Knit, Crochet and Sew for Charity
STOP PRESS!!
LOVING HANDS
SUMMER CHALLENGES
25th April 2010 - 24th July 2010.
Click HERE
for details and to see our NEW Summer 2010 challenges
LOVING HANDS
SPRING UPDATE 2010
I can’t believe how quickly this year is flying past - the end of the Spring
challenges already and time to launch the Summer ones;0) I still have a pile of
parcels to open before we will know the final results of this challenge but I
can tell you that - as always - you have done me proud. I have sent mountains of
baby and children’s clothes, blankets and toys off in the last couple of weeks
and also sent over 300 knitted boobs to Tommee Tippee ;0) There are also piles
of bags and items to be put into them for our Bags of Love initiative as well -
everyone of you has been so generous - Thank You All ;0)
In recent months you have all been trying hard to help me get a new HQ
building for Loving Hands. We had a look and decided we had room for a workshop
7ft high x 10ft wide and 20ft long in the back garden. Our target is £2000 to
allow us to buy the workshop itself, put in a sound base for it, line it with
insulation and board and put up lots of nice sturdy shelving for storage and
organising of our supplies and donations and exchange the windows for double
glazed units. My Dear Hubby is on standby to make a start on the foundation when
the summer finally arrives. We are already three quarters of the way to our
final target so I am hopeful that by the end of the summer I should be able to
get back into my office and use it for the purpose it is intended. At the moment
nobody can get in there and it has been affectionately nicknamed ‘Armageddon’ as
it is floor to ceiling stacked with the stocks from a couple of ex yarn stores
(Huge thanks to the family of the lovely lady in Berwick on Tweed who donated
all of the stocks from her shop to us when she passed away and also to Norma and
Mary from West Calder - Norma is moving abroad and has donated huge amounts of
yarn, patterns etc to us which formed part of the stock of the shop she used to
own.). It will take time but I am slowly getting in there and boxing up ‘pot
luck’ boxes of yarn and fabric to send out to our members to keep them all out
of mischief!
It is my intention that when HQ is completed and the stock has been safely
moved into it we shall have an Open Day and a dedication ceremony to celebrate
our new premises. The building is going to be dedicated in the memory of Bob and
Gavin Skillicorn - the husband and son of our own dear Granny Do who both passed
away within a couple of weeks of one another earlier this year. The whole
Skillicorn family have been so good to Loving Hands since Do joined us and Gavin
had wanted to build me an HQ all by himself as he was a wonderful carpenter and
joiner. Do’s daughter Anna will bring her over from the Isle of Man so she can
officially open the HQ and unveil a plaque in honour of her lovely boys. I am
sure it will be a wonderful day and hope that lots of our members can make it to
the celebrations!
A lot of us are also going to be making our way to Perth Racecourse on
Saturday 15th May for the Scotland’s Knitting Only Show. Local
members (myself included) have been going since it began (this is the
3rd year) and it is certainly well worth a visit. Loads of wonderful
bargains to be had as well as the chance to buy the luxury yarns we might not
always be able to afford or find in our local yarn stores ;0) We are especially
excited this year as our own Bonnie Jean (Roamin in the Gloamin) is coming over
from France to do a tour in the UK and will be coming to the show while she is
here! We have decided that all LH members attending the show will wear a knitted
‘boob’ to show other members who we are. You can make mini ones to wear as
brooches, attach them to your hat, bag, jacket or whatever - we will all be
spotted by our woolly mammaries on display that day!!!
As for myself I am still plodding on - still waiting for my eye socket to
fully heal so that the surgeons can decide on future reconstruction. Hopefully
later this year they will be able to make a start so I do need to make sure HQ
is running efficiently by then as I may have to spend some time in hospital
again when the operations take place. It will be worth it in the end I am sure
;0)
****************************************************************************************************************************************Sprin
Here I am at last - it seems that time has been
flying away from me recently and I just realized that although the Spring
Challenges had been posted on the Forum for the members to see I had omitted to
give Pam my updates for the web site. Apologies for being so late! You should
now find the new Spring Challenges on the relevant page here - hope everyone
likes them! The Winter challenges have been a roaring success as always and I
am now busy boxing up the last of it to get it all uplifted and off to our
charities. I have now been able to send 4 Huge boxes of aid off to Hope and Aid
Direct and the same to Hope4Children - they are ever so grateful for all of your
help and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of donations. I have now added both of
these charities to the list of those we are supporting so they will get regular
boxes from now on.
I have also been sending box after box down to Em
and Ally for our Heroes challenge and a lot of you have also been sending your
donations for this directly to her - I am sure we are all hoping and praying
that this wonderful initiative is a great success and we manage to provide them
with thousands of items to sell as they go!
The Apostleship of the Sea Chaplin is calling to
collect all of the hats and balaclavas we have made for the sailors in his care.
