Loving Hands Charity Knitters

Ok folks - I have toyed with you long enough today so here we are finally - your Spring Challenges for 31st January to 24th April 2010.

The Winter challenges have done fantastically well and I will wait till next week to post the totals as I know there are a lot of boxes and parcels on the way which need to be included. I can say though that I do believe we may have smashed all of the targets for winter 09-10 so brilliant work everyone!
I have decided to continue the Red White and Blue challenge on over the next couple of challenges. This will allow us to produce hundreds (maybe thousands) more rwb items and poppies and cupcakes so Em and Ally will have lots to sell on their travels with the Flag. Em will post the squares total for you soon and keep the poppies total until the end of it all :0) So keep up the great work - we have had mammoth sized rwb dinosaurs, beautiful strings of red felt hearts with pearl ‘teardrops’ on them, cushions, tea cozies, dolls, clowns, boobs, kids hats, jumpers and scarves and loads more already donated. I am sure there will be lots more great ideas and items to come in the next few months. I know that this moves away from our normal ethos of not making items to be sold but I am sure none of us will mind making an exception in this case as it is such a wonderful cause and close to most of our hearts.

Because of this I have decided on two main challenges and two smaller ones for this time - don’t want to overload you all with things all at once.

1. Challenge one - for our stitchers - is to make ‘Wiggly Bags’ for children who have a central line inserted. It seems horrid but once these lines are in place it takes away the need for lots of needles being used on the wee souls and that can only be a good thing. Obviously the children still want to play and get about and the lines need to be protected and kept clean - hence the wiggly bags!

They can be made in a variety of fabrics and colours for lots of different age groups. From babies through to teens.

Here is the link to the ‘How to make a wiggly bag’ pages.
http://www.downsizer..net/gallery/14621/wiggly.pdf
I would love to have 500 of these bags in a variety of colours and patterns to send in at the end of the challenges :0)

2. Challenge two - for everyone! I don’t know if any of you noticed a few weeks back. Some lovely ladies from a church craft group sent us in what they called ‘Bags of Love’. They had taken bags (like kids swimming or gym kit bags) and filled them for new mums and their babies in overseas hospitals where they often have nothing. In the bags they had put a babygro and vest, 2 disposable nappies, a cardie, hat and mitts and a toy for baby - along with a hand towel, toothpaste, toothbrush and soap for mum. I thought it was a great idea - a bit like a shoe box in a bag! I have talked it over with our charities and they love the idea too - there have been so many terrible tragedies in the world in the last year or two (the earthquake in Haiti - terrible flooding in Albania - wars in Kosovo and Afghanistan - so much misery and suffering). Between them our charities will get to most of these areas with the convoys they send out this year so I propose we make our own ‘Bags of Love’. Not just for new mums and babies like the ones we had before. This time we will do them for all ages and both sexes - like shoeboxes in bags. Because we will make up each bag for a specific age and sex it will be easier for our charities to distribute them as they can just pick one out of a box, read the label and hand it to the relevant person. You can either fill entire bags yourselves and label them with age, sex etc before sending them in. Or you can send in items to be put into these bags and we can fill and label them here at HQ as we did the shoeboxes for Blythswood in the Autumn.

We will need bags - either kids swim bag or gym bag picked up when out shopping or our stitchers can hand make them and put drawstrings in the top (like a larger version of the teddy or ST bags you already make).

Items for :- New babies

Toddlers (boys or girls)

3-5 yrs (boys or girls)

6-8 yrs (boys or girls)

9-12 yrs (boys or girls)

Teen (boys or girls)

Lady

Man

OAP (male or female)

Obviously we can also label the bags for hot or cold climates and fill accordingly as well (the needs in the likes of Kosovo or Albania will differ to those in Haiti or Kenya for example).

