SP11

As you can see my final parcel from my wonderful Secret Pal has arrived. I now know her name is Gisella and she is from Germany!

There were some packets of lovely German biscuits in the box too but before I could fetch my camera my son had them opened and into the biscuit box. (he says they all taste delicious though - I will find out after I finish posting!).

As you can see from the photos she has been ever so generous with this last package - she wanted to give me a flavour of a German Christmas so there are a couple of wee straw Christmas trinkets - one to put on the mantel and one to hang on the tree - also a chocolate santa clause (Jenna has her eye on that already!) and some really unusual yarn. The card is handmade too and really pretty :0) Thank you so much Gisella - you have been a delightful Secret Pal - hopefully we will stay in touch after this. You have been a star :0)

Gisella even contributed to our Christmas challenge as she sent a prem baby cardigan with her last parcel which has been added to the collection!

Right off to try those lovely biscuits!

Christmas Challenge 2007!!!!

Here we are girls!

Our Christmas Challenge 2007! If you ever wondered what a 6 year old buried under 93 boobies looks like then wonder no more! We have had such a laught this afternoon counting and taking photos to let you all see how we have done!

The grand totals are:-

Boobies - 93

Prem Baby Sets - 102

Give yourselves a huge pat on the back - by the time the new year comes in I will have brought the boobies total up to the 100 we needed - I have one almost finished as I type so it won't take me long to make the final six!

I think this is a great achievement and we now have even more members (91 as of yesterday!) so whatever challenge we decide on for Easter there will be more members to get the items made in time!

I think for the next time I will keep a counter going and every few days update it so that you can all see if we are struggling or not - that way it will be easier to keep track :0)

Thank you all so much for all your hard work - it doesn't mean I am going to let you all off the hook - I will expect you all to keep knitting, crocheting and sewing as we leap into 2008.

You are all stars - thank you!

Countdown to announcement of Christmas results!

OK folks - it is almost time to let you all know how well we have done! I have just returned from the sorting office with another two parcels (thanks to Claire and Mary for those!) with another 12 boobies and three prem sets in them - I know we have definitely clobbered the prem set challenge but the boobies will be close so I am going to get these stuffed then we can have a count and photograph session later so I can make the announcement!

You have all done so well rising to the challenge - hopefully next year we will manage to have several more challenges depending on the requests we get from our Charities!

Watch this space..........:0)

Hope it All Went Well!

Well - did you all get what you wanted for Christmas? I certainly got a lot of lovely things - the company of my six wonderful kids and my beautiful grandaughter would have been enough mind you :0) (Although I was glad to see them all safely home so I could have a rest at the end of it all!) :0)

I am looking forward to picking up the post tomorrow so that I can see if we have made our targets. I have the camera at the ready although I might need to do the final boob stuffing by myself as our wee Jenna is ill so not really in the mood to help out :0( Hopefully the medecine we got for her today will do the trick and we can get her back on her feet and smiling again in a day or two.

I have one final parcel to post off to bring SP11 to an end - hopefully the recipient will like what I have sent her this time - it is very hard to please other people - I always try to choose the best things I can but we can't always get it right. (How many times do you have to smile and say 'Oh it's lovely - just what I wanted' when in your mind you are wondering when the next Sale of Work is to get rid of it!). My heart in my mouth I will send this final gift box and hope for a kind response this time - fingers crossed :0)

On the subject of SP11 - I have just found out that my hostess Jenn lost her father recently - on behalf of all here at Loving Hands Jenn - our hearts and thoughts go out to you. It is never easy to lose a loved one. God Bless you and your family at this sad time.

Right - the dinner is almost cooked so I had better go and feed the mad beasts! Talk to you all soon!

Happy Christmas Day!

Happy Christmas to all my lovely Loving hands members out there! I will be delaying the announcement of the christmas Challenges until Thursday as I missed the pick up at them post office yesterday so don't know what final parcels were there to be added in. I know we have definitely beaten the prem baby challenge but we were struggling a bit on the booby front so hopefully once I pick up the post (and knit like mad for the next couple of days too!) we might just make it :0) Watch out for numbers and photos on Thursday!

We will discuss the next challenge at the first meeting of 2008 (usual venues in kelty and Kirkcaly on Monday 7th January). Hopefully you will all rise to that one as well abd we will sail through it! :0)

You are all amazing people and it has been a privilege to have you all on board this year - to all my members both old and new let me say Happy New Year and lets make it a very productive one!

Till next post xxx

Happy Christmas Everyone

Happy Christmas to all Loving Hands members - thank you all for the great work you have done this year and we are all looking forward to what can be achieved in 2008. :0)

I will be counting the baby things and boobies tomorrow after I have been out to collect the mail for the last time before christmas - fingers crossed! :0)

Hopefully we will be able to think of a suitable challenge for Easter time to get you all competing again - you have all been so great contributing to the Christmas challenges - hope we have made it!


Loving Hands is going from strength to strength which proves to me that there are enough kind hearted and loving souls out there in the UK to keep me very busy for the next year or so!

God Bless you all and please keep up the good work - HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas Fayre and Challenges

Well - the Fayre is over - sadly it didn't go as well as we would have hoped but we have made over £200 for the postage fund (enough to post two 13.6Kgs boxes so I will get a bit of space back in the office!). Unfortunately the timing was all wrong - the church had had their own Christmas Fayre the Saturday before and they had made £1000 at their one :0( Next year we will plan well in advance, make sure we aren't anywhere near the church sale and advertise in every available space we can find!

We did have a great time though and we do have a lot of extra things left over which will be great when the market stalls start up in the JRD trust after the new year. Meg is going to take our craft items and sell them there for us which will boost the funds again :0) We are still hoping for a few donations from various sources as well. Once I have the packing boxes in place I will pack them all up with 13.6kgs in each so we can get them away asap.

Well done for all your help girls - I will post some photos of the stalls etc from home to let you all see how great it looked.