He is such a nice man and extremely delighted that we chose to help them this
winter. He tells me that balaclavas are especially great for men working on
deck in all weathers - maybe next year we will manage to make more of them
;0)
We have been exceptionally lucky with donations of
materials etc this last few weeks. Norma and Mary have been over twice with
whole car loads of first DK and then Chunky and fancy yarns - Norma used to have
a wool shop in West Calder that closed down some time back. She is now
preparing to move abroad and needed to clear out the stock she had harboured in
her house - you can imagine how excited everyone here has been at getting full
packs of lovely yarns to share! We have also been given the entire stock of a
wool shop in Berwick on Tweed that closed down in the 80's. The lovely lady who
owned the shop had packed up all her stock in huge boxes and black bags and it
has sat in the spare room of her house all this time. Sadly she passed away
recently and her family are very kindly giving us the entire stock of yarns,
needles, crochet hooks, patterns, threads, motifs and fabric offcuts! I have
had to arrange for a van and driver to go down and collect it all so we are
desperately in the process of trying to clear out the office here before the
weekend so we will have room for it all! Needless to say the next few weeks
will be taken up with sorting it out and getting it shipped off out to the
members who need supplies as fast as we can!
For those of you who have been following my
recovery I have finally had the bandages removed from my head although there are
still a couple of dressings needed up there and my eye socket still has not
healed. I made the journey from Fife to Sheffield by train through the heavy
snow on the 6th January with my husband to visit the Ehlers Danlos testing
centre - they have taken some biopsies etc and I will get the results of their
tests around Easter time. I am now waiting to see an Opthalmologist and a
Plastic Surgeon in the hope that they might be able to reconstruct my face and
build me a new eye socket - I am trying very hard not to get too excited at the
prospect as I know that with my other problems of not healing etc they might
decide it is not safe to proceed - fingers crossed that I get the news I am
hoping for!
We have decided to make up for not having any
holidays the last couple of years and are having three breaks this year. The
first one a Monday to Friday break on the 1st of March to a lovely Lodge at
Killin (just for the two of us - a Christmas gift from my lovely hubby xx), then
we have a weekend break at Wemyss Bay with our wee lass Jenna on the 18th June
followed by a full week away on the 2nd July to a mystery destination (not
risking broadcasting where we are going this time as the last time I tried to
cross the Border for a holiday I ended up in a coma ;0) I will have my laptop
with me and will be able to keep in touch with you all while I am away
The members are also trying to help me raise the
funds to build a garden room out back so we will have more space for our ever
expanding little Empire. We are now well over 900 members and growing all the
time and my house is just a normal wee council house so not a lot of room for
all the boxes and parcels coming and going all the time. We are aiming to have
it for the end of the summer and will celebrate with a Loving Hands Open Day
when it is all ready!
If you have been 'lurking' and keeping an eye on
what we do - make this the year you come out of the shadows and join in - we
don't bite and the Forum is such a fantastic source of inspiration and support
for everyone who is on it.
Fingers crossed for a very long and very hot
Summer to make up for this hard Winter xxxx
Lou xxxx
LATEST NEWS AUGUST
2009
Here we are again - another few
months have passed and we have had a wonderfully succesful Summer challenge -
the results of this along with the new Autumn Challenges have been posted and
can be found by clicking the button above :0)
We are all very busy here at Loving
Hands making things for the new challenges as well as organising some
fundraising events to help with the postage and materials funds. The Aberdeen
& Shire groups are hoping to have a stall at the big Horticultural Show up
there in a few weeks and Elaine has everyone busily making toys and items to put
on her tombola and sell on her stand. She is also co-ordinating our very first
Loving Hands Cook book (dedicated by the members in loving member of Elaine's
dear husband Jim who sadly passed away a few weeks back after heart surgery)
Elaine is collecting recipes of all sorts to include in the book and it is hoped
we will have it ready to sell by Christmas - great wee stocking
fillers!
The Mother Group here in Kelty are
also thinking of organising an Autumn Fayre to be held sometime in October -
more info on this will be posted on the Forum once we have sorted out a venue
etc to allow the Aberdeen Groups venture to be completed
beforehand.
As for me - it has now been confirmed
that I do have Ehlers Danlos (Hypermobile type) and this is the reason my
healing is so slow - I have very poor skin which is murder to heal and tears
very easily. Because of this my scalp and eye socket are still not healed even
though it has now been over a year since it all happened. The surgeons have also
delayed the flap surgery to make a new cheek for me out of part of my shoulder
until they have completely healed the original wound sites so we are very much
playing a waiting game. Not that I have any time to worry about all that as you
lot of Knitty nutters certainly keep me ever so busy:0)
So thats it - we are now over 700
strong and growing in leaps and bounds - we have lots of wee sub groups dotted
around the country now with lovely names - The Marsden Cuckoos and the Happy
Hookers are just two of the very appropriately named groups on the lunatic
fringe of Loving Hands ;0)
New members always welcome here as
are donations of yarn, fabric, toy stuffing, patterns, finished items
etc.