We can add toys, toiletries, writing materials, tools, nappies etc into these as well as all the hand made with love items we produce. A practical way to get aid in a ready to use form to those who need it :0)

Your smaller - side - challenges are as follows :0)

1. We have been approached by one of our former clients to give her another load of prem baby and burial items. Sadly she has run out of what we gave her before. As well as this I know our Portsmouth group have found a few SCBU’s who are in need of extra things. The lady who contacted me said she needed prem baby cardies and hats, burial gowns and angel pockets. Pretty, special blankets. Also small toys that could either be buried with baby or kept by mum as a keepsake. We also like to have a few lovely shawls and christening or baptism gowns ready for when we get special requests - not all parents are in the position to be able to rush out and buy these when faced with tragedy and it is really nice to be able to provide them with really pretty items for that final journey.
2. As you know - and a lot of you are already acting on - Avril has run out of Boobs again! With the baby shows starting up in March she will be in need of a ‘boob injection’ in time for the season starting up. All colours and sizes - you can send them in stuffed or not (Kelly will finish them off for you here!), They are now giving them out to midwives in exchange for donations to BLISS (a charity which helps parents who have lost babies to miscarriage or stillbirth) so we will also be helping to raise funds for a very worthwhile cause at the same time.

OK - I think that is enough for you all to be getting on with - RWB, Wigglybags, Bags of Love, Prem and Burial items and Boobs - hope I haven’t disappointed anyone and that you all approve of my choices. (It is always a nervous time for me waiting to see if you are pleased with what I have chosen) :0)

AUTUMN CHALLENGES 2009
19^TH JULY TO 17^TH OCTOBER, 2009

So here we are - time to launch our new challenges to run from today (19^th July) through to Saturday 17^th October. I have had some lovely feedback from the last challenges and requests for our next ones so it has been hard to choose again what we will ask you to do but here goes - hope you all approve of my choices :0)

This challenge will once again be in four parts - feel free to do any or all of them or even just continue with items from our wish lists - there is no pressure to do the challenge items if you don’t like challenges :0)
Part 1. We felt that the gents miss out a lot when we are making things - there are not as many patterns for mens garments and we tend to make ladies tops etc so I thought it would be nice to make the men folk our priority for Blythswood this challenge. You could make anything from hats, gloves and socks to jumpers, waistcoats and cardigans. There are lots of nice slipover patterns and I am sure a lot of you are dedicated sock knitters and would love a chance to show us what you can do. I got the idea for this one from our own dear Granny Do who has made some lovely waistcoats which are lined in beautiful silky lining fabric - they are ever so good Do and I know you are going to share your pattern with Suzanne so she can make some too. Stitchers could make waistcoats like Do or maybe fleece fabric could be turned into warm scarves or hats. As you have done so well in this challenge I think you can easily manage 500 items for men in this challenge :0)

Part 2. An old chestnut again but we are sending them out as fast as we get them in these days - we need more boobs girls! As well as keeping Tommee Tippee going for the baby shows and raising lots of money for cancer research we get lots of requests from individual midwives and hospitals as well so this is an ideal chance for the new members to get involved in a ‘boob job’ - you may have seen the amazing fair isle ones done by the St Mary’s Church group the other day so you will see as far as colours are concerned - anything goes. You can still send them in ready to be stuffed and Kelly will happily finish them off at this end. I would love to have 500 of these as well - they are quick and easy to do and with so many new members I am sure we will reach this target no problem :0)

Part 3. Blythswood’s Shoe Boxes. The reason we do the shoe boxes for Blythswood is because they make them for all ages from babies to old folk so nobody misses out. I am not expecting anyone to fill an entire shoebox themselves but if you are sending in other items you could maybe pop in an item or two to be included in the boxes. The ages range from babies, children, teens, men, young woman, older woman. Scotia Aid tell me that Blythswood kindly transport their items to Serbia in exchange for the Scotia Aid team checking their shoe boxes every year. Last year Frances tells me she checked over 2000 boxes and that the age group that were very low in numbers were teenage boys. Hopefully we will manage to fill quite a few for teenage boys this year to help with those targets. The check list of suggested items is below:-

