Charity

Phew!  This heat is starting to get to me.  I think I must have too much viking in my gene pool.  It is lovely to have such gorgeous weather but I would prefer not to have to work in it.

And work means knitting.  I am not a great lover of knitting with cotton, which would be perfect at the moment, so I am staring at a pile of projects that really need finishing.  The most urgent on my list is for a charity project so I am grinning and bearing it. Bronagh and I are creating a collection for UK Hand Knitting’s Commit To Knit campaign.

For a lot of knitters, making items for charity is a big part of what we do.  When you have run out of willing victims in your immediate family/neighbours, we turn our pins to worthy causes.

These mainly come in 3 groups; charities that actually sell the knitted items we donate to raise funds through a network of shops; those that use knitted items to raise awareness for a cause (think innocent/Age UK, St Mungos, Macmillan); and organisations that distribute items to people in real need (Shelter, KnitFor Peace, Syrian Refugees).

I try to take my dear old mum to the craft group at her church each month, where a wonderful group of ladies work on squares and mitts. The blankets we make are far from perfect as we try to sew together all kinds of different sizes, but what we do is quite heartfelt, especially at a time of such turmoil in the world.

So, in between that long list of WIPs or whenever you finish a project, maybe you too could join our ranks and make one small item for the charity of your choice.