If anyone needs more information then
please either email me on charityknitters@yahoo.co.uk (don't
worry this email address is my own and read only by myself) or give me a call on
01383 830277. We are always delighted to chat to members and we often get
members dropping in on their way past Kelty to hand in items to save posting -
our house backs on to the M90 sliproad so a lot of people pass when visiting
Scotland - if I know you are coming I will bake you a nice cake and put the
kettle on!
Keep smiling and keep those needles
clicking!
Loopy Lou xx
LOVING HANDS
AUTUMN NEWLSETTER 2009
www.lovinghands.org.uk
Well, here we are again folks. Another Challenge drawing to a close and what
a challenge it has been. You were asked to give me 400 children’s summer items -
you have given us 1443 - what an astounding achievement - I have given 20 black
bags full of aid to Scotia Aid and sent about 10 large boxes of items down to
Emma at Algerian Action already - not to mention the bags and bags of donations
that Cherryl and our Carrickfergus group have passed directly to Linda
MacDonald. This is so wonderful to think of hundreds of kids who will have
smiles on their faces because of you. Amazing :0)
I then asked you to help out our furry friends by making 200 pet blankets,
beds and dog coats. You have given us 462 - more than double what I asked you
for! Brilliant! On the way we were asked to help out Nia and the animals at
Friends of the Animals RTC by making dog coats for a doggy fashion show - I have
been able to send Nia several boxes of blankets, coats and beds already and you
will have seen from her responses on our forum that she is absolutely delighted.
They now have a link to Loving Hands from their web site and will be letting us
know how the doggy fashion show goes as well. As well as helping out Nia we have
also donated to Perthshire Abandoned Dogs Society, Fife Cat Shelter, Cats
Protection League and Second Chance Kennels so lots of happy furry friends as
well.
The next one was for SANDS memorial blankets - these are put into the memory
boxes given to bereaved parents when they have lost a wee angel. I asked for 200
and so far we have 116 - I am sure there will be more coming in over the next
week or so and have already sent 115of them down to Sue in the post. If you have
been enjoying making these then please do make some more and we will try to
complete the totals that way. Also we had a lovely email from Sands asking if we
could continue making them as we still lose 17 babies every day in the UK:0)
Our final challenge was for project washables for Algerian Action. Emma has
told us that girls over there had been using plastic bags as they couldn’t
afford to buy proper sanitary protection. So far we have made at least - 693
pads, 487 covers, 186 bags and 73 waterproof liners - although I know these
totals are actually far more as Suzanne has been busy making them herself as
well. When she is finished bagging them all I will let you know how many
complete sets we have been able to send. Again this will be an ongoing project
so any of you stitchers who would like us to send out some more towels or sheets
to continue with these just pm me or Suzanne and we will get some out to you. It
would be lovely to make sure that every girl Emma comes in contact with over
there has her own set and maybe even send some to Linda McDonald and Scotia Aid
too for the ladies in their regions.(Update on this - we have already sent Emma
150 complete sets and Suzanne has another 30 ready with more being added
daily!).
All in all I have been totally overwhelmed with the responses to my last
challenges - you have done me proud once again and I love you all for it. Loving
Hands members are the most wonderful people you could hope to meet and I am just
so lucky to have you all with me - thank you! Xxx
Latest News!!!!
As we move on through 2009 Loving Hands
continues to grow every day - we now have over 400 members and four groups that
work away making the items we need for our charities. New groups have now
formed in Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland (meets monthly) and in Portsmouth in
Hampshire (meets twice a month) with the posibility of some more forming in
other areas very soon. This is very exciting for us as we can see our group
growing and getting stronger all the time
For those looking at this website who would
like to know more about what we are doing either email me - charityknitters@yahoo.co.uk or
give me a call on 01383 830277 - you can also click on the Forum tab at the top
of this page and see what fun we all have there (there are also lots of photos
and pattern ideas there as well).
My health is improving and I am currently still
waiting for the next stage in my reconstruction - shouldn't be long now till I
am back in the local hospital for another operation. The staff there have been
wonderful and I feel they are all now part of the family. I have been busy
making cardigans, scarves, hats and other items for each and every one .of the
team who have been giving me such excellent care - just a small gesture of
thanks but they have all loved their gifts (the ladies on the forum enjoyed
seeing my surgeon Mr Lyall in his new aran cardigan - he was looking so pleased
with himself in the photo).