Christmas Challenges:

I have had a quick count and we have managed to collect 80 prem baby cardigans and hats and 44 boobs already! We still have two weeks to go so I am sure we will make it - keep it up gang! I am knitting boobies at every available opportunity (in between christmas shopping, wrapping parcels and writing cards!). I went out and had some cards printed for my family today and I have put the photo of our wee Jenna posing with her box of boobs on the front of it - she was so pleased when she saw what I had done! :0)

Forum:

We have hd another two members join the Forum today as well - welcome to Lis and Taylor - (Forum names) - I know you are both already members and working away for us as we speak - hope you enjoy being on the Forum as much as we do. It has been great letting everyone get to know one another better. We can't thank Pam enough for setting up the Forum and Website for us:0)

Right I am off to get some more work done - update again soon!

In the Papers Again!

Well - we are in the papers again folks! This week's Fife Free Press is carrying a photo of Meg and I with staff from the JRD Trust - and a load of our knitted boobies - again! Along with a story and details of the Kirkcaldy meeting and the Christmas Fayre! Hopefully this will result in lots of new members for the meeting and a good turnout for the Fayre!

Talking about the Fayre - please can you send in your donations for the crafts /tombola/ raffles etc this week as I will need to have them by Friday:0) The JRD Trust are going to do the teas and coffees for the event so we can concentrate on the main hall - thanks girls! :0) I can't wait for it all to be done so that I can take all these parcels to the post office and I can then maybe get the office decorated and the new floor laid! (I am still sharing the room with Winnie the Pooh wallpaper! Not very office like!).

OK - It is time to go home so I will get this posted - talk to you all again soon - we are now 80 strong and the Forum is going like a Fayre too - it is nice to have the opportunity to chat to you all and get to know you - if you haven't done so already why not hop over there and join up - you know you want to!

Latest news!

Sorry I haven't updated for a while guys - there has been so much going on here! We now have our own website http://www.lovinghands.org.uk/ It looks really great and there are links on there to take you directly to both the Forum and to here! Pam has also put in lots of patterns and links to other sites too and publicised our challenges and Christmas Fayre as well as the local meetings - what a star she is! Thanks Pam - you are a real treasure :0)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2007/10/16/babywear_patterns_feature.shtml

This is the new link to the patterns on the Ray of Hope site - Pam did want to publish some of the patterns on our web site but sadly Ray of Hope cannot give permission as the BBC did not like the patterns being reproduced elsewhere. Never mind you can still access the patterns to use for charity from the above link and the one on the web site.

We have had lots of photo shoots etc since I last published - the latest one just this morning for the Fife Free Press to advertise the Kirkcaldy meetings (Monday evenings 7-9pm in the JRD Trust, 9 The Esplanade, Kirkcaldy). And also the Christmas Fayre - 8th December 10am to 1pm in Kelty Church - remember girls if you have anything to donate for the craft stall, tombola or raffle we will need it to be here by the 7th December. We have already had some lovely things sent or handed in for the crafts stall and the raffle and tombola prizes are filtering through as well! If you live locally and can bake don't forget the cake and candy stall too! :0)

We now have 78 members on the books so hopefully we will get enough boobs and prem baby sets to meet the Christmas challenges - another 22 members and I will have reached my personal target of 100 members by Christmas day! The extra publicity from the web site and forum are certainly paying off as is all the press coverage we have been getting. We are becoming known up and down the country! Many thanks to all of you who have added links to our sites to other web based things you are on and your own personal Blogs - it all helps!

Right - it is getting late and I have been rushing about all day so I am off for a sleep before it all begins again in the morning!

Keep knitting!

Any donations for the Fayre, Christmas Challenge or any other charities we are collecting for should be sent in to us here at:-

Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group,
18 Clentry Crescent,
Kelty,
Fife.
KY4 0LG.

We have a Forum!!!

Hey Guys!

Pam has just been in touch and we now have our very own Forum where our members can chat - share views - etc! Here is the link to it:-

http://lovinghands.freeforums.org/

Thank you so much for that Pam - hopefully all our members will now start using it and we will get lots of topics going!

Lots of press!

Hi Guys!

Well there has been lots of press interest in our group since the Dunfermline Press printed their story (complete with a very embarrassing photo of yours truly with a pair of our knitted boobies!). We were visited at out Kelty meeting yesterday by a couple of really lovely girls from Capital Press (an agency from Edinbugh I believe) they spent an hour and a half chatting to us all and taking hundreds of photos and are now going to try to get us into some women's magazines! It will be great if they do - the publicity can only help us! :0)

They have also said they will come along to our Christmas Fayre on the 8th December which will be great as well. Meg has now bought the Santa suit so all we need is a suitable gent to fill it! Watch this space.....

We have had so many parcels the last week that I can hardly move in here! Thanks to Ann on the Isle of Man again - she has sent over another consignment of goods from the wonderful lady who closed down her shop and donated the leftover stock to us - these things are going to be fantastic for Baby Pack and Blythswood. She also sent some more yarn and lots of knitted things too - what a busy lady!

Mrs J Harris from the Coventry area has also sent us a box containing baby girls clothes - these will come in very useful for Baby Pack too - thank you Mrs Harris!

Another big thank you has to go to Kim and John Cumming who advertised our cause on the Fife freecycle network and then spent days driving all over Fife collecting several large bin bags full of yarn (mostly coned) which will make loads of fantastic blankets!!! Thanks to Kim and John and to all the wonderful ladies on Freecycle who have donated this yarn. I have also acquired a couple of new members from the same group - welcome on board Wendy and Suzanne your contributions will be gratefully received!

Annette Randle has also joined us and has posted a link to our site on her Blog, thank you Annette - your parcel arrived yesterday with the lovely baby surprise cardigans and hats along with the other things - my ladies on the committee here are going to try knitting the baby surprise jacket themselves so listen out for anguished screams when we get stuck!

