People are Good - Books and Knitting

I hope that everyone's holidays were filled with food, wine, sleep and laughter - I spent most of it with family but also managed to sneak in some reading time.  Right now I'm reading Dan Brown's Inferno - all of Brown's books are near-apocalyptic, describing global problems that are in his mind, unsolvable.  He loves looking into the heart of e-vil (pinky to corner of mouth) because I guess that sells more than the fundamental truth:
The vast majority of people are good, and doing their very best with the skills and resources that they have - we are all looking for the same thing: a sense of value, however you define it.

Okay enough deep thoughts from Anita - on to greater things.  I have 3 things on the agenda today.

1.  Remember my friend Margaret?  She of the mystery-booties from the last posting?  My friend Seetal hooked me up with a literacy coordinator in Moose Factory, who then hooked up with Margaret.  Margaret took this on as a personal project and has done spectacular things - she has coordinated the shipment of 1350 pounds of books to the community which are used in book camps, after school programs and for other stuff.  There is no real community library so this is kind of huge.  The challenge is always to ensure that the books are the ones that the kids there want to read and make sense - in the words of the coordinator there, no point sending BabySitter Club or Olson Twins books to these communities as this is not their reality.  The big hits seem to be non-fiction, books about animals, books with aboriginal relevance.  Here are Margaret's words:

Books for students along James Bay

As a reader of The Warm Hands Network blog, you may know that Anita identified a need for children's books and established a contact with the literacy specialist at the school board serving Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Albany and Moose Factory.  These First Nations communities are located in Northern Ontario along the James Bay coast.  There is no road access to these small communities; Moose Factory has rail access but all the rest are fly-in only, most of the year. 

This post is to bring The Warm Hands Network up to date with the events of 2013. 

I’m a friend, neighbour and former co-worker with Anita who got involved when I found a few nature books at my local library book sale.   From my first box to send to Vicki Von Zuben at Omushkego Education Authority in early June 2013, the book campaign has grown more than I ever imagined.

I was at a major book sale in June and the light bulb went on -   when the sale closes, all these books need to go somewhere !!  I explained how the books would be used and the organizers gave me all the children's books at the end of the sale.  So I went from intending to buy a few books at 2 pm to having a truckload of books at 4 pm.  (Big surprise for my husband).   

Through various contacts here in Ottawa including: literacy specific books from the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library; buying at thrift shops; donations after book sales; a book drive by the Nepean Girl Guides; and donations from individual families, the grand total for 2013 is 42 boxes and 1350 lbs of books sent to schools along James Bay plus 7 boxes shared here in Ottawa.  

TD Bank has agreed to donate $1300 to cover the shipping costs for 2013. 

Everyone I've met has been very excited to contribute books to children who otherwise would not have access.    And made great suggestions and linkages that get more books and support.  

I'm excited about how this has developed and the potential for replication. If Ottawa can support 4 or more remote communities with high quality, used children’s books; volunteers in other Ontario communities could establish links to Northern communities for similar book collection and shipping. I’d be happy to provide more details to anyone who would like to take up that challenge.    Please email me at jamesbaybooks@gmail.com.

2.  I got a sweet letter back from the Children's First Society in Inuvik.  I wanted to share a photo of a giant card that one of the groups of kids made: I am such a sucker for kiddie hand traces.  Cuteness or what?:

I have sent an email to the head of the organization to see if they would like a second shipment in January.  Wasn't part of our master plan but its so damn cold (-30 without the wind-chill today) and I hate thinking of any little kid without socks, hats, mitts, sweaters.

3.  Got tons of new stuff!

Here we go:

So the next 6 photos are of items which came in 2 separate boxes and I was blown away by the loveliness of them.  Clearly there are some expert knitters at Duke.  The note attached is as follows:

"These gifts were knitted by the preop anesthesia group at Duke University Med. Center - donated in honor of our physician director Dr. Ron Olson.  Dr. Keri Wahl and Mary Hawthorne organized the project."

Keri and Mary, thank you so much for thinking of us - I promise that the items will go to very good use.  I took a closeup of the crochet blanket because I love the detailing on it.

Bonnie Belanger of Ottawa (rav name Panther) has always been a wonderful supporter - you can always count on at least a couple of boxes in the mail from Bonnie, and once again, she did not disappoint.  Bonnie, you know that I love me some socks - these ones will come in very handy!  Bonnie also knitted the hats, neck-warmers and and socks below.

Karen Zorn of Bradenbury SK - you can see that I'm having trouble  extracting this little guy from my girl's arms.   So sweet!

Karen also made this sweater, baby mitts and sockies...

...and the vests and sweaters above.  I can see a little boy being thrilled with the sweater.

And finally Bartone (sorry couldn't fine your first name) of Conneat,  Ohio, thank you for the hats - very very cozy!

Happy Holidays!

First let me apologize profusely to Lorraine, Collyn, Karen and Silvia:  Ladies I am so sorry - life got away from me and its taken me this long to get your stuff on the blog!  This does get me caught up with the backlog which is a great way to start the holidays.

News - hmmm - well I got an email from Dr. Elizabeth:  the items that we sent up to the Women's shelter were very well utilized and we are scheming about getting another box up next month.  We're also still working with another collective of doctors who are actually unbelievable:  they take a very large box up with them each time one of them visits Nunnavutt, and the items get distributed far and wide, by a local nurse.  Its been frankly, amazing, just working with this lovely group of physicians.

