Post #2 Corine and Chococupcakegirl

Hey, my cousin Ritu is here right now, helping me take pictures of this stage. Okay here are a bunch of pictures. The first two are from Michelle of Montreal, aka chococupcake girl. Cupcake (can I call you cupcake?), made these gorgeous sweaters. What yarn is it? Can you tell me where you got the pattern for the first one.

And below are some beauties from Corinne from Lachine. I took a separate picture of the mitties because they were so cute and warm (okay, I tried them on, I admit it).

Post #3 - Brandon and Scarborough

Above is something sweet I got in the mail from S Schira of Brandon MB. S, thanks for your note on the back of the package - it made me smile.

Lynne is our technical wizard - she redesigned our logo last year, and continuously fiddles with our graphics on Ravelry to make them brighter and better. Renaissance girl that she is, she also knits: so here are her socks and hats. Thanks, Lynn!

What do Fort Collins Colorado and Merritt BC have in Common?

You were going to say mountains, right? I'll tell you what they have in common: they are the homes of fabulous knitters. Check out these hats from Merritt.

And what about the beautiful blanket and vests from Joan Briar of Colorado? They are extra warm and cuddly. Joan, we got it, and there was no customs charge - very crafty of you to put a value of $5 on there, even though I know your stuff is priceless.

We also picked up a wack of stuff from Wool 'n' Things in Ottawa. I really love those guys. The lovely Gisele has also said that she's willing to keep on collecting after the January date. Yay Gisele!

Unfortunately, I see no nametags in the stuff dropped off to Wool 'n' Things, but I wanted to show you the amazing blanket that some beautiful, generous knitter put together, above.

So how were your holidays? We have fun in sunny California with the extended fandamily. We have a saying: "if nobody cries, it ain't Christmas". Christmas day went something like this:

Anita (to her 4 year old niece, Jasmine): Jasmine, please take that penny out of your mouth.

Jasmine: No.

Anita: Please, I don't want you to choke.

Jasmine: Why do I have to take it out?

Anita: Because if you swallow it, that's it. No more Jasmine.

Jasmine: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (then wets her pants).

New holiday saying: "If Anita doesn't clean pee off the floor, it ain't Christmas.".

Hope your holidays were swell. Best wishes to all of our Warm Hands partners in the New Year!

Thanks Erica

This a picture of the lovely and talented Erica Bregman. She started a project, through Jewish Family Services to collect warm coats and boots for the Innu and Metis in Northern Labrador. Read about it here.

So we called Erica and said, "hey, can we slip some boxes into your shipment? "Sure!" she said, and our stuff made it! 40 pounds of your hand-knit mittens, hats, blankets and sweaters will be distributed through the Labrador Friendship Centre to Innu and Metis in need. It is already on trucks and on its way. Thanks, guys. What a great Christmas present!

Other news: since we were able to get a shipment off so quickly, we are postponing our next shipping deadline to January 31st. Happy knitting!

Damn that flu

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to post a note and let you know that I talked to the community this morning. The boxes have been opened and partially distributed. One of the ladies tells me that one woman came in with 6 of her 14 (!!?!) children and they fitted her kiddies up well for the cooold winter.

Right now, they are distributing items as kids come into the public health clinic, however they have been a bit delayed because they’ve been hit by H1N1 and are undertaking a mass immunization over the next couple of weeks. I’ll let you know when I hear more.

In the meantime, we’re talking to an Inuit community organization here in town. They are very interested in having us ship some stuff to their northern kids, however we’re trying to figure out how the shipping might work. They’re going to see if they can work out the shipping themselves and get back to us. Cross your fingers…

Hope you're all still healthy!

Back to Montreal

Yet another picture. We still look like we're wearing comfortable shoes, sigh. I swear we've got stilletto's on - you just can't see them. Okay, this is us tonight in box-packing mode. Its all hands on deck for this one. The blankets you see on the left and the bottom are beautiful crochet by Carlene of Carp (carleneruns) - Carlene, we so loved your crochet stuff - soft like anything. Can you post on the hat pattern?

And we keep on packin'. I packed everything, then Amy opened the boxes and repacked, and was able to squish in even more stuff. We squished and we squeeeeeezed, and we taped then taped again to make sure that we could get as much as we could in. See the boots on the bottom? There are 30 pairs stuffed with socks and mittens and hats, and wrapped inside blankets and sweaters and vests...

The last box that came in the mail this week was from - believe it or not - Happy Valley Labrador! Kelly, aka hoodlumknits, put together some sweet little things. We love Kelly because she's always posting and giving us the skinny on the weather and conditions in Labrador. Thanks, hoodlum for being our connection in the 'hood.

And big boxes in Amy's van. Now that we're on our way, I can let you in on our little soap opera. Two weeks ago, I called Morris, our star at Air Labrador. The conversation went like this:

Anita: "Morris, we're ready to ship to Labrador. Same deal as always?"

Morris: "Sure. Where are you going to ship from?"

Anita: "Montreal, same as usual".

Morris: "That's great, and we'll take the stuff from Goose Bay on, but how is it getting to Goose Bay?"

Anita: "Morris, my geography is bad. When I say Labrador, I mean Goose Bay."

Morris: "Yeah, I know. How is the stuff getting to Goose Bay?".

Anita: "Who's on first?".

Bottom line: Air Labrador no longer ships from Quebec to Labrador. The good news is that Ed Fude of Provincial Airlines has stepped in on this shipment. Guess how much stuff they are shipping.

An unbelieveable 200 pounds. That's how much those four boxes weigh.

So tomorrow afternoon, we drive Ottawa-Montreal, drop off the shipment, and drive back - home by dinner, I hope.

As for the December shipment - we've got lots of coals in the fire - we're just working on the best approach to get the stuff to the northern communities. Do you want to hear the dramatic play by play, or just the outcome once its all resolved?

Guys, from our hearts to yours - thank you so so much for taking the time out of your lives to put together all of the beautiful things that are going to the Innu kids - you're warming them, and letting know that they matter. What a gift.

Patricia of Toronto

Here are some great socks that Patricia sent in. I did a close-up of my favorite pair. Patricia, we are packing like crazy and will get these in the boxes.

Thanks!

Anita