Yesterday at our meeting in Kelty a lovely old gentleman came in and told us that his dear lady wife had succumbed to the awful illness altzheimers and for the last couple of years had sadly had to live in a care home. Seeing our feature in the Dunfermline Press had motivated him to clear out her knitting things and he had brought us all her yarn, needles and patterns. Thank you my dear for such a lovely gesture - rest assured that all of these things will be put to very good use here :0)

Then today I got a parcel from our dear Do - also from the Isle of Man - she had lovingly parceled up some beautiful prem baby clothes and burial outfits which she had made for us and she has also sent me a very sweet stuffed Manx cat (no Do he is not ugly at all - I will keep him here on the shelf in loving Hands headquarters to keep an eye on things and bring us luck!). She tells me that her husband Bob had signed on to our website and was most impressed to see her name mentioned on it even though she would have no idea how to sign on for herself! Rest assured Bob your lovely wife will be mentioned many times on this website she is a real treasure to us (as I am sure she is to you and your family).
Thank you Do!

The other bit of exciting news is that one of our newer members has bought us our very own website and as we speak is busy getting it all set up and ready to launch. Thanks Pam - you are doing a great job - Pam tells me her daughter is a web designer so she will keep her mum right when setting this up for us. I will post the link to the site as soon as it is up and running. She is going to put on contact details and links to patterns etc. to make it easy for people coming onto the site to navigate it. This could take a few weeks to complete but won't it be great!

And finally - our new meeting in Kirkcaldy launched last night at 7pm in the JRD Trust, 9 The Esplanade. Sadly there were only Meg and myself there last night (it was a freezing wet night and we had a flurry of snow as well so I don't really blame people for not coming out. Meg is going to try to get us an advertising feature in the Fife Free Press for next time so more people will know we are there.

Right then guys - I am off to get on with some more knitting - I have taken this week off work so I can get more organising done for the Christmas Fayre - hopefully we will get lots of items in for the crafts stall and loads of people through the doors on the day :0)

Talk to you soon!

Are you all still out there????

Hello Everyone out there in Cyberspace!

I am getting really worried - have you all vanished or is it just Yahoo messing me about????? I have been sending out lots of emails to you wonderful members about the Christmas fayre and Christmas challenge but so far have not had a single reply in over two weeks????? Are you getting these emails at all or is it just that you have all been too busy to reply to me??? With the Christmas Fayre and challenge deadlines fast approaching it is getting very unnerving that I cannot make contact. I am going to write a global letter and send it out to all of you that I have addresses for (if you are reading this and haven't yet sent me the response to the questionnaire or registered your details please do so now as I will need everyones details for Christmas :0) If you are new to reading this and want to become part of our group then also please send me your details:-
Name, address, email address, telephone number and what commitment you want to make to us. Send them by email to charityknitters@yahoo.co.uk or by mail to Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group, 18 Clentry Crescent, Kelty, Fife. KY4 0LG.

I will be eagerly watching the email in box and the post box for responses to prove I am not going insane here!!!!

Update from Tommee Tippee

Hi Guys!

Got a lovely message back from Avril at Tommee Tippee the other day - the Boobies have landed and they are delighted with them! I have attached a photo of Avril with the box in her offices - as you can see she is delighted! Now we need to manage to make the 100 for the Christmas Challenge so that I will have a reason to go down there in person in January to hand them over to her!

The local paper has been round taking photos and getting a story for next weeks edition - great publicity for us and perfect timing for the launch of the Kirkcaldy meeting the following Monday! They have also promised to advertise the Christmas fayre for us too so that should help let people know what we are doing!

Next step will be to send out letters to all the local businesses and ask for donations for the raffle or tombola. I know that a lot of you have been busy making extra crafty items for us too so if you have please can you send them up by the end of November so we will be able to keep a check on how much we have for our stall!

So far we have managed to get quite a few crafters to take stalls as well - their stall rental will boost the profits and also people coming in to see what they have made will hopefully buy from our own stalls as well!

We have:-

Gifts 2 Go (peruvian jewellery, soap, bath potions, soft toys etc)

Kingdom Crafts (hand made cards, card kits and blackwork)

Calligraphy

Hand made Glass jewellery

Preserves

as well as all the usual Cake and Candy, tombola, raffle , face painting, hair braiding, guess the gorilla's birthday, teas, books, white elephant and of course..... Santa!

Hopefully we will get a good turnout!

I hope you have all been making things for the Christmas Challenge! I know we are all working hard here making boobs and prem baby cardigans and hats - remember we need to have 100 of each by Christmas to make our target. I am sure we can make it as the list is getting longer all the time!

Please check in when you can by email (charityknitters@yahoo.co.uk) , by letter to Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group, 18 Clentry Crescent, Kelty, Fife. KY4 0LG , or by leaving a note on this Blog! I really like to know how everyone is getting on. Remember also to encourage all your lovely knitting or crocheting friends to join us too - I am still hoping to make 100 members by Christmas!

Right - I guess I had better get on before hubby comes home and thinks I have done nothing but sit in this office all day :00)

If any of you are needing yarn, needles or patterns give me a shout and don't forget to check in when you can :0)

Volunteer of the Year!

Hi Guys!

You'll never guess what happened to me on Thursday night???? I was at the Volunteer of the year Awards in Kirkcaldy and I won! I came home with a trophy and a certificate and all because I chose to start Loving Hands after the Volunteer Knitathon in June! You could have knocked me down with a feather when they announced my name - I had no idea it would be me - those devils at the Volunteer Centre and Sky had certainly done a good job of keeping me in the dark :0) I have just had the Dunfermline Press on the phone for an update so hopefully they will feature the dates and times of the local meetings and also they are sending a photographer out to take photos in the morning when I get in from work. I guess all publicity is great as it gets us more members and lets people see we are doing so well.

