Knit Your Square to Give Your Share - PART 4

WHAT WE DO!

This lovely group began in 2007 based on the very simple idea of knitting or crocheting squares for charity. The original idea was to make a complete blanket which we could then give to an elderly person.

A post was put on to http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ asking if anyone was interested in contributing a square or two and the rest, as they say, is history. Our group has made in excess of 8,000 items which have been distributed to various charities and premature baby units throughout the UK and abroad.

We soon found the wonderful Loving Hands Charity Knitters Group http://www.lovinghands.org.uk/ an ever-growing group of lovely people who knit, sew and crochet for charity. The group is run by Lou, a jewel in the crown who, despite serious setbacks in her own life, runs the group with an efficiency that defies belief. She distributes items all around the world, making a huge difference in the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves. A look at their website will illustrate just how hard everyone works, and you will find links to free patterns and lots of other great information.

Preemies UK is another group that collects knitted and crocheted items to send to premature baby units in hospitals throughout the UK. On this website, too, you will find links to free patterns, and information about what the group does.

One of our greatest contributers on this thread is Maytaurus – over the years, she has amassed a huge collection of links to free patterns, tutorials, and lots of other goodies, which means that we are never short of inspiration. She is always on the lookout for things to share with us. Sadly, she has not been in good health for the last few months, so she has not been able to post as often as she did. We all wish her the very best and hope that it will not be long before she is back here with us.

We have a Yahoo group called the Wooligans. It’s choc-a-bloc with the most wonderful photos that we have posted of all the items we make, for charity, and for personal projects. Anyone wishing to join will just need to ‘apply’, following the instructions on the website, and, as soon as they are ‘approved’ they will be able to see all the photos, giving them a perfect illustration of what we do.

Due to family and work commitments, we don’t all have a lot of time to spare, so there is never any pressure to make loads of things. If someone just has the time to make one little hat for a premature baby, it will make a huge difference to someone’s life. Every single item is important so, if you feel you don’t have the time, please remember that one hat will be just as welcome and valued as a hundred.

It doesn’t matter where you live – I, Roamin in the Gloamin, and DPixie all live in France (sadly, not close enough to each other to form a knit and natter group!) and Chalky spends some of her year in Spain, and some in the UK. So whether you are in the UK, in Europe, or even further away, you are welcome here.

We update our totals regularly. You will see from the posts already on the thread, that people keep their own running totals in their signatures and, when they do post their weekly (or monthly, whatever is convenient) totals, they highlight the items and numbers in red; this makes it easier for us to add to our update spreadsheet – a wonderful thing that Roamin in the Gloamin kindly devised for us.

In time, I will probably ‘tweak’ this post but I just wanted to make it easier for newbies and lurkers to find out exactly what we do.

Anyone who joins us is assured of the warmest welcome from us all and, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask – we are a friendly bunch and will do our best to answer!

Do please join us!

KathyXX