this means is that we are able to ship all of the boxes to Cape Dorset and Arviat right away.  Can you see kids smiling, wearing new sweaters, lap blankets on elders, hats on preschoolers?  Yeah, me too.  What would we do without First Air and the Kiwanis?

3. Lots of other stuff going on: we've got another shipment targeted for Iqaluit in June - stuff will be going up with the Doctors again.  As soon as I get some dates, I'll let you know.

4. We're going to do another campaign called Tyler's Hats.  I'll post more about this later, but if you're looking at your stash, here are the high level deets:

We'd love for hats to be made using purple or blue yarn as the main colours (you can add any other colours you want as accents).  The hats will go to a community to honour a special young man who passed away far too soon and is the grandson of one of our stalwart contributors.  His eyes were blue and his favourite colour was purple.  He was special and important, and it would be like you were knitting and crocheting on his behalf for some great kids.

Okay, the comments below are going to be short and sweet today.  Please know that as we opened your boxes on Friday, we passed around your lovely hand knits, tried them on (yes we do that sometimes) and marvelled at the details.  The brevity of my comments by no means reflects the level of appreciation of your lovelies. 

Here we go now:

Claudette (Marie-Claude on Rav) is a wonderful and consistent contributor.  Suzanne brought in her items.  Everything she makes is thick, if you know what I mean.  We love thick.

Also by Claudette.

Sweater by Claudette, that will be loved by a five-year old.

Warm warm warm balaclavas by Claudette.

Claudette's neck-warmers.

Claudette's blankets.  I think I'm standing on a chair for this picture.

Um Claudette: this is what I made in the same time that it took for you to make all of the above.  Its a neck-warmer and I had to photograph it with a zoom.

These hats were dropped for by Jenny at Wool 'n' Things.  Clare met Jenny on a First Air flight to Bahamas (did I get that right Clare?).  They were reading the inflight magazine and Warm Hands was in it.  Somehow Clare wound up talking to the knitter, and it turns out she was knitting for us.  The world is way too small, is all I can say.

"Belleshaw" from Creemore Ontario made this beautiful woven blanket.  Belleshaw if your out there and reading this, I'd love to hear more!

Cathy Kihle of Sarnia Ontario, thank you for these great mittens and socks!

Jeremy!  How much do we love Jeremy!  He is our graphic designer.  Jeremy I hope you can tell from all of the pictures above that lots of people are using your labels.  Thank you!

Pat McCue (Wlspner on Rav) from DesMoines Iowa made the four pairs of socks and woven blanket above.  I particularly love the striped socks - very cool pattern to them.

Suzanne (Suzanneknitter on rav) - what can I say.  How much do we love this woman?  Much.

These two vests and the hat were made by Mary Gannon, a friend of Suzanne's respectively.

These blankets were dropped off at Wool 'n' Things.  We don't know who made them but we love them.

Jeanine brought these blankets.  They were created by Anna Bing from Morrisburg Ontario.  Anna says she's never done socks before.    Check out the socks she made below.  Anna, just so you know, the Executive Committee agreed: you are a total sock knitter.  PS love the red and white sweater.

These items were contributed by the lovely douceaubergine, who also contributed the yummy cake to Friday night.  You can always count on Jeanine to knit up a storm, and I don't know how she does it because I know we're not her only project.

This photo does not do these blankets justice.  These six woven blankets were made by Jeanine as well.  They are stunning.  

Hats from the Ottawa Knitting Guild.  Thanks, OKG!

Suzanne and Debbie made these brown blankets. Beautiful and warm.

Rebecca in Ottawa, thank you for the baby mittens, and for using Jeremy's tags!

Wentheknitter, thank you so much for the lovely contribution!  We tried on the giant hats - they are very comfortable.

These mittens are from Merilyn from the Spinning Guild.  Thanks, Merilyn.

JCL on Ravelry, aka Jackie Lambert from Washington made these socks and mittens.  We love Jackie - she's a regular!

Five hats made by Kathy Tobin of Montreal, QC.  Thanks, Kathy!

 And the last of the pictures are cameo appearances made by all of the items you lovely people have sent in since January.  Can you spot your stuff in the piles?