The Christmas Fayre is taking shape well now - we now have more craft stalls booked in and it looks like we will have lots of willing helpers on board too which is great. Remember if any of you have any items for our craft stall or would like to donate a prize for the raffle or the tombola (or if you live locally and you can bake for the cake and candy!). We will need to have all contributions in before the end of November so we can be ready to set up the stalls in time!

I have just sent a box containig 60 of our hand knitted boobies off to Tommee Tippee as they have a big launch to do next week - Avril tells me she has another box of goodies for us )not just nappies she says but she has included things she hopes we will find useful too) she has been such a Godsend to us - if you are reading this Avril we really appreciate all you have done to help Baby Pack and ourselves - and don't worry we will keep on knitting boobies for you for the Breast cancer project next year - some of us are getting really quite fast at making them and I have just bought in 8kgs of stuffing to keep Miss Jenna busy filling them for you! :0)

We have had a lot of new members joining by letter this last week thanks to the feature in Let's Knit! Magazine which is brilliant. I will now need to contact the magazines again to update our meetings as we will be having two local meetings once the Kirkcaldy group starts up on November 12th!

Right - must dash - I could fit in a couple of good knitting hours before I pick up the kids if I get started right now!

CHRISTMAS FAYRE!

It's official! The church is booked and we are having our very first Loving Hands Christmas Fayre in Kelty Church on the 8th December from 10am to 1pm!

I have managed to book the whole church for this so we will be having teas in the small hall, santa, face painting and hair braiding in the session room and then there will be all the stalls in the church hall itself! (Our church is lovely and warm and they don't have pews downstairs just chairs so these can be put back to the side so the whole church is free to lay out tables!).

So far the line up for the main hall is as follows:-

A craft stall for ourselves - we will be able to sell any donated craftwork from members on this stall - we already have lots of lovely fluffy scarves, babies headbands and bonnets and the promise of handmade cards, knitting needle rolls, bears and lots of other lovely things - all contributions very welcome - anything that doesn't sell on this day can go into the shop at JRD in Kirkcaldy to help with our fundraising there!

Cake and Candy - again just for us and all contributions very welcome!

Tombola /Raffle/ Treasure Hunt / Guess the Gorilla's Birthday

White Elephant - again for us - contributions gratefully received!

Gifts 2 Go - Peruvian jewellery, fridge frames, soft toys and other things.

Kingdom Crafts - Handmade Cards and Blackwork and kits for these as well.

Heather and Cheryls glass jewellery and canvasses.

Second Hand Bookstall - the Lions Club are bringing this one! Thanks guys!

Not a bad start - I am now looking for a few different things to add to this line up to draw in the crowds.

I have already printed off the posters and I will try to get it into as many local papers as possible.

Right - haven't got long to chat now as I have to rush off in twenty different directions with this brood of mine today - good job there's a lot of me to go round! :0)

BBC - Stoke and Staffordshire My Pages - Ray of Hope Premature Babywear

BBC - Stoke and Staffordshire My Pages - Ray of Hope Premature Babywear


Hopefully this link will take you all to the website we have been using for most of our prem baby things - the baby's v necked cardigan pattern donated by Julia Rees is just perfect for our preemies challenge and comes out a perfect 14" size too! Make a matching hat to go with it - I like the hand knit pull on baby hat from this site which is knitted sideways and then gathered!

I am praying that this has worked as I haven't tried anything so technical before :0)

Now I am off to book the local church hall for our Christmas Fayre - fundraising for our postal fund :0)

Let's Knit!

It's here folks! I dashed out and bought issue one today to see what it was like and they have a photo of a box of our boobies with a feature about what we are up to in the Meet and greet pages! Hopefully we will get a response from this! I have signed up for the three issues for £1 thing they have so will get the first one for £1 in November - the mag is pretty expensive (£4.99) if you buy it from the shops but you are getting subscriptions a lot cheaper so if you like it that will probably be the best way to go - I haven't checked out the DVD that came along with it but there is a nice wee baby set in it that would be great for Baby Pack!

I have heard back from HMS Argylle and the boys are really excited that we are trying to help them out - they have promised that not only will they pay the yarn and postage costs for their jumpers if we can get them made for them but they will also give us a donation for the postage fund which is definitely good!

I was thinking of approaching the Press and trying to put this out as a competition with a prize for the best Christmas Jumper???? Thought the publicity could only do us good and we should then get more jumpers for the lads which would be a great boost for morale on board when it comes to Christmas Day....... watch this space! :0)

Got an e-mail from Avril at Tommee Tippee tonight - apparently she has been speaking to our Press Officer (Tukiya - the Sky television press girl - lovely lady - always trying to get my photo in the local press!). We should be heading down there the week after next so I will be delivering these Boobs in person after all :0)
If I can just get those ones in from Kincardine we will make 100 for this run - I know a lot of you have already started on the Christmas challenge - thank you so much for that - we are certainly going to need every boob we can make as Avril tells me they have big plans for this project next year and will be using it to help publicise Breast Cancer awareness which is just fantastic - I am sure we would all be very proud to be helping such a worthwhile campaign.

Having said that we will not ignore our other charities either. We are busily working on the 100 prem baby cardigans and hats for the challenge as we speak and I am sure there are some of you still working on blankets (for babies, OAPs and animals), first size baby clothes for Baby Pack, Burundi Bears and also warm clothing for Blythswood. The need is always great and I am sure that we will be a great help to all of our nominated charities in the coming months :0)

Right - time for bed I think - a lot of knitting to be done and I am so tired - my monsters walked me off my feet yesterday as I had to take them shopping for essentials (they go back to school on Monday - hurray!) and number two son wanted to spend his birthday money on new games (it was a mammoth day out - two teenage boys, one 6 year old daughter, one 20 year old daughter and her offspring - my 2 year old grandaughter and me - shopping in town, lunch in a far too expensive restaurant where youngest daughter and grandaughter decided to play up while they waited for their food - much to the amusement of the two teenage tearaways - then off round Asdas for food shopping before returning home to do the housework which didn't get done in the morning because Grandma decided she was going to come on this PC and check out her Blog and e-mails - phew!!!!). Talk to you all soon...............