Okay, pix pix pix:

This one comes from Lorraine Thompson in Port Hope Ontario.  The sweaters are beautiful, but check out the woven scarf and knitted hat from Lorraine below.  My cameral doesn't do these items justice.  They are so soft and beautiful.  The weaving is really something.

Socks socks socks from Collyn Baldwin in Corbett Oregon.  Collyn saw us in Vogue Magazine and decided she wanted to be part of the Warm Hands army.  Collyn, welcome!

Karen Zorn has been a contributor for a long time now - she's from Bredenbury SK and is also a lovely chatter on the blog.  Karen, thank you so much for your contribution, your donation and your kind words.  You have made a huge difference!

More from Karen - cozy neckwarmer which my daughter tried on and some socks to keep it company in the photo.

Okay this is kind of spectacular, so I took a closeup below.  In Stockstadt Germany, there's a Ravelry crochet group called haekeln.  They got together and made the blanket (folded in half, above) crochetted from sock yarn.  Silvia D'Onofrio, Katja, Silke and Katrin, I'm kind of crazy about you.  I think this will go to the women's shelter since the blanket is a good size.  Danke!

And finally some booties which were left anonymously at my door.  Not sure who donated, but I love them.

Oh What a Night

Last Thursday was packing night.  I thought to myself "well I only have 3 packages to open and photograph for the blog, and then we can start packing".  I was so very wrong.  Suzanne, Amy, Jeanine and Carlene arrives, hauling a massive amount of NEW stuff.  So we talk, admire, eat, talk, take pictures, pack, eat some more, pack some more, and some how, some way it all gets done.  Here are some pictures of the items we opened, as well as the packing itself:

Bonnie Belanger ('Panther' on rav) of Ottawa, you've been with us for a long long time, I think.  Thank you for the lovely socks as well as the blanket below.  I really liked the flower crochetted square.

Now this one is interesting:  Wei-Ching Poon sent us a pair of mittens all the way from Singapore.  We actually attached your postcard to the item, Wei-Ching, because someone up North is going to get a real kick out of the distance that these mittens travelled.  They are beautiful!

So Brenda Slaughter of Atlanta Georgia set up a group called AT&T Fibre to the world Yarn Club, Atlanta Chapter.  Her gang put together a bunch of slippers for us this year.  Thanks very much AT&T.

And here is Marie-Claude (Claudette) of Ottawa.  Claudette I don't know how you do it.  I've shipped a bunch of your blankets up with the doctors already.  THese are wonderful - thank you for being so prolific.  We distributed your stuff among several boxes.

Hats by Marie-Claude

Neckwarmers by Marie-Claude

Scarves by Marie-Claude

Socks by Marie-Claude...

...And finally mittens, by, guess who?
Okay you're correct: its Marie-Claude.

Jacquie (JCL on Ravelry) sent us these great socks.  Jacquie thank you: I have a soft spot for the socks because not all kids have boots and each kid needs multiple pairs of socks.

This mittens are also from JCL

This photograph does not do the sweater justice.  Thanks Jacquie!

The ladies of packing night posing with some of Jeanine's gorgeous and soft warm blankets.  Apparently the purple yarn has a story to it - mixed with the cream coloured yarn, it looked amazing.

See???  Purple and cream is my new favorite colour combo

Carlene holding one of Jeanine's blankets.

Amy holding one of Jeanine's woven blankets - soooo soft.  But Amy does not look happy...

OK now she's happy.

Jeanine made a bunch of lovely thick lopi vests for children.

...along with this sweater....

And the Jeanine mountain of socks is right here.

Janet (Bus13knitter) of New Brunswick, has been with us since almost the beginning and is also a huge contributor  to the ravelry discussion group.  Janet these mittens will make some little ones very warm and happy.

More from Janet - my favorite here was the pair of purple socks.  Hmm, I may be in a bit of a purple state of mind.

Okay there was no name with these ones, but I have a note that says "Army Girl" - what does that mean????

Rav name REJ of Ottawa - the mittens are very much appreciated but I have to tell you that we each took a turn modelling the shawl.  Maybe that's why it takes awhile to pack, but its fun fun fun.

suzanneknitter on Rav (Suzanne) has become a dear friend - girl I really look forward to us getting together  to pack, and catch up.  You make me laugh each time.  I took a closeup of the socks below so that you could see every stitch.  They are very intricate.

So when we pack, first we sort by category.  This is the sock pile.  You can see the boxes opened and ready to go in the back.

These are the mittens.

And here are the hats.  We actually had to get more tables up from the basement to get everything stacked.

In the end, I would guesstimate that we packed about 300 pounds for the following groups:

1. We're going to send up to a daycare in Rankin Inlet (katajuak) - they also run the safe house, so we will also be furnishing them with some adult clothing.

2. We're going to send up to the Children's First Society in Inuvik - this is our first time with them.

3. We're going to ship to Gjoa Haven - I have a soft spot for Hannah (our community lead there) - she sends us lovely bits of news from the community which we post here and on Ravelry.

4. We are going to be shipping boxes with physicians who travel each month to Nunnavut.  The doctors take a box with them, which goes to the clinic, where a lovely nurse who has lived in the community for several years finds each piece an appreciative home - either via the nursery, or paediatrics unit, elder care or home care programs.  This means that we'll be shipping more frequently so if you've got stuff and want it to go up sooner than our deadlines, please feel free to get it to us, and we'll include it in a doctor's box.

We were also lucky enough to be able to ship boots up this year through your generous contributions.  Its been a banner year for Warm Hands - new communities, new contributors, the book project - its all good, 'cause you're all so good.