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!