Christmas Challenge and Kirkcaldy Meetings starting!

Hi Folks!

Right - we have now got our venue and dates for Kirkcaldy - we are all very excited here at Headquarters - things are going so well for us at the moment :0)

The Kirkcaldy meetings will start on Monday November 12th from 7pm to 9pm and then every Monday after that at the same time and place! They will be in the JRD Trust, 9 The Esplanade, Kirkcaldy, KY1 1HR. Meeting fees are the same as Kelty, every member attending the meeting pays £2 - this covers hall fees and any surplus is added to the postage fund. There is a coffee bar available at this venue so you will be able to buy tea/coffee and snacks on site! I am currently printing up posters to put out letting everyone know about it - don't forget if you are in the area do come along - even if you cannot stay for meetings we will be glad to accept your finished items and donations of yarn, needles, toy stuffing etc at the same time :0)

Christmas Challenge!

As promised we have decided on the Christmas Challenge for this year........

Between now and Christmas our target is to produce 100 prem baby cardigans with matching hats and 100 knitted boobs! It may seem a tall order but if every member makes something we can achieve this easily! I have the pattern for the boobs and the patterns we have been using to make the 14" prem cardis and hats that the hospitals are wanting - this way you will all have access to them (I can attach them to an e-mail or send you out hard copies in the post whichever suits you best!). If any of you need some yarn then let me know and I will post some out to you - we do have plenty here and it is as well out there being used as lying here in boxes! :0)

As you can see from the photos we have made a start already! The wee cardigans and hats in the photo I have made in the last couple of days the patterns come from the BBC Stoke and Staffordshire - Ray of Hope - premature babywear website - the cardigan is the one that says Baby's V necked Cardigan and is knitted top down ( so easy to do and you just have the sleeves to sew up at the end!). The hat is the Hand Knit Pull-On Baby Hat and is knitted from side to side and then gathered at one end to make the crown - again a very simple but effective pattern! We love it! The other one the ladies up here love to do is the all in one cardigan from the Bliss website (it was featured in Knitting magazine a couple of months back).

OK - so there you are - a new meeting to come to and a Challenge to keep you all busy till Christmas! :0)

The other big thing is that Let's Knit magazine comes out this week and we are featured in it as well so hopefully there will be lots of lovely new members all ready to help us complete - and overtake - this challenge very soon! :0)

OH - before I forget - we did get another odd request from BHKC the other day - apparently there were some soldiers who will be spending Christmas serving in the Gulf who have asked them to find some kind ladies who could make them Christmas themed jumpers to wear on Christmas day - they felt that this would make them feel closer to home at this very family orientated time of year. I have e-mailed the guys and asked them for sizes etc. they did not mind if the jumpers were hand or machine knitted and are willing to pay the cost of the yarn and the postage. I will let you know if they reply and what they say. In the meantime if any of you are interested in helping them out then let me know asap.

Wow! What a busy post this week :0) Right I am off to start another wee cardi and hat set - targets to meet and challenges to fill! :0)

Talk soon!

Update!

Hi Guys!

From a wonderful sunny Fife - can't believe this good weather is still holding! As you will see from the attached photos the weather was great on our weekend away to a Chalet at St. Fillans as well!

I have also put on a photograph of our wee Jenna with a box containing 50 boobs all ready for Tommee Tippee - we are pulling in and making more as fast as we can before we go down to Newcastle - if I could get the ones in from Margaret in Kincardine we might make the 100 mark before we go! Jenna has been helping me out by stuffing the 'boobs' for me so I just have to sew them up - she has had such fun doing it and it has caused much hilarity in our house I can tell you! :0)

I sent out an email update the other day but five of them have come back as undeliverable - please if you have changed your email address do let me know as I would hate to lose touch with anyone!

I have been counting and we now have 50 members up and down the country working away - you are all brilliant! We have had a few new ones since the letter was published in 'Simply Knitting' and with the new magazine 'Let's Knit' that is launching next week having a feature about us in it as well we should get even more members from that - don't forget to let all your knitting and crocheting friends and family members know about us - get them to email or write with their details so I can add them to the list (I am hoping to double the numbers to at least 100 in time for Christmas so do your best! :0)

Right I must go and keep knitting 'boobs' - remember we need all your donations - I am hoping to have worked out the Christmas challenge for you all next week so watch this space!

Keep on knitting! :0)

Simply Knitting!

Good morning Happy Knitters!

Sorry I haven't updated for a couple of weeks but things here at Loving Hands Headquarters are very busy right now. Thanks to all of you for the wonderful donations of yarn and knitted items that are now coming in on a very regular basis - you have all been working so very hard! :0)

This month's edition of Simply Knitting has featured a letter from myself which has already generated several e-mails and the editor has asked me to keep in touch with what we are doing!

BHKC have added us to their list of charities on their website which is great news too - the more places we are seen the better!

Thanks also to Do and Anne over on the Isle of Man -they are passing out flyers to lots of places and have also contacted the local WI and Hospices to join in as well. Thanks to these lovely ladies it looks like we might end up with a growing group of lovely knitters and crocheters on the Island. We are still trying to track down a means of moving all the items donated to Anne by a local shop that was closing down. I have tried the local newspapers website and sent a message to the Letters to the editor page but I don't think they have published it yet. We are hoping that a carrier from the Island could bring the bags over to Dunfermline, Perth or Edinburgh for us so that we can pick them up from there. Anyone with any ideas we would love to hear from you????

Thanks also to Fynn - our Liver bird - she has sent us in some scarves and extra yarn - keep up the good work Fynn!

We have had several other donations of yarn given anonymously this month too - some in the post and some handed in by lovely locals - thank you all - your donations mean so much to us.

We are considering having a challenge for everyone in the lead up to Christmas - we will be putting our heads together at the group meeting this afternoon to see where we feel the greatest need is at the moment - then we will challenge you all to make a certain number of something in time for Christmas! Watch this space for details.......

