An Urgent Request: Knits for North Korean Refugees

Every year, refugees from North Korea escape into China, where they must blend in with locals in order to escape detection by Chinese officials. If detected and deported back to North Korea, these refugees face starvation, torture and execution.

ARC, a charity-knitting organization in Washington, D.C., and Life Funds for North Korean Refugees, a Tokyo-based non-profit organization, are working together to help these refugees through knitted items.

ARC sends to North Korean orphans and families who are refugees. While knitted goods may not seem like much to those of us whose needs are met, the impact of a new, useful gift can be immense. Knits can remind refugees of their humanity, identity, and encourage them to keep striving for a better future. - ARC

Last week, ARC sent out an urgent request for 10 sets of children's knits (each set includes a cap, a scarf, and a pair of gloves/mittens) by the end of the month. iKnit has decided to help out by knitting as many of the needed items as possible.

How can YOU help?

You can help out by crafting items or by donating yarn for the items! The items must follow certain color & style requirements and not look "foreign, too prosperous, or atypical of local style" so that the refugees wearing these items will not be detected.

(From the ARC website) 

What Colors and Styles to Use:Ordinary, inconspicuous colors such as black, brown, dark green, navy blue, dark purple or maroon. Styles should be simple and plain; avoid stripes, polka dots, etc.

• Hats: Beanies are best. Earflaps are okay, but no pom-poms please, as they make it easier to identify the wearer in a crowd.

• Scarves: Straightforward garter stitch or ribbing is preferred. Various designs should not be too distinctive or uncommon; no tassels please.

• Gloves & Mittens: Unadorned but made to keep warm.

For more information, please visit ARC's website here. If you have any other questions or need to drop off items, please email us at iknitmsj@gmail.com.

Thanks to Green Planet Yarn for donating yarn!

Last Saturday, we delivered 31 items for Hurricane Sandy victims to Green Planet Yarn, an eco-friendly yarn shop. Green Planet Yarn is one of the collection points for Knitting Fever's Operation Sandy Relief drive.

Recently, we have been contacting many local companies and yarn shops, asking for donations of knitting/crocheting supplies for our charity projects.

Green Planet Yarn was extremely generous and donated  22 lbs. of beautiful wool & wool-blend yarn! GPY, thank you so much! It's thanks to people and companies like you that iKnit is able to accomplish so much in our charity projects. :)

Donating to Hurricane Sandy Victims

We've decided to expand our Winter 2012 project to include both St. Anthony's AND Hurricane Sandy Relief. The project will still end on December 21, 2012.

We'll be donating scarves and other items for those affected by Hurricane Sandy through Knitting Fever. You can learn more about Knitting Fever's relief project here.

Well, will you look at that!

I'm all ready to head over to the East Coast and help spread some warmth and comfort to those who need it!

Over the past two months or so, iKnit has already crafted and collected a total of 31 items, which includes 26 scarves (24 of which are handmade), 2 knit handwarmers, and 3 caps (2 handknit). Many of these scarves were crafted using yarn donated by our community. Thank you so much to everyone who crafted these scarves and to everyone who has ever donated yarn! We really couldn't accomplish this much without your help.

It's vital that we give the scarves to people who need it ASAP, so later today, we're going to be delivering the scarves to a store affiliated with Knitting Fever, which will then get the scarves to where they're needed the most on the Sandy-ravaged East Coast. We'll post photos later, so check back soon!

A Need for Knits on the East Coast

As you probably already know, Superstorm Sandy recently wreaked a lot of havoc on people living in the Northeast, especially in New York and New Jersey. We are planning on donating some scarves to those affected through Knitting Fever, a yarn distributor that has organized a Hurricane Sandy Relief drive. They accept not only handmade scarves, but also caps, socks, gloves, and other warm clothing - including store-bought clothing - so there's a lot of flexibility with what we can donate.

We could donate to both Sandy victims and St. Anthony's or focus on only one project this winter. If we did both projects, we'd probably focus on one project for several weeks and then switch to donating to the other cause for another few weeks. What do you think? Send us an email at iknitmsj@gmail.com!

Whichever project we do, the deadline for turning in items to donate is December 21, 2012. We'll update you soon on which project(s) we're doing, but in the meantime, keep on knitting and crocheting! :)

Weekly iKnit Meetings at MSJHS!

We are having weekly club meetings now! We have less than two months until Winter Break begins on December 21, and since we aim to finish our winter project by then, we need to move ahead at full speed!

Our third meeting is this Friday, November 9, in B21!
In case you missed our first two meetings, here's a brief recap:

• October 23: First official meeting! :) Welcome to our new members!
• November 2: Member introductions, Scarves for St. Anthony's requirements, and yarn discounts!

We mainly notify members of meetings & events through email, so if you haven't been getting emails from us, please email us at iknitmsj@gmail.com so we can add you to our list! We're also be posting updates on Facebook and the MSJ ASB website.

iKnit is Now Official at MSJHS!

Last Wednesday, the Council approved iKnit as an official club at Mission San Jose High School! Yay! :) As an official club, iKnit can place fliers and posters around school to publicize the club and attract new members, as well as hold fundraisers at school and participate in Multicultural Week. And it just feels awesome to be an "official" club! Thanks to everyone for their support!

This year, we have decided to dedicate our fall/winter charity project to the St. Anthony Foundation in San Francisco again! This may become an annual project. In addition to Scarves for St. Anthony's, we may be hosting various smaller projects throughout the year, especially near holidays. Check back soon for more updates!

