'Tis The Season... Actually Every Season is Giving Season for Knitters

Hey Y'all,

How the heck the holidays showed up so soon this year we have no idea. Whether you get excited at the prospect or are feeling overwhelmed, we hope you have a splendid time this coming month and that you get to spend lots of time knitting great gifts.

As we at HCW think about giving this season, we're also looking back at a year that was really hard for some folks. We helped out with a Stash Sale/ Red Cross Fundraiser to show our support for folks devastated by the Joplin, Missouri tornado. Closer to home, y'all kicked in with tons of donations for knitters in Paige/Bastrop where fires destroyed so much land and property. Thanks so much for being part of that!

I recently heard from Jane King, an Austin knitter who founded Friends of Colombian Orphans, a machine knitting cooperative in Bogota. Jane says: "Our machine knitting cooperative in Bogota has been taken over by the administrators of the orphanage. We have been able to therefore let the program manager go (which saves us $300 a month). We pay for the knitting instructor, yarn and machines. Hogares Club Michin (orphanage) has plans to expand the space, so we will be able to buy them more machines. They have also partnered with a recent design school graduate in Bogota who is advising them on what to knit for the Colombian market. AND (this is a big AND) one of our knitters has recently interviewed at a knitting company for a job! We don't know yet if she got it, but the fact that she could interview for a knitting position is huge. So.....my knitting buddies in Austin supply me with cool knitted items to sell on ebay and at fundraisers (we just had one in Oxford, England, where we raffled off some cool scarves and hats made by my knitting friends.That's how we raise money."

Chemo cap knitted up in super soft, super fab, super washable Debbie Bliss Cashmerino

Jane also called our attention to another great project you might want to partake in. She says, "On Ravelry there is a group called Hats for Sailors. I've knitted hats for two years now: they are distributed to one or two navy vessels every year. Shanti Sethi is a knitter and a USN gal who commanded her very own ship last year! She asked her mom to organize Rav folks to knit hats, and the hats were given out on Christmas day. It was very cool and so successful, that two more ships were chosen this year."

I've been doing my own little knitting kindness over here-- I just cranked out a couple of chemo caps. One is for a friend who just wrapped up cancer treatment (yay!) but who still has a ways to go before her hair grows out. The other is for a friend who is about to undergo stem cell transplant. He needed a hat that could be washed regularly due to a compromised immune system. I used that as a chance to work with some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino which is ALWAYS a pleasure!

A chemo cap I made to celebrate my friend finishing treatment.

If you have some Knitting Good Deeds going on, please tell us about it. We'd be happy to share your good work with others.

Happy Holidays!