Any ideas to help with fundraising to get these parcels moving faster would also be appreciated - the post is certainly not cheap!

I was also wakened the other morning by a reporter for an Aberdeen newspaper who is doing a feature on rehabilitating drug users and wanted input about Loving Hands - she wondered if knitting would be good therapy for people trying to keep clear of addiction - I said it depended on the addict! :0) Obviously knitting is wonderful therapy for the right people - for others maybe woodwork or metalwork or cooking might be a better choice. What do you guys think?

Hopefully I will be off down to Tommee Tippee with all these Boobs for Avril in the next fortnight - they are really needing them for some events that are coming up. If any of you have any finished ones please send them in asap so I can get them all ready to take down. Don't worry if you don't want to stuff them - I can do that at this end no problem - I know they are cheaper and easier to post unstuffed!

The other major need at the moment are 14" to 16" prem baby cardigans and hats - these are the most needed sizes and are always running low. The top down one on the Stoke 'Ray of Hope' site is the one I have been using recently - it knits up to 14" and is so easy to do - you only have to sew up the sleeve seam and add the button band to finish it! (If you don't have a printer and need any of our patterns just e-mail with your 'snail mail' address and I will send you some out.)

Remember all finished items are to be sent into headquarters:-

Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group,
18 Clentry Crescent,
Kelty,
Fife.
KY4 0LG.

Talk to you all again very soon! :0)

Keep up the good work (sorry if you have donated and I forgot to mention you - this old brain is not as agile as it used to be :0)

Secret Parcels and a whole lot more!

Good morning everyone!

This week has been great! The local newsletter has printed the follow up to the Knitathon and all the details about Loving Hands so hopefully that will attract more ladies (or even gents) along to the Monday afternoon meetings. Fife Womens Technology Centre are knitting for us as well and have asked where to hand in their items - thanks ladies - you are brilliant! Our lovely Do from the Isle of Man has been on the phone for more knitting patterns - keep up the good work Do it is always great talking to you! Tukiya (Sky televisions Press Officer) has told me it won't be long now before we go down to meet up with Avril at Tommee Tippee - I am really excited about this as Avril seems to be such a lovely lady and it will be great to meet her face to face and be able to thank her for all the fabulous donations of nappies, baby bottles etc she has sent in for Baby Pack! I will make sure I collect in all completed 'Boobs' before I got down so that I can give here a really HUGE mountain of them!

My secret pal Jennie Rouse has sent along two large bags of yarn this week as well - thank you Jennie - all contributions are very gratefully received and it won't be long beofre all these eager hands have turned this yarn into useful items for our charities! Jennie is also roping in all her lovely knitting friends and hopefully some of them will decide to knit us a few items as well!

Talking about Secret Pal - the wonderful new Pal that was allocated to me has sent me my first parcel this week. Thank you so much! The parcel has come from Germany so I think I must have been right about that part of it (her e-mail provider is German so I thought that must be a clue!). The parcel was great and I got lots of lovely goodies from her!

The pictures above show the parcel when it arrived! Then I unwrapped it and it was filled in with pieces of a German magazine - once I removed those and unwrapped the parcel I found all those lovely things inside!

A hand made knitting needle wrap - very nice! I will think of her every time I use it - just the thing for carrying projects about in the car etc as I keep losing needles through the bottom of my bag at present!

A lovely little random yarn cardigan for Baby Pack - the pattern is very unusual and the buttons ever so cute!

Two bars of German chocolate - my hubby has latched on to those - says they would be bad for my diet!

6 balls of lovley yarn - 4 pale blue and 2 random pink - these will make perfect baby things - I love soft luxury yarns for baby things! And the colours are gorgeous!

Finally there was a lovely card with a message from her as well.

Brilliantly done my secret friend - I will look forward to the rest of Secret Pal with bated breath!

Right - now it is my daughter Roxanne's 20th birthday today so I am off to pull the rest of my brood together so we can go visit and give her all her presents and cards - bad planning on my part - son Andrew is 24 on Thursday - daughter Kelly is 27 on the 19th and our 10th wedding anniversary is on the 20th (been together for 17 years now though - second husband and dad of Johnny and Jenna)- closely followed by younger son Johnny's 15th on the 8th October. This is a very busy time for presents and visits!

Keep up the good work - you are all AMAZING! :0-)

New members and lots of donations!

Well - this has been a really busy week for us - we have had another huge donation from Tommee Tippee - thank you so much Avril - you are a real star!!! Those nappies, baby bottles and dummies will be welcomed with open arms in Kwa Zulu Natal!

We have also had parcels of yarn from a couple of places - thanks girls - it will all be put to a good cause!

A new member from Liverpool has just joined us today as well - welcome Fynn - our first Liverbird I think - you will be a very valuable member of our team I am sure!

My 'almost' secret pal has come up trumps for us too - she has told her knitting group all about Loving Hands and they have already given her a load of yarn to send in to us - hopefully some of them will knit for us as well - it is brilliant! Thanks Chris - you are great! :0)

Now - if any of you can come up with some ideas how we can fund raise to get these parcels out do share them with me - I am trying to post out as fast as I can but the African ones cost an arm and a leg.

Right - this old lady is exhausted tonight so I am off to beddy by land - lots to knit tomorrow and an office to re-organise before I disappear under all this stuff!

4ply cardis and happy pals!

Well - the weather up here in fabulous Fife is glorious! It has been in the high twenties for the last three days - can't believe it - the kids are back at school and the sun is taunting them! :0) Hope it lasts for the weekend so they can get out and have some fun in it!

I am busily knitting up some prem cardis in 4ply - apparently the biggest needs in the prem baby units are for cardis and hats for the wee ones once they can come out of the incubators so from 10" size up to around the 14 to 16" sizes would be best. They also need small baby blankets in close knit patterns (don't want to catch any tiny, fragile fingers in lacey designs!). Very useful information for us as we wouldn't want to be busily knitting thing sthat are not required! Once I have a decent set of samples made up I will pop round some of the local maternities and let them tell me which items they need most!