Toiletries (no talcum powder)
Soap
Shampoo
Face cloths
Wipes
Deodorant
Moisturising Cream
Comb/brush
Sanitary Products
Shaving Foam/razors
Toothbrush/toothpaste
Clothes
Underwear/socks/tights
Hat/scarf
Gloves/mitts
T shirts/jumpers/pyjamas/shirts etc
Miscellaneous
New Make Up
Sewing Equipment
Household Candles
Screwdrivers/Pliers
Kitchen Utensils
Stationery
Pens/pencils/sharpeners
Notepads/colouring books
Rulers/rubbers
Small toys
Sweets (no chocolate or any other food - no loose sweets, lollies or undated bags of sweets). Best before date no earlier than March 2010.
Age range. Baby boy/girl
3-7 “ “
8-12 “ “
Teen “ “
Woman
Elderly Woman
Man
We will be collecting boxes here and wrapping them in Christmas paper ready to have a packing day closer to the time for collection.
Part 4. Emma at Algerian Action tells me that a lot of children over there have to spend months at a time in hospital and away from their families. Most childrens wards have very little in the way of toys so Emma would like to give them boxes of toys for each ward. She has asked if members could maybe knit, crochet or sew toys for the children to play with. I had a thought that as a team effort we could also make some of the Noahs Ark or Farmyard sets that are available. I know I have the Alan Dart Noahs Ark pattern here and have just ordered the Knitted Farmyard book - we could each make one or two bits from each of these and get a few ready that way. Other ideas could be topsy turvy dolls, juggling balls, skittles, dolls with clothes you can change etc. Of course there is nothing wrong with a good old fashioned rag doll or teddy bear either. :0) Again I won’t put a number on these - just let us try to give Emma a good selection of toys for the children to play with while they are away from their families.

We also have a wee extra challenge - Pat our Silver Surfer has asked us to make wee christmas hats for the babies in her loical hospital - they need a mixture of prem and newborn sizes done in red/green/white - newborn to be fiished as normal , prem ones to be either tea cosy style or super stretchy with a gap about 2 inches long left in the side seam for access with equipment. I am sure we will get lots more rhan 50 so any extra ones we will pass on to other hospitals as well.

So there you are girls and guys - your new challenges. I hope none of you are disappointed and that I have given you plenty of choice here. Looking forward to hearing what you all think of these choices.
Get those needles clicking and lets make this challenge as good as the last :0)
Lou
Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group
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Update on the Spring Challenge 2009

Now we have the launch of the Summer 2009 Challenges
OK - It is that time again - I know you have all been waiting for the announcement of the Summer challenges for 2009. These will run from 12th April right through to 18th July and we will then announce the Autumn challenges on the 19th July. :0)

This time we are looking for four sections again with items to suit all of your talents whether you knit, crochet or sew for us I am sure you will all find something to get you working like fury - if not then by all means feel free to continue with your favourite items from our wish lists - as you all know already we can always find places for everything we receive at HQ :0)

First off we would like you to help our furry friends - we are looking for Dog Coats, Pet beds and Animal Blankets - these can be knitted, crocheted or stitched - we need all sizes from pussy cats and puppies right up to Great Danes - we would love to get 200 of these if possible xx

We have been approached by SANDS the UK charity that supports bereaved parents - they have launched an appeal for blankets for their precious memory boxes - these blankets need to be made in white (they will also accept cream) DK yarn and 4mm (size 8) pins. Here is the pattern to use:-

200gm of Double Knit Wool and size 8 (UK) needles

BASIC BLANKET
Cast on 1 stitch
Next row :- Make the one stitch into two stitches.
Next row :- Knit 1, into the next stitch make another,3 stitches on needle.
Continue to knit, ALWAYS knit the first stitch and into the 2nd stitch make another.
Only increase this way at the BEGINNING of a row
Continue until you have almost come to the end of the 100gm ball. Knit 1 row plain.
Next row:- Knit 1, Knit 2 together, Knit to end of row. Continue this way, always knit the 1st stitch then decrease into the next stitch by knitting 2 together until 1 stitch remains. You should now have a neat square.

LACE EDGING
Using Double Knit and size 8 (UK) needles Cast on 8 stitches
Row 1 ( Wrong side) Slip 1, Knit 1,(Yarn fwd knit 2 tog)twice, Yarn fwd Knit 2 (9sts)
Rows 2, 4, and 6. Slip 1 Knit to the end.
Row 3. Slip 1, knit 2 (yarn fwd knit 2 tog) twice. Yarn fwd Knit 2 (10sts)
Row 5. Slip 1, knit 3 (yarn fwd knit 2 tog) twice. Yarn fwd Knit 2 (11sts)
Row 7. Slip 1, knit 4 (yarn fwd knit 2 tog)twice . Yarn fwd Knit 2 (12sts)
Row 8. Slip 1, Knit 11 sts
Row 9. Slip 1 Knit 11 sts Row 10 cast off 4 Sts Knit to the end ( 8sts) These 10 rows form the pattern. Continue in pattern until it is long enough to fit one edge, or all around, as you wish. Sew onto the blanket