We have now added a new charity Algerian Action
to our list of those we help - several of the members asked if we could do this
and I contacted the young lady who runs it for the address to send our
donations. Looks like another very worthwhile cause - we have just sent off a
couple of boxes of baby clothes to them as Lynn tells us that a lot of new
mothers in the area she goes to have nothing to clothe their babies in so she
takes packs of items and gives one to each mother who needs it.
Thanks to all who have joined us and to those
who have donated wool, fabric, wedding or bridesmaid dresses, toys etc. Every
item is gratefully received and we always make sure to find the right place for
everything we receive - this is the beauty of working with a diverse group of
charities :0)
Lou xxx
We have recently had a donation
of wool from Abakhan Wool company which we are really pleased about. They
have lots of offers on their site if you want to buy some wool.
Here are some of their recent
offers
Credit Crunch Offers
at Abakhan.co.uk include Buy 1 Get 1 Free on Sirdar Bigga, Frenzy,
Fizz, Funky Fur, Illusion & James Brett Vixen.
SIRDAR – All
500g packs ONLY £5 & All 1000g packs ONLY £11.
WENDY - Racy Lady,
Shimmer & Cosmic – All 500g packs ONLY £6.99
PATONS – Spirit,
Flower Garden, Coast, Zig Zag, Lush & Spritz – All 500g packs
ONLY £6.99
TIVOLI – Ripples,
Splendour, Plush, Gusto & Florence – 500g packs from ONLY £6.99
Shop Online - click on the logo .jpg)
Latest
Update on Lou - 30th October
Hi everyone - I am writing this update myself for Pam today so you will all
know I am very much back in the land of the living. It has been a very
rollercoaster three months but I am here and in good spirits (as the local
members will tell you - my jokes haven't got any better and I certainly haven't
lost my sense of humour)! Progress is very slow as I am not a fast healer, at
the moment I am going to the hospital twice a week to get the dressings changed
and waiting to be taken in for the next stage of reconstruction (which will
hopefully be soon as I am to go to St Johns in Livingston next week to see the
specialists there). Once they have compared notes with the surgeons at Queen
Margarets I will probably be taken to Livingston to have the next operation done
(probably to make a new cheek from the muscles in my shoulder - I am becoming an
expert in flap surgery as I have been researching it so I will not get any nasty
surprises when the time comes).
I have bought some wigs from a great store in China on ebay - just £10 each
and they look fantastic - it looks so much better if I put a wig on over the
bandages before I drive the car as I was having a lot of men 'rubber knecking'
as they went past me! I have also lost over 3 stones now and am under 17 stones
for the first time in 28 years! Not the sort of diet I would recommend to
anyone else but at least I have had one good thing come out of this!
Loving Hands is going from strength to strength even in my abscence - my
heartfelt thanks goes out to my lovely daughters Kelly and Roxanne who were
determined to keep it afloat and working normally till I got back to it. Kelly
is even coming to meetings with me now and knitting has helped her give up
smoking as well! Also to my band of wonderful local helpers Suzanne who was
like a rock to my family breezing in with her no nonsense attitude and making
them all feel better at the same time. Kate who helped with parcels and came to
visit me in the hospital, Gladys and her daughter Isobel who became my
treasurers and made sure both meetings were running fine and my dear Stella who
got roped in to help count and wrap all the things at the end of the challenges
and who faithfulloy came to see me even though she was also having to visit her
own mum in hospital after a heart attack. Finally to our wonderful Pam who kept
the site updated with news of my progress - she always finds time for us even
though her own talents are keeping her ever so busy with tv appearances, cd on
sale and commisions for her paintings! Without you all things could have been
in an awful muddle by the time I got back - thank you all so much. Thanks too
to every one of my fabulous members - you kept on working and sent your cards
and prayers to keep me going - the nursing staff had never seen one patient with
so many cards and lots of them were hand made too which was great!
Looking forward - I will be absent for spells when I am in hospital for
many months to come yet but in the end I will be like new - even better than I
was before - every morning when I wake up I smile as each day is a gift and I am
a very lucky lady indeed.
God Bless you all
Lou xxx
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Welcome to Loving Hands charity knitting,
sewing and crochet group.
Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group was formed by Lou Jaap after a very succesful 24 hour
Charity Knitathon which took place in the Volunteer Centre in Kirkcaldy,
Fife to celebrate National Volunteers Week.
The event went so well
it was decided to start up a group to continue the great work started
during the Knitathon. We now have a blog site and forum.
We have members from
all over the UK who knit and crochet for our various charities.
We
have a group who meet up every Monday afternoon. We meet in
the Community Centre, Main Street, Kelty from 1pm to 3pm - all welcome!
As well as the main charities,
we make blankets for the local animal shelters and prem baby clothes
for the local hospitals. New members are always welcome as are donations
of yarn, needles, patterns, toy stuffing etc.
