Rad Bad Beanie Count

That my friends is 13 hats going to Rad Bad Beanies. Whew! Most are knit and I think 3 are crocheted. I have sent the package out today with a little cash donation to help them get to their destination. Have a great day!!
Peace~DAWN

Hi from Down Under

I've been reading this site for about twelve months. It always inspires me when I read what others are knitting for charity and see the photos of what's been achieved.

I decided to sign up because a public committment doesn't hurt any of us. I've been knitting for a Romanian orphanage for a couple of years as well as knitting squares for the annual Knit-In run by our national broadcaster, the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission).

This year I've added the Dulaan Project so ably run by Ryan.

My plan is to knit 25 items (minimum) for these three charities over the next year.

Cheers!

Poncho all most done (11)

Poncho (just missing it's fringe) for our Adopt a Family this year.

Three Hats for Soaring Eagles

Soaring Eagles is a wonderful project to provide hats to children aged two to twelve in Oklahoma. If you have time between gifts, the deadline is December 18. I sent three hats to Rachel yesterday and have knitted 19 things for charity this year.

New Member

Welcome a new member from down under: Rose Marshall

Simplicity Wreath, Item #25

Another one ordered by my Aunt Linda. This completes my 25 Things for my inaugural year here. It's been great motivation to see all the pictures posted here and hear your stories and be more aware of all the many people sending tangible expressions of care, most of whom you'll never meet.

I plan to re-enlist right after I get this batch of wreaths delivered to their new homes.

Item #24

My older sister wants two Apple Wreaths in exchange for her donation to our missions trip. Here is the first one. The other one is still cookin'.

PInecones & Purples, Item #23

My aunt ordered this one. She is the proprietor of a B&B called Casa Pacifica in Santa Fe. I had a feeling she'd go for a very natural look like this, and she's always got a soft heart. She had her name on the list to foster a displaced Katrina child in the event the parents couldn't be found.

For a marine

I adopted a marine for the holidays, and will soon be sending him out a package to try to make the season away from home a bit more comfortable.

I bought all sorts of candy, beef jerky, soup, drink mix, etc. Got some socks and some chap stick - stuff for the winter cold, and crocheted for him a cap and a tree ornament.

I would like to include a DVD or CD for him and his fellow service men/women to enjoy. Being a middle-aged woman, I'm not sure what kind of music/movies young men would like, but I'll find something appropriate.

Scarves & hats

Ok, well, I've finished 3 scarves for the Red Scarf Project. I'll be mailing them in January. I have some yarn left over so I think I'll be making another scarf for US WWII vets. I also finished 3 preemie hats and brought them to a local hospital a few days ago. After the Thanksgiving weekend, I'll decide what's next (besides more preemie hats!)

Scent of Apples Wreath, Item #22

My sister's co-worker wanted an apple-scented wreath,so I designed this one. Around the top arc you can see dark red things that look a bit like miniature roses from a distance. They are actually curly apple-scented potpourri bits. I have also hidden some under the greens for more fragrant aroma.

The sale of this wreath goes toward our trip to Russia with Global Aid Network.

Never Ending Chocolate Wreath, Item #21

This is a wreath I designed and sold to help raise money for my daughter's (and possibly my) trip to a Russian orphanage. It has 49 pieces of Hershey's chocolate.

My "year" at 25 Things was technically up around November 11th. But, no rules, right? So I am treating a dozen months as a baker's dozen and will have more than 25 Things by December 11th. I have every intention of starting over after this "batch."

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Remember everything you eat with a sense of gratitude and appreciation doesn't register on the scale. ;-)

Zo Z's Cozies: Wreaths with a Mission

My daughter Sarah and I would very much like to take a trip to a Russian orphanage this coming summer. The organization we are hoping to hitch up with is called Global Aid Network (www.gainusa.org.) which is the humanitarian arm of Campus Crusade for Christ.

Because the trip is so costly ($3,000 per person) I have starting making wreaths to sell for the holidays (and probably beyond). Here are ones I've sold so far. The one on top is called Fresh Linen & Cinnamon and smells wonderful. I have one hanging in my powder room. The other one is called White Pine Scented. All proceeds from these wreaths are going into a savings earmarked "Russia missions trip."

I make each one to order (unless, like tonight, I was in the mood to make one anyway)
I also make Never-Ending Chocolate wreaths and memorial wreaths. I call this little operation of mine "Zo Z's Cozies: Handcrafted Gifts." More are on www.zoanna.blogspot.com

Blogger Beta

Those people who switch over to Blogger Beta may not be able to post on our site until Blogger moves everyone over to the new system. So, you might want to stick with the current system until Blogger does the update. I don't know when this will occur.

Thank you to Donna for bringing this issue to my attention.

Snuggles Blankets (8-10)

Finished 3 blankets for The Suggles Project - one mint green...

... one blue and one variegated.

New Member

Everyone say HELLO to Donna.

While scanning her blog I noticed that she has a special charity project of her own. Wonderful idea!

For the family of a fallen hero

A few friends and I decided we wanted to make an afghan to donate for charity. We started to make the squares when we became touched by the story of a family who lost their husband/father in Iraq. Everyone wanted this afghan to go to this family. Three of us crocheted the squares, and many others were involved in making this project happen and creating a memory book to ship with the afghan to the family. I volunteered to join it, and while my work isn't as perfect as I like, I think the finished peace is beautiful and shows all of the love that went into creating it.

You can read about this project and the family here.

