Hoot

July in Ottawa is the best - the weather is sometimes sweet, sometimes sweaty but nobody cares because we all try to be on the water at every opportunity.   Sometimes I forget that the doctors are going back up north in September and it will already be cold in Iqualuit.  

Knitters, if you've got items that your interested in having go north for September, I'd be very happy and grateful to get them before September 10th.  We've got other places to get them as well, but its always nice to get a stack up with the physicians.

Today, I was kayaking and saw 2 gorgeous loons.  Then I came home and saw 2 rose owls:

Sabrina (Knitphomaniac on Rav) - thanks for thinking of us!

These hats came from Wendy Genge...

She's from Smoke Lake, Alberta.

But before that, she lived in Cochrane Ontario and worked the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee in the late 60's.

And these shawls are from her too - thanks, Wendy!

I love these 3 socks - they come from Lynn - her blog mindingmyownstitches.blogspot.ca is great - I love checking out what she's reading, and the backstory behind her sock creations.

And this beautiful blanket is also from Lynn.  Thanks Lynn - as usual your stuff is beauteous.

And finally this beautiful sweater, hat and mitten set from Peggy L (sorry Peggy, I couldn't read your last name) of Nampa Indiana.  Peggy, thank you so much for taking the time to send us these beautiful items.  Welcome!.

Gone, Baby, Gone

So your stuff went out with the lovely doctors this week.  Right now, it has landed in Iqualuit, boxes have been opened and distribution has started.  The weather is relatively warm (a balmy 7 degrees) and daylight has started to stretch out (sunrise is a little after 2am and sunset a little after 11pm).  I have a friend who lived in Iqualuit for awhile and she told me that as a southerner, the long days really messed her up - "its daylight, let's stay up!  Wait, its still daylight!".

Thank you to all of you who dropped off items in preparation for the June shipment - its hard to think of knitting as the weather turns to summer but it was just terrific.

Here are some boxes I opened up late:

Jeannette (DouceAubergine) sent a bag of lovely quilts.

Here is another one made by Jeannette.  I took a close-up of my favourite square (top left).

And of course, her beautiful socks and mittens which she makes for kids of all ages.

Jackie Lambert, you are prolific and wonderful.  Jackie of West Richland, Washington has produced so much over the past years - there is always something in the shipment from her.  Thank you again!

All this to say the cupboards are bare and my mind turns to September - I will let everyone know when we are doing "packing night" so we can hopefully chit-chat and ooh and ahh over the stuff together.

Love you knitters and crochetters - you make life sweet.

Sweetness

That's the only way to describe it, when you open up 4 boxes and inside are lovely knitted things but also 4 of the sweetest notes you'd ever want to read.  Ladies I feel I know you all personally, and your notes just speak to me!  I also love all of the little labels on the stuff - I do believe that the labels with your names and locations touch both the grown-ups and the kids that much more.  So great for them to read that there is someone in Vancouver, or Washington or Montreal or Toronto who is thinking of them.

Roll tape!

Jackie Lambert (rag tag icl) can be counted upon to send us at least one box for each shipment -  Jackie I loved the notes, and took a picture of one of them below. 

These lovely neck and head-warmers came from Melanie Achen (mwachen on rav) from Burnaby BC.  Rockin' the purple.

Peggy Wallace of Oakville (drpeg on revelry) made the hats above, and also the socks, mittens, neck warmers etc below.  

I took a closeup of drpeg's fasteners because they looked so northern to me!

And this I love - Kara Mcalyle(aka kalyle) made this blanket that is a revelry squares community effort.  Thanks very much to square-creators: penny (Burlington), Andrea "aclark4" (Ottawa), Plentimawfish (Waterloo), Marlene "constantmac" Ottawa and Betsy "yarn habit (NY).  The note attached gives all of the names and says "This blanket was pieced together during the winter olympics, with contributions from many stitchers.  We hope you enjoy it."
See why I captioned this post "Sweetness"?  

The mittens come from Elaine, Kara's mom, rag "cheatelaineboothe".  Thanks, Elaine!

And finally more stuff from Kara - love the baby booties, Kalyle!

So I've got an email out to the doctors to let them know that we are ready when they are ready.  It may be a balmy 25 degrees here but in Pond Inlet, its 5 degrees, and in Arctic Bay its -5.  Your stuff is appreciated year-round.  Thanks again to everyone for contributing!

Off to Igloolik

So, as I mentioned, I'm off to First Air to send boxes to Igloolik.  We will have 5 boxes filled with your cozies for the community.  Rhoda, our community contact, said she can get the items distributed very quickly - there is such a shortfall of clothing.  Interestingly though, they are interested in items that fit into their own more traditional animal skin clothing - kind of using it as a liner.

