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Knitting for charity

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hello all - long time no speak and all that. I'm hiding out in Oxford working hard and knitting my Christmas presents!

In between knitting Christmas presents I've been working on hats and scarves for the people who visit the homeless shelter I work at in North London and so I wanted to ask if any of you would consider helping me out? Anything we receive before the end of March will be passed on to one of our guests. Anything left over at the end will be either sold to raise funds for the shelter next year, or given to another charity who can make use of it.

If you think that sounds like your thing please have a look at the info on my blog here. The thing that always strikes me, working for C4WS, is the diversity of the guests. They are of all ages and backgrounds and 47% last year were under 25 (i.e. the same age as YouthNet's service users).

For wider discussion, do you make things for charity? What do you enjoy about it? Or is knitting all about making something for someone you know and channelling their personality and your creative energy into something unique?

I used to sit up at night during the shelter and knit hats for people who either didn't have one or needed a new one and I was amazed how much it meant to the guests that someone had invested time in their wellbeing. I accidentally reduced a man in his fifties to tears...

(Thanks to **Helen** for allowing me to share this.)

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I am hopefully going to knit a hat for you (well for your charity). I've got a 100g skein and I'm hoping this will be enough to do a hat with.

    The only other charity knitting I've done is for the Innocent Big Knit for Age UK, I knitted 30 little hats that go on Innocent Fruit Smoothies.

    Where do I send it to once I'm done? Or can I drop it off somewhere?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Unless it's super-bulky 100g should be more than enough.

    If you PM me when you're done I'll let you know where to send it. At the moment it's all coming to my house whilst we try to persuade one of the the churches to store it!
    Randomgirl wrote: »
    I am hopefully going to knit a hat for you (well for your charity). I've got a 100g skein and I'm hoping this will be enough to do a hat with.

    The only other charity knitting I've done is for the Innocent Big Knit for Age UK, I knitted 30 little hats that go on Innocent Fruit Smoothies.

    Where do I send it to once I'm done? Or can I drop it off somewhere?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I finished my hat! It's chunky yarn, I used 6mm needles. It only took a couple of days. Yay!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ooooohhhh Can I knit something for you?! I like knitting and it'd be nice to know it's going to a good cause :)

    (may not be a quick at knitting as Randomgirl though!)

    edit: haven't got enough wool :( Will go out and buy some but not sure when!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ooooohhhh Can I knit something for you?! I like knitting and it'd be nice to know it's going to a good cause :)

    (may not be a quick at knitting as Randomgirl though!)

    edit: haven't got enough wool :( Will go out and buy some but not sure when!
    Yes, please do! When you but the wool, could you make sure that you use something that can be treated roughly and machine washable? That would be wonderful.

    If you need a pattern there are loads of free ones on sites like knitty.com and Ravelry. Try to knit neutral patterns in larger sizes, most of our guests are male.

    We'll take anything and the shelter runs until February so there's loads of time :-)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have a free pattern for anyone interested in making socks. You can find it here.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can knit scarves. But i can't cast on or off :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    my hat is growing slowly but surely... feel a bit bad for the time it is taking but am the worlds slowest knitter. :(

    Also I hope it has a bit of stretch or you may have to donate it to a teenage charity...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RubberSkin wrote: »
    I can knit scarves. But i can't cast on or off :)

    I can cast on but struggle to cast off.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    my hat is growing slowly but surely... feel a bit bad for the time it is taking but am the worlds slowest knitter. :(

    Also I hope it has a bit of stretch or you may have to donate it to a teenage charity...

    It's all right, I'm sure it will fit someone. Although most of our guests are male, we do have a number of women.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .Leanne. wrote: »
    I can cast on but struggle to cast off.
    It's easy and there are loads of tutorials online!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Finished my hat :yippe:

    It's possibly a bit small- just about fits my (admittedly, rather large) head!

    Hope it's of use for you
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Finished my hat :yippe:

    It's possibly a bit small- just about fits my (admittedly, rather large) head!

    Hope it's of use for you

    Well done you :)
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