I finished 3 scarves for the Red Scarf Project

I completed 3 scarves for the Red Scarf project. First is the Windy City Chicago scarf. Then I made the Fun Fringe scarf. And the Touch of Whimsy scarf. I have no more scarves in progress and will post more info when they are completed.

A New Member

Everyone say Hello to Patti! Her favority charity is Warm Up America.

Gnome Auction Update

I just wanted to tell you that the Yuletide Gnomes made over $200 for our charity auction. I also will be making a custom baby apparel item ($30) and a Noni purse ($50). I'll post photo's when they're done.

Hats for "A Women's Concern"

Hi Everyone, Here are some more hats I have made. This makes my 25 things for Charity this year. I have enjoyed making everything. Thanks for doing this site. I will still make more things for charity. It truly has been a blessing.'
Thanks Nanci

I have written as to what I have done this year.
I sent 17 squares to member of Crochetville to make comfortghans for her family.
I sent 12 squares to Drew for comfortghans
I sent 17 hats, a blanket and 9 diaper shirts to Preemie Protectors
I sent a twin size blanket to Project RestAssured
I sent 4 helmet liners to a member of Crochetville to sent to the troops
I made 5 comfortghans for a local abuse shelter
I sent 32 3" squares to someone to make blankets for baby in the hospital that don't have anyone that cares to visit
I sent to baby quilts for a child care center in Mississippi
I sent dishclothes, purses, marble bags, scrunchies, and tote bags for a mission in Mexico
I have made numerous 12"', 6", and 8" squares to sent to members of Crochetville to make comfortghans
I am posting all of this now because I forgot how to get to Blogger and wnated to figure out when I wanted to make a blog for myself.
This month I sent more that 30 caps to Caps to the Capital...
Next month I am making blankies for the Snuggles project to give to our local shelter to keep our lonely furbabies warm.

Bloomin' Hats

This is the newest batch of hats for Warm the World. They'll be passing them on to the Arkansas Children's Hospital this month. I once lived in Little Rock and it does get icy cold.

Yeah, the flowers were made on a bloom loom which is pretty cool for the flowerly challenged like myself. It's just yarn wrapped figure 8 style around the pegs. I believe these were popular in the 70s but as you know everything old is new again. A girl's gotta have tools.

Salvation Army Donation

My crochet guild is collecting hat, mitten & scarf sets for the Salvation Army at our meeting tomorrow, and this is my donation. I managed to put 8 sets together, although I ended up buying 6 pairs of gloves and only making 2 pairs of mittens. I still have some charity projects I am working on, including a red scarf and some hats for the Soaring Eagles project. Next month I will count up what I accomplished this year and set my goal for next year.

Dulaan Fetching Hat

Yarn: Wool of the Andes (worsted weight)
Needles: Size 8 circulars (16") plus size 8 dpn's
Pattern: Dulaan Fetching Hat
Modifications: I used w.w yarn instead of bulky and size 8 needles instead of 10. This gave me a cute little baby size hat. It worked up in one day and probably used 100 yards of yarn. Right now I am working it as the pattern stated with some wonderful handpainted yarn in 100% wool. These are the beginning of my Dulaan Project donations for the year 2007.

This is 25 Things #1 for the up coming year since I have alread met my goal for 2006. Even though I plan on donating to the Rad Bad Beanies again, my pet charity for this year is the Dulaan Project.

GAiN Needs Quilts

I recently came back from a day of packing clothes, care packs, and other things at a warehouse in Lancaster. The organization is called GAiN (Global Aid Network, formerly called Operation Carelift), the humanitarian arm of Campus Crusade for Christ.

They pointed out that orphanages around the globe, particurlarly in Siberia, Belarus, Ukraine) have requested blankets for the children. One missionary volunteer wrote in her journal that the children she saw were wearing tights with shorts over them, and their cots had only a thin sheet.

The children sleep in the same cot from age 3-18.

The blankets can be sewn, quilted, crocheted or knitted, and should measure 42-44 inches wide by 72 inches long.

I hope to take a trip (maybe to Ukraine or Siberia next summer, taking as many blankets as can carry). You can mail your quilts to the warehouse in Lancaster, PA.

For more info on this organization, please see www.gainusa.org. My next Thing for charity will be guess what?

three new quilt squares

I've been stitching like crazy the past few days to meet charity deadlines, and I'm relieved to announce that I'm in the clear!

For SOLAK, I've stitched these cherubs which will be used in a quilt for a woman battling cancer for the third time.



For troostquilts, a Dutch/Belgian charity group, I've stitched the following two squares for Hanneke and Anneke. I hope they make the girls smile.





Because I've started school, I need to cut down on my charity stitching. However, during the 13 months that I've been part of this group ny eyes have been opened as to how I can help make a difference in the world around me. I am a very tiny cog in a very huge mechanism, but every cog can count, right? In addition to my previously existing 'charitable actions' I have become a member of Amnesty International and contribute regularly to their letter-writing campaigns (which DO make a difference! and it only takes an hour or so of your time) and am a weekly volunteer at our local animal shelter. My kids, hopefully, are learning by example and they will also want to leave their stamp on the world.

I'll still post projects, but with less frequency. And of course I'll continue to enjoy reading about what everyone else is posting!

Afghan Squares

These are squares that I made for a comfortghan. They will be combined with other peoples squares to make a comfortghan which will go to the family of a fallen Marine. I'm really happy about this project because some friends that are new to crochet picked up hooks to get involved!