Lynn, is this you???

Ahhh back to school.  I love it!  A chance for renewal, to start again, to get organized....

In that vein, my mind turns to our fall packing party for WHN, and I started opening boxes.   Problem is, matching boxes to emails has now become complicated.... Lynnw63 of Minding my Own Stitches fame, is this yours?

Lynn, I think that these were part of the package.  There were socks, there were beautiful blankets (I loooove a crochetted blanket).

...and there were even sweaters (south-east part of this photo).  Thanks, Lynn!

Saskatchewan, Maryland and Jodie and her Mom

Karen Zorn of Churchbridge Saskatchewan sent in these sockies.  Thanks for making them machine-washable Karen, and thanks for the cashola which will go towards the boots fund.

I loved the picture on the card - I have a family member who shall remain nameless who looks exactly like the card from Clauroni (hope I got that right) Delaney of Laurel, Maryland.  I love the nori neckwarmer.

These are from Jodie's mom of Ottawa.  Jodie's mom:  These 27 pairs of mittens were so perfectly wrapped, I didn't open them.  They'll go to the community exactly as is - thank you!

Question:  Are Jodie and Margaret the same person?  I got big boxes and I'm a bit confused.  I believe that these come from Margaret Bradford, of Ottawa, but they were dropped at my front door on the same day as I got Jodie's stuff.  Mystery to be solved...

And here is a closeup of my favorite Magaret Bradford hat, just because its so darn cheerful.  Thanks Margaret!

Toys for Rankin Inlet

I put the call out for toys awhile ago, and I got these soft knit balls from Esther Richter of Drachenwolle fame.  Thanks Esther!

And these finger puppet creatures came from Lynnw63 of Minding my Own Stitches.  They will go to the Rankin Inlet daycare where they will be much loved!

I can't believe the uniqueness of these little critters.  Here are a teeny zeebra and goat.  Love them all!

And finally a cuddly teddy, again from Lynn.

Ohio, Saskatchewan and Connecticut

Its been awhile my knitting and crochetting peeps!  Things have been quiet on the Warm Hands front, as kids (and grown-ups, and dogs) start their summers.  Yet in the middle of these over 40 degree steamers, knitting arrives from distant places!

I've let them accumulate, and now I'm in picture taking mode, so without further ado...

Tammy Morrow of Marietta Ohio (otherwise known as PMS Flowerlady, a name that I love, given that I almost rip my DH's head off last week, just sayin') sent in this great pink stripey blanket.

And the socks above and the hats below are from Karen Zorn of Churchbridge SK.  Karen, what's your rav name??? The pink socks are my favorite.

here 

And finally, I got tons and tons of neckwarmers and socks from Linda of Connecticut (aka Linda74).  Linda, I looooooved reading about the creation of these items here  and here and here and even here.  The items are fantastic and will be shipped up to Moosonee and Gjoa Haven, I think.  Then again, I've apparently got a meeting in August with an Inuit clinic here in Ottawa.  One of the clinic heads has a mum up north who has said she will be the distributor for us - she's a well respected elder in the community and will help a lot. Unfortunately, I don't speak Inuk and she doesn't speak English but why should that stop us?  We'll figure it out!

 

So everyone, keep up the great work through the steamy season.  I hate to say it but September will be here soon, and by the end of the month, I know I'll be getting messages from Moosonee telling me that snow has hit James Bay.  By then, your stuff will be chugging (or zooming) its way up north.

Thanks again!

October 2012, here we come!

This hat a sweater came from Karen Zorn of Saskatchewan.  The items below came from her as well.  Karen, I took pictures outside because I thought natural sunlight would make the pinks show up on-screen more nicely.  Clearly my deck needs staining.

What a cute little baby outfit from Muffey (aka Vivienne Shishakly from St. Lazare Quebec)!

The sock and sweater above are from Muffey too.  Thanks, Vivienne!

Okay I am not sure how this happened, but the envelope said Toronto, yet when I opened the parcel, the items were labelled as being from the Drachenwolle posse.  I'm sure there's a story here that I'm not quite following.  These socks and the ones below are from Nattie, AKA linkemasche from Cambridge, UK.  Thank you Nattie, we love the Drachenwolle group.