Hearts in Unity: Photos

Last week, iKnitter L.Z. returned from her trip to Tanzania, where she visited a village in the Mwika/Kondiki area and met the Hearts in Unity Tanzanian co-director, Mr. R. Maanga. L.Z. personally delivered the gifts, which included over 20 caps and scarves hand-knit by iKnit members, to the village children. Check out the wonderful pictures below! :)

  

 

 

Upcoming: Knitting for Tanzanian Children

Recently, we found out about Hearts in Unity (http://www.heartsinunity.org/), a charity that feeds, clothes, and educates children in Tanzania, Africa. One of our knitters will be visiting Tanzania this August and can deliver any items that we craft/collect for the children. What a fantastic opportunity to help children in a different country and continent, half a world away! (And no need to pay expensive shipping fees or risk our packages being lost in the mail!)

There's a wide variety of ways that we can help, such as donating school supplies (e.g. pencils and rulers) and health care items (e.g. toothbrushes). iKnit will be focusing mostly on clothing the children in Tanzania by knitting & crocheting items such as hats and sweaters (a new challenge for most of us!), as well as donating sewing and knitting supplies (such as fabric, yarn and buttons).

We welcome  you to join us in our new project! Since schools are off for summer break, most of us will have a lot more free time to learn new patterns and knit & crochet to our hearts' content! (:

We'll be posting up more information and updates soon. If you have any questions or concerns, though, don't hesitate to leave a comment or email us at iknitmsj@gmail.com!

A Heartwarming Thanks

About a month ago, we donated quite a few scarves and other handmade items to Abode Services' Sunrise Shelter program. Soon after, studying for various standardized tests began to overwhelm us, and with the end of school nearing, we - unfortunately - have not had as much time as usual to knit and crochet.

Thank you to the Children's Program at Abode Services for making us this beautiful card!

Today, we were reminded of why we spend our time to craft things for charity. Thank you for this heartwarming card! We are so happy to know that our efforts benefit others in our community.

Visit to Sunrise

On April 11, we paid a visit to Sunrise Shelter and donated the 27 or so items - including caps, scarves, handwarmers, and even a sweater - that we have crafted so far.


Thank you to everyone who has helped knit and crochet so far! It's been quite rainy and chilly for the past few days, so the handmade items will definitely help those at Sunrise Shelter.

At the moment, we are continuing with Stitches for Sunrise - but there's a possibly that we may begin a new project for Knit-A-Square. We'll keep you updated!



March Updates!

Greetings! We have almost reached our first goal marker! Currently we have 25 completed items for donation. Keep up the great work everyone! Here are some of our recently completed hats, scarves, cowls, handwarmers, and more:

Exciting News! iKnit will hold Quad Connection at MSJH's Bell Tower Quad! We're calling all MSJ knitters and crocheters to gather around and just sit and knit/crochet during lunch time on Tuesday, 4/3. Our goal is to raise awareness of our group's efforts and encourage more students to join in. This event will be followed up by a club meeting later in the week prior to Spring Break. 

Please join us! :)

Stitches for Sunrise

Due to the success of our first charity project for St. Anthony's (thanks to everyone who helped!), we are going to continue with our charity knitting & crocheting group! Our next project is Stitches for Sunrise! The items will be donated to Sunrise Village, Abode Services' unique shelter, which provides housing and vital services to homeless adults and families. 

Here are some basic questions and answers regarding the project:

What types of items should I make?

Please craft any knitted/crocheted item that can be immediately given to and used by the residents at Abode Services' Sunrise Village shelter, which will most likely be a clothing item.

Examples: scarves, caps, mittens, and socks

Will a small cap be accepted? How about an adult-sized cap?
The age range of Sunrise Village Shelter visitors range from infants to adults, so various sizes are acceptable.

Are there any deadlines?
Our deadline has not yet been established, but most likely in late April or early May.

Our first goal is to have 31 handcrafted items by March 31st!




We will be making a our first delivery at the end of March, but feel free to drop off any of your donations directly at Sunrise Village Shelter as you finish them!

Bring smiles and warmth to Sunrise through knitting and crocheting!

http://www.abodeservices.org/programs_sunrise.html

All Holiday Scarves Donated! Our Next Project...

On Tuesday, we donated the rest of the scarves crafted during the holiday season to the San Jose branch of CityTeam International (formerly known as CityTeam Ministries), a nonprofit group that serves the homeless and poor. It took a while for us to find a reliable organization that would give our scarves directly to those in need instead of selling the scarves, but at last, our first charity knitting & crocheting event is complete!

In early January, we presented our project to our English classes. Our project was received warmly by our peers, and they encouraged us to continue organizing charity knitting/crocheting events at our school. Although our group may not be passed as an official club until much later in the year (hopefully, before the school year ends!), we've decided to begin our next charity project!

So, what is our next project? We have a good idea of what it could be, but first, we want to hear YOUR opinion! Do you have any particular charity in mind that you'd like us to donate handmade items to? Please email your suggestions to iknitmsj@gmail.com or post on our forum!

Hello 2012!

Happy New Year everyone! It's 2012. Yay (:

Just wanted to express again how grateful we are to everyone who helped iKnit by donating materials and/or crafting scarves for St. Anthony's! In addition, on the last day of school, we received a huge donation from a local elementary school librarian, who was told about our project by a librarian at MSJHS. Thank you both! Your kindness is greatly appreciated. (: Since we'd already delivered the scarves to St. Anthony's by then, we'll be using the yarn for future charity projects instead.

By the way, iKnit is currently applying to become an official club at MSJHS! We'll keep you updated.