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)