Hedgehog Knits

Adventures in knitting from the eastern edge of Canada.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Warming up Afghans

Just a brief post today to share some information for local Ottawa and Toronto knitters.

I'm sure many of you have heard of afghans for Afghans and the great work that they do supplying warm blankets and clothing to people in remote, impoverished parts of Afghanistan. Like many of the wonderfully worthwhile international relief charities that seeks donations of wooly knitted items, the cost of postage is often a barrier to participation for me and many others. So I usually knit a few items for local charities.

That's where the folks over at the finding forty gathering knitting blog come in. They have started a project here in Ottawa as well as in Toronto to collect items for afghans for Afghans, and they'll look after the shipping. What a great initiative! Here are the details from their flyer:

YOU KNIT, WE SHIP

Calling all Ottawa and Toronto knitters! How about dedicating some of your stash to an outstanding summer project? Yarn Forward (Ottawa and area knitters) and the Knit Cafe and Knitomatic (Toronto area) are teaming up for this worthy cause.

afghans for Afghans is a humanitarian and educational people-to-people project that sends hand-knit and crocheted blankets and sweaters, vests, hats, mittens, and socks to the children of Afghanistan.

Helpful hints
· Wool and animal fibres offer the most warmth and perform best in rugged conditions. Please avoid synthetic yarns – they cannot be shipped.
· Knit or crochet your favorite patterns or try something new. For sample patterns see the AFA website, below.
· Please do not use representational images (e.g. faces or animal designs) or religious or national symbols.
· Avoid white or very light colors. Feel free to mix a bright and cheery palate from your yarn collection!
· Please assume standard garment sizes. You are knitting for a Canadian climate. Hats need to cover ears, sleeves need to go the wrist and torsos need to be long.
· No used items or scarves please.

Drop off and Deadlines
You can drop off your projects at the following locations:

Yarn Forward 581 Bank Street, Ottawa
Yarn Forward 474 Hazeldean, Kanata
Knit Cafe 1050 Queen Street West, Toronto
Knitomatic 1378 Bathurst, Toronto

The dead-line for the next shipment is September 30th, 2007.

A visit to the website reveals that they are especially looking for wool baby blankets, baby hats, and baby socks (not booties) for a hospital in Kabul this year. I'll be dropping off a few items at Yarn Forward sometime in July before we move. There are lots of links to free patterns on the website too.

For those located in other parts of Canada who wish to participate, you can actually mail finished items to Elann.com, as they are acting as a collection point, to save on postage to the U.S. (and presumably to avoid problems with customs).

Time to get knitting... as if I needed an excuse!

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2 Comments:

Blogger Marianne said...

Good for you and how wonderful of them to take care of the shipping!
I'm just a tad stretched right now, will be knitting mittens for the Lakota on reservation but will certainly keep this in mind!
Thank you!

6:25 p.m.  
Blogger Kelly said...

Ah Marianne, of all people, I know how much knitting you do for charity! I fully support people contributing wherever and however they can - and I'm sure the kids on the reservation need mittens too! Good for you.

8:06 p.m.  

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