As I've been sitting here, looking at the empty hole where all of my WHN inventory normally sits, in pop 3 lovely packages this week!    Check out the items above.  In terms of the fall 2012 project, we've got some quick info:

1. I bought a bunch of great winter boots at a ridiculous price this year, so we will be sending boots up with our warm woolies which is fantastic.

2.  First Air is in again - yahoo! 

3.  Gjoa Haven, Rankin Inlet, and Moosonee have all requested repeat shipments which is wonderful.  All items we sent last we were distributed, but as we know, kids get older each year, and hats, mittens and especially socks are much appreciated.  We have sent them a message requesting additional info/details, which we will post.  In the meantime, please keep knitting!

Moosonee Got the Stuff

So Suzanne and Carlene came over in Feb with bags and bags and bags of stuff.  We had a packing party for the Moosonee shipment!  I'm finally getting the pictures posted, but I wanted to let you know that everything has been received in Moosonee :)  but my cupboards are now bare :(.  So here's to the Feb 2012 shipment!  Thank you all for contributing.  We've now got our eyes on September - we'll post more deets as they firm up!  The pictures below are of some of the items that Suzanne and Carlene brought in - I think we spent as much time oohing and aahing as we did packing...

Kaffekaren has been a great contributer.  Here are some of her neckwarmers and a cute hat that makes me think of candycorn.

I labeled this pic "Carlene's Monster-Blanket".  It is big enough fro a bed.

Kerin Dimeler-Laurence from Happy Valley, Oregon had a brilliant idea:  she made a whole bunch of socks out of felt that can also double as slippers.  Here is a photo of one of my kidlets modelling the slippers.

and here is a stack of the slipper socks (that's carlene's arm in the corner).  Thanks Kerin - they will keep kiddies feet warm inside the house.  I can actually see northern kids wearing these sock/slippers to bed.

So I got these shrinky-dink bags so we could pile as much stuff in as possible.  This is the before picture - the bag gets filled to almost the top.

This is what happens when you put a vacuum cleaner to the bag - it shrinks to one-third the size, so we jammed in more stuff.

Um Okay, I admit it, I lost the label that told me where these were from.  Carlene, Suzanne, could you give me a hint please?

I think these beauties came from Knit-Knackers. 

Bonnie Belanger, thanks for making all of these!  Bonnie, I wrote Panther in brackets under your name but I can't for the life of me remember why.  Are you from a town called Panther?  Was the name of the yarn Panther?  Carlene, help!

This is my favorite Bonnie Bélanger sweater - so pretty.

Purling Pilgrim (ravname) - thank you so much for this great blanket!

Caroline is Michelle (chococupcake's sister) and she dropped off these great items from the lovely cupcake.

I loved this blanket from chococupcake.  The diagonal knitting is a great mystery to me.

and this is a hat that Michelle made - I'm trying to copy the pattern now!

This blanket and socks are from Beth Snyd.  Beth I think this is the first time you've shipped to us.  Many thanks!

This hat was made by claudette - it is extremely cute.

more claudette stuff

these vests are going to keep some kids very warm!

baby blankets for the daycares and health centres from claudette

my four favorite claudette blankets

Another suzanne beauty

This patchwork blanket was assembled by Suzanne Atkinson.  Patches came from Suzanne, Claire and kathb.

Suzanne, I love this box blanket - so pretty!

And another beautiful box blanket.  This one was made with yarn supplied by Jackie.  Thanks, Jackie.

Suzanne, when do you have time to do all this stuff?  Mittens made by S.

Okay Suzanne, I think this is another one of yours, but I'm not 100% sure.  We also wound up slipping in a box of new boots (thanks to everyone who sent in a couple of dollars!) - I have to tell you that when I spoke to the post office in Moosonee, they knew of the "knitting people" - the town is that small - and your impact is that great.  Thanks to everyone for taking the time and effort to make your gorgeous crochet and knit doodads for northern kids.  You make Warm Hands what it is!