I got a couple of boxes in the mail this week, and I'm squeeeezing them into the shipment as well - I want to send absolutely everything we can - let's make our cupboards bare!

So here's what I got this week:

The elephant above, the monkeys and the hats/mittens are from Sabrina Thomspson of Miss ON (otherwise known as knitphomatic on Rav).  Sabrina, thank you very much - your toys will be appreciated in Igloolik!

So when I sent out an "I'm not sure if I have enough" message, of course, Jeanine (douceaubergine) anted up immediately:  Jeanine, the socks and mittens will be very appreciated as I understand the last sets are currently linking kamiks and mittens.  See Jeanine's mittens below:

And finally, we LOVE Barbara Dreher of Takatsuki City, Japan.  Yes, you did read that right:  Barbara sends us stuff for each shipment - she's a Canadian living in Japan to be closer to her grand-babies.  Thanks, Barbara!

And above is a lap blanket/baby blanket from Barbara.  Your timing could not have been better!

BC, CT, Germany and Igloolik

We woke up this morning to yet another dump of snow.  While half of me is holding a pity-party, the other half is thinking about our friends up in Igloolik who are still dealing with -25 degree weather.  In June, they will be experiencing +4 which is what we are going to have today.

So we got a couple of lovely emails from Igloolik this week - they got our "welcome" box that we sent about a month ago, which is nice.  Apparently your lovely stuff went out the day it was received, which is something I LOVE hearing.  We got some stories about a grand-mother who didn't have anything to give her newborn great-grandchildren, and found something perfect in the box.  Hunters are wearing socks and mittens as liners in caribou skin boots - also great to hear.

So bottom line, we put out the request to the lovely folks at First Air who have agreed to put through another shipment - love those guys!  Bottom line is that the cupboard will once again be bare once this shipment goes out - a great position to be in, as it means all your great stuff is being worn and appreciated.

And without further ado, here is the last set of boxes that came in the mail:

These 2 balakavas are from Melanie Acher of Burnaby BC - thanks, Melanie!

Pegg Prestage of Newington, CT: thank you for your beautiful items,  especially the psychedelic socks.

All the way from S D'Onofrio in Stuttgart Germany, comes the blankets above and below, as well as the little hats and neck warmers.  My photos don't do the blankets justice - the flowers are actually crochetted on.

Opening and Packing Night

Hi everyone,

Lots of news and I'm not sure where I left off so forgive me if I repeat myself:

1. We had an opening and packing night on Friday - crazy fun.  Suzanne, Jeanine, Carlene and I opened stuff, admired stuff, organized stuff and ate stuff (not the same stuff).  Here are a couple of pix:

2.  We sent up 2 more big boxes with the doctors in January.  Here are a few pictures one of the doctors took when they dropped off our last set of items.  Desolate and beautiful but looking very cold.

3. Yesterday, we got 2 other boxes out the door: one to Igloolik: we've never shipped there before but I received a lovely request from someone living in the community.  She mentioned that there are several orphans in the community and she was wondering if we could help out.  We also sent a box to the Children's First Society.

4.  The doctors are going up again in June and I think we'd ship with them again.  There may be other opportunities to send "intro boxes" to some communities (maybe Northern Quebec?).  We shall see what the year will bring!

5. Okay, here is what we opened on Friday:

These sweet sweaters and the 24 (!) vests below were sent to us by Nandini from Brooklyn NY.  Nandini, you are prolific.

These socks and hats and mittens were created by Jeanine Turcotte (Rav name Douce Aubergine)

Eliza of Vancouver created the hat and neckwarmer combinations.  Eliza, I'm guessing the weather in Vcvr is nicer than it is here...I heard the flowers are out.

Jackie Lambert (jcl on Rav) has been a prolific contributor.  You know I love me some socks!

Lynn of Scarborough (Her blog is Minding my Own Stitches) is here.

Lynn, I loved the detail on the blanket so much that I took a close-up.

Some lovely donor from Wool n Things in Ottawa provided these items.

Clarione Delaney from Laurel MD knitted these two hats.  The one on the left is super-soft.

Hats and socks and mittens from Robin (rav name "rej" from Ottawa.

Hats, mitts and socks from a mysterious benefactor in Qualicum BC

Penguin hats.  Adorbs!  By Sabrina Thompson of Missisauga ON

Trish from Alberta made the purple hats and the lovely shawl.

...And 5 hats from Oakville ON

Hats from Waterloo Ontario - thank you!

I added this closeup because the tag was so nice...

Peggy from Oakville are these yours?

Peggy from Oakville, another nice collection of your stuff - I liked the story about the vest - there's a close-up below.  Thanks so much!