We are hoping to be abe to give them 200 to help out with such a very worthwhile cause which I know is very close to a lot of our members hearts :0)

Part 3 of our challenge is for summer items for children - for our knitters this could be cardigans, tank tops, summer tops, dresses etc. Our stitchers could make pretty dresses, shirts, shorts, trousers etc. These items will be divided equally between our two childrens charities - Linda MacDonald and Algerian Action so we would love to be able to send them 200 items each - that means we need 400 childrens summer items xx

and finally Part 4 - this one is the pet project of our lovely Suzanne and she has already had a trial run which is off to the charity for approval so she can then help any of our stitchers who want to take part - Algerian Action is looking for sanitary towels for girls in their catchement area who are desperately needing them. You can read all about it in the 'washables' section on the Algerian Action website. Apparently some of these poor girls have been reduced to using plastic bags as they do not have the money to buy towels - in this day and age this is appalling and easily remedied by providing each girl with a set of washable towels in a handy drawstring bag - there are instructions on Algerian Action for the wayh Lynne has been making them or Suzanne has devised a way to make alternatives. We will not put a set target on these but would like to help as many girls as we possibly can to have a bit of dignity and comfort back in their lives.

So there you have it folks - another challenge launched - I hope none of you are disappointed and that we have managed to give you something for everyone to get involved in again.

Good Luck (although I am sure you won't need it - you will hammer these targets as always xx)

Hopefully everyone will be happy with these :0) I am shattered after all the counting, packing etc but ecstatic with the totals - aren't they all wonderful - I am so proud of you all xxx
Don't work too hard!
Thank you!

Lou
Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group

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OK girls - I have kept you all waiting long enough - can we have a drum roll please

The Winter Challenge totals as of today 14th January, 2009!!!

Teddies 140 (19 of them are sitting here beside me waiting to be stuffed and finished off before I pop them into their box to post off to Alice tomorrow).

Teddy Bags 80

Blankets 158 - these have been Vacuum packed ready to be handed over to Kathy Henry and her hubby tomorrow afternoon - Kathy's church group will be taking the blankets over to Zambia for Aids Orphans there.

Sailor's Hats 302 - all boxed and ready to take to the post office tomorrow morning before I go to meet Kathy at the other side of the Forth Road Bridge,

It is a rather large box - glad I have Kelly here to help me move it and get it into the post office

Pyjamas and Nightdresses - sadly this was a bit of a non starter as we still haven't found a source of materials yet. We have had 14 pairs of pyjamas and 8 nightdresses made so far - hopefully we will be lcky and find a supplier willing to donate some material for these later and can revisit this challenge then - we have increased our pile of items for Linda McDonald over this quarter - she is sooooo delighted with all you do for her and has mentioned us in her newest newsletter