My secret pal got her parcel today and she was over the moon with everything in it - her blog has been updated today already - she posted photos of every item and seemed to be over the moon - this is what makes SP such fun! I can't wait to see what my own 'spoiler' picks out for me - it's a bit of a hit and miss affair as sometimes you get someone (a bit like me I guess) who really gets carried away with it all and sends loads of things regularly during the 3 months and then you get the ones who stick rigidly to the amount suggested and use it to buy one larger item at the start and finish. I like the small parcels often route best as it keeps the excitement going and you know you have made your pal really happy! Bet you are all dying for the next round to start in December sop you can all join up for SP12! :0)

Right - if I go and get the floors mopped and feed the mega mutts I can maybe get some more knitting done before DH returns from work :0)

Keep Smiling!

I've Got a New Pal!

Well - I have just checked my e-mails to find messages from my Hostess and Shelby telling me that I have been sorted out with my new secret pal and then hey presto - there was a message saying she had been away on a business trip for a few days and was back now and wanted to confirm my details! So I am in business - she sounds nice - it will be great getting to know someone else!

I have already posted my first parcel off to the lady I am spoiling and have had several very excited e-mails back from her. I can't wait to see her reaction when she gets it!

Thanks to Jenn and Shelby my SP11 hostesses for getting in touch and sorting out the SP for me!

Have spent this evening writing thank you notes for all the lovely donations we have had from people who I do not have e-mail addresses for. It is always nice to be recognised for the hard work done to make lovely baby things, blankets, shawls, knitted boobs etc.

OK - almost time to go home from work now - just sneaked in to add this note as things were quiet!

Hope I get a decent sleep today!

Rainy Saturday!

Hi Guys!

Another rainy miserable Saturday! I have just been out and bought a very nice sturdy set of scales so that I can start weighing these parcels myself as I wrap them - you can only send up to 5kg in weight to Africa through the post office and it is murder if you go to all the trouble of packing something just to find it is too heavy once you get there! This way I can check the weight before I seal the package and we will be sorted (I can also work out how much it will be to make sure we have enough postage money too!).

I was in Kirkcaldy this morning and bought a lovely cat mug and some lavendar scented tealights for my secret pal - she loves cats and her favourite scents are things like lavendar and flowers so hopefully she will like these! I also got a lovely card with cats on it so I can send her a nice message - secret pal is great fun :0) Apparently I wasn't the only one who was given someone who lives close by - one of our members has left a post saying it has happened to her as well. The SP hostess says she doesn't know the geography of the uk as she has only ever been out of the states once and that was just to go to Canada. It might be quite nice to have someone close enought to meet up with after the reveal though - could end up making a new friend! :0) We still don't know who will be spoiling us yet so it may be that they come from far away - mmmm exciting!

I am half way through the prem baby blanket I have been making - it is the first time I have made one on the diagonal like that and it is quite fun to do - we will see how it looks when it is done.

I will post a photo of our Cheeky Gorilla on here next week - we are doing a guess his birthday contest at £1 a guess and the ladies in the post office here have put him on the counter to get people to buy guesses. If any of you members would like the chance to win him and help out with the postage fund at the same time then send your £1's to me at Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group, 18 Clentry Crescent, Kelty, Fife. KY4 0LG.

Also here is a message from our lovely Ann on the Isle of Man - she found a contest where an Australian charity knitting group are trying to win a $5,000 prize - it needs people to vote for them to win - I have been going on to both the sites Ann mentions and putting on 20 votes on each site every day - it doesn't take long and it is helping a fellow group to raise much needed funds! If any of you can help give it a go - every vote will help them!

Hi, there is a charity knitting group in Australia that is in a final in a competition to win lots of money if they get enough votes, you can vote up to 20 times a day, though sometimes error messages come up , just have to be patient, pass it on to any of your group that have internet please, must raise the profile of charity knitting.



There are 2 sites -- you can vote from either (or both)

http://www.femail. com.au/cash- grant-finalists. htm
http://www.girl. com.au/cash- grant-finalists. htm

scroll right to the bottom of the page and vote for Knitting for Brisbanes Needy. According to the blurb you are allowed 20 votes per day ---- sometimes you get more, sometimes less. Oh, and put your CAPS lock on!!


Fingers crossed for our Australian colleagues - it's all good if you Give with Love! :0)

Talk to you all soon - shopping, washing, floor scrubbing and then some more knitting till tea time I think!

Secret Pal!

I have got my match for Secret Pal 11 - a bit baffled by this one - apparently - even though this is an SP with members from all over the world they decided - in their wisdom - to allocate me someone to spoil who lives less than 40 miles away from my house! I will have to be really devious to try to stop her figuring out I am close by before the event finishes at the end of November.

Wonder who has been given my details - it is a different person who will be spoiling me - I am really excited about this and hopefully this time I will have a really good one (the last two times the people who were meant to spoil me were rather frugal and certainly didn't get into the swing of the secret pal thing at all - hopefully this is third time lucky!).

I have been on my SPs Blog and already have a lot of ideas for things I can send to her - I love to pack up large boxes full of lots of surprises - I imagine what their faces will be like when they start to open everything - it is such fun trying to make sure that you pick things they will love! She has filled in her questionnaire and given me lots of information about her likes and dislikes so hopefully I will manage to make her really happy! :0)

Got a parcel from Shelley Mitchell (Preemiesuk) this morning - 50 tiny baby burial buntings and some washcloths - thanks Shelley! I am sure Val will make use of them - they must have a lot of losses over there :0(

I also got a parcel from Ann on the Isle of Man the other day containing lots of tiny prem hats, shoes and mittens - they are so sweet - they have been put into the box I am filling for Shelley - she will be so pleased - thanks Ann!

We have a guess the Gorilla's birthday thing going on in the local post office to try to raise funds for postage - hopefully we will get a good response.

Right -must go off and pick up the kids from school!

Talk to you all soon!

Secret Pal 11

This is for my Secret Pal - I have signed up for the 11th round of Secret Pal which is an American based secret gifts swap for knitters and crocheters - the rules mean I need to publish this questionnaire and follow ups on the Blog site for my new pal to see - it is great fun - I have been in two before - so I hope you don't mind following my exploits through SP11!

Found the questionnaire on the SP11 site today so have done it properly for you - hope it helps!

Here are is the questionnaire for SP11. Please be sure to post it in a spot on your blog where your pal can easily find it. Since your pal will use this to help create your packages you'll want to have it posted to your blog no later than August 15th.

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I like to knit with all sorts of yarns but prefer something nice and soft that shows off the pattern and texture you are knitting.

What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I hate nasty scratchy hard yarns in yucky sludgy coours!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? One of those large three drawer plastic filing cabinets - I have lots of equipment!

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? More than 40 years - I learned at my mother's knee when I was just tiny!

Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Definitely advanced!

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No

5. What's your favorite scent? I like things like Eden and Ultra Violet - nothing too strong

.6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Definitely

Favorite candy? All of it!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I like to do cross stitch, tapestry, card making, rug making and have tried lots of other things as well.

Do you spin? No - never fancied that one!

8. What kind of music do you like? Country and Western, Folk, Some Pop music.

Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Yes

.9. What's your favorite color(s)? Pretty bright colours like shocking pinks, golden yellows, orange, emerald green and bright blue! Any colors you just can't stand? Dark sludgy colours!

10. What is your family situation? I have 6 kids ranging from 27 down to 6 and a lovely wee 2 year old grandaughter.

Do you have any pets? 3 dogs, one cat and an ancient rabbit!

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Not personally - I prefer a cardigan or a big comfy wrap!

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Baby things.

13. What are you knitting right now? Premature baby things for a UK charity.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Straight.

Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Not keen on plastic but I do have bamboo, wood and aluminium.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? No

17. How old is your oldest UFO? I don't have any - I always finish what I start!

18. What is your favorite holiday? A cabin in a remote spot somewhere in Scotland - bliss!

19. Is there anything that you collect? Hedgehogs and Penguins are my latst craze!

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? I saw a new tea cozy pattern book somewhere recently - that would be cool and I love some of these fabulous needles they produce nowadays which are all painted and pretty but you need to take out a bank loan to buy most of them!

What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Simply Knitting and Knitting.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Not that I can think of.

22. Are you a sock knitter? Have done in the past - lots of aran kilt socks for a local pipe band - haven't made any since then though!

What are your foot measurements? lenght 8 1/2 inches and 9 inches around instep!

23. When is your birthday? 21st July.

24. Are you on Ravelry? Yes - I am on the waiting list to get on here.

If so, what's your ID? I am number 22980 on their list and apparently as of today there are still 14.489 people ahead of me to get on so it might take a while!

Phew - that took a while! Hope it is useful for you!

Another Message From Africa!

Morning Everyone!

Lovely morning today - my kids just went back to school so peace reigns supreme in Loving Hands Headquarters at the moment!

Great news yesterday - we got a couple of donations towards postage thanks to the sterling work of Kate in the local post office! She made a set of our 'boobs' for a lady who didn't like the prosthetics she had been given - she apparently loves the knitted ones and has donated £10 as a thank you - Kate also made an adult sized baby bonnet and bootees for one of her colleagues who was going to a fancy dress party and that happy lady donated another £5 - thanks Kate - you are a star!

We are now going to ask the Post Mistress if she will let us put a giant Gorilla in the post office shop and ask customers to guess his birthday - this should generate some more much needed income to get these parcels off to Africa!

Talking about Africa - I had an e-mail last night from Cerys at the Volunteer Centre. The parcels posted over after the knitathon have arrived and Val is delighted with them - I have attached her e-mail for you all to see - She must have been so thrilled getting so many parcels at once!


"thank you all so much for the nine bags of baby items that you sent over.
there is a website about the baby project.im not sure of the address as i just put up baby pack project.i just do the packing the parcels and getting them out to the mums.
i have been able to send a lot of them out this week with all your help.thank you so much for thinking of us.
there is such a big need here in south africa for clothes of all sorts.the packs we make up are a real blessing to these mums as they have nothing for there babies.
please keep up the good work that you are doing for all the charities as if it was'nt for people like yourselves we could'nt do much here.
God bless you all
val bailey
the baby pack project"

We are doing great folks - now we mustn't get complacent. Loving Hands is like a puppy - not just for Christmas! We are going to keep on going and help as many people as we can! At the moment I am busy making up a lot of prem baby samples which I will take along to the two local maternity hospitals. Apparently each unit has their own way of doing things and not all of them use the same items.

Check out this site for patterns for lots of prem baby things:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/my_pages/babywear/hkp/025.shtml

We are making things for Preemiesuk already - Shelley tells me they are in need of wee blankets, cardigans, bootees and hats so we will make sure she gets a nice load of those very soon! She is sending us some things over as well as she had some extra burial buntings (for the wee lambs who sadly don't make it) and also some wash cloths that she and her young son have been making - thanks Shelley!

Last night I was working on an Angel Pocket (one of the patterns on the above link) I was crying as I made it - just knowing what it was for was enough to reduce me to bits. When I told the girls at the Kelty group they said the same thing happens to them - we are such a tender hearted bunch aren't we. I guess the best way to look at it is that these little touches might give some comfort to grieving parents - but please girls - if it hurts too much don't make the sad things - I don't want parcels of soggy items flooding in to the office :0) Thankfully there is far more need for the other things we make!

Right - I guess I had better go off and get some more work done! I have to sleep this afternoon before I pick the kids up as I work tonight - the joys of nightshift!

Keep smiling :0)