There are still more to be added to the above totals so I will wait about a week and then add the late items on - well done everyone - I will post up the new Spring Challenges in the morning so watch this space........
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The next bit is the announcement of the Spring Challenges 2009
OK my merry little band of helpers - here we go - the Spring Challenges for 2009 - these will run from today Thursday 15th January to Saturday 11th April (Summer challenges can then be announced on Easter Sunday - very fitting I thought :0). I have had so many fantastic suggestions that it has been very hard choosing this time - some I have decided are great for summer or autumn so have put them on a back burner till then, some duplicated things we already do so are well covered (quite a few of the suggestions were to give to groups who send things to Romania, Algeria, Bulgara etc which we do already through Blythswood, Linda McDonald and Scotia Aid - it would be a shame to divert the aid away from groups we know are definitely getting the items to where they need to be). Right there are 4 sections to this challenge so hopfully there will be something to suit everyone Challenge 1 - 300 items for the elderly to keep them warm in the sub zero temperatures they get over in places like Bulgaria, Romania etc. These will be delivered by Blythswood Care and could be anything at all eg. Hats, Gloves, Mittens, Scarves, Socks, Lap Rugs, Shawls, Cardigans, Jumpers, Bedsocks etc. I spoke to the people at Blythswoods depots in Deephaven and Glasgow last week and they tell me that these items are their priority items right now so they will be ever so grateful to get them:0) Challenge 2 - 200 toys for our ambulance and fire crews - these are trauma toys and can be taken out in poly bags tucked in a corner so if the crews come upon a trapped or badly injured child they can give them a toy to distract them and the child can then keep the toy afterwards. Toys need to be around 8 to 10 inches and can be anything you like - dolls, bears, rabbits clowns = get your old Jean Greenhowe and Alan Dart patterns out and have fun :0) Challenge 3 - For our stitchers - Suzanne and her hubby David came across a wonderful idea for this one. A Scottish Bird Conservation group had an appeal out looking for bags to use to save baby puffins who are blown from their nests on St Kilda ! (Now officially know as pufflings according to our Suzanne). Suzanne has been in touch and they are delighted that we want to help out. They said they can use as many bags as we give them as there were other wildlife groups jumped on the bandwagon and said to them if they had any spare could they have them for things like baby hedgehogs (everyone say aaaaw) The bags need to be around 30cm square (12 inches) made from dark coloured fabric- cotton preferably - and have no seams on the inside for the wee birds to catch their claws or beaks on (so use french or enclosed seams or maybe line the bags) - then finish off with a drawstring to close (Will Abakhan is looking out for offcuts of dark cotton as we speak which he kindly says he will donate to us if he finds some). Challenge 4 - 300 boobs for teaching breastfeeding in UK hospitals. Update on this one girls - the original challenge was for 300 boobs for Leeds Health Board and we promised help with costs and a donation to Linda Mcdonald in exchange for doing these - the same exec has now been back in touch saying they have got all the boobs they need now from local knitters so he does not want ours any more - so I guess we will not be getting help with costs and a donation for charity after all. Never mind Avril at Tommee Tippee can take all the boobs we can muster and they raise money for Breast Cancer charities through the baby shows when they take our boobs out with them (she also donates lots of baby items we can pass on to Blythswood and Linda Mcdonald along with our other overseas ventures - so we still have a Pay it Forward challenge! ) So there we have it girls - Winter Challenge over and Spring one officially launched - hope you are happy with it - I will keep looking for new and original ideas for future challenges and don't forget you don't have to just make challenge items - we still need all of the items on our wish lists so just carry on with those if you are happier making them *****************************************************************************************************************************************

Update on the Autumn Challenges 2008
Here you go girls the totals you have all been waiting for!!!
In the Autumn Challenge I set you back before I had my accident I asked you for 200 boobs for Tommee Tippeee - our total to date is 120 - a bit short of the target but Barbie, Kate and I will continue making them to make sure Avril doens't go short.
I asked you for 300 scarves for Blythswood and we have made it - 309 to date - well done!
I also asked for 500 items for Linda McDonald and we now have - wait for it - drum roll please!!!! 736 items - all bagged and waiting for Lida to send over the lovely Barry with his landrover to collect them! Fantastic effort girls :0)
Stella has helped me also to count and bag up hats for Paul O Gradies Save the Children challenge and we had 1,600 hats which we bagged up in 8 parcels each containing 200 hats! Didn't we do well :0)

You should all be ever so pleased with yourselves.

Update on Summer Challenge 2008
Hello Everyone!
Here we are again with the latest update from Loving Hands Headquarters! You all did amazingly well with the last round of challenges - we asked you to make us 200 of each of the challenge items and (as always) you did us proud and have smashed all the totals!
Final figures were:-
Baby Hats 1103
Baby Cardigans 367
Blankets 280
Jumpers and Cardis for children 273

Fantastic! I am so proud of you all - what a great job!

Hope you are all ready for the next round now! This one will run from now to the 28^th September - keep you all out of mischief for a while!

The competition will end on the 14th September and entry forms will be sent out to all who wish to take part!
We thought this was enough to be going on with as we are still making Teddies for Tragedy and Bags for them for the next three weeks anyway. (For those of you who have been out of the loop through not having internet access - we have been churning out Teddies for Tragedy and the stitched bags to put them in for the Singing Children of Africa to take back with them at the end of their tour here (end of July they leave us). Obviously these teddies are great for Linda MacDonald and Blythswood as well so they will be great for ongoing projects too.

Hope you all like these challenges and we smash these targets as well as we did the last ones!

Keep up the great work - you are all stars! (By the way we now have 251 members - woo hoo - we are growing!).