Knitting for Charity

There are so many wonderful knitting projects out there, but I only have so many people to give knit items to. I did this search last winter before I started knitting for the Pine Street Inn. I wanted to share this list again, because knitting for charity is always a worthwhile cause!

• Wool Works - This page summarizes (by state) different charitable organizations that accept knitted goods or knitting supplies. This website has also assembled patterns suitable to use for charity.
  
• Interweave Knits - Here is another list of charitable organizations.
  
• The Knitting Connection (Based in MA) Volunteer your time (with knitting), your extra yarn or your finished projects.
• Newborns in need (http://www.newbornsinneed.org) - Help dress newborns in need with your crafts.
• Women's Educational and Industrial Union (no website listed... Fiber Arts Department, 356 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116. Contact: Alice Lam, ext. 156, 617 536-5651.) They reportidly have a knit-a-thon makin 6 in squares to help battered women's shelters... If anyone has any more information about this I would appreciate it.
• Pine Street Inn (A Boston Homeless Shelter) has had a knit-a-thon the last fouryears around Thanksgiving. I have now participated in this event two times.
  
• Knit-a-square - Help keep an AIDS orphan in Africa warm by contributing 8x8 knit (or crochet) squares.
• http://www.cubsforkids.com/ - Helping homeless children. Knit clothing for teddy bears. The charity provides the bears, and distributes the bears to children at holiday time.
  
• http://www.chemocaps.com/ - These hats are distributed at hospitals to cancer patients. The knowledge that someone took the time to hand make a hat for them is encouraging to the patient.
• http://www.stitchesfromtheheart.org/ - helping preemies around the nation
• The Purl Foundation - Helping homeless individuals through the winter in NYC. A friend of mine is involved with this charity, so although it is not Boston-centric, I wanted to give it a shout out.
  

My knit donation

Nov 11, 2009 was the Pine Street Inn's 3rd Annual Knit-a-Thon. The knit squares collected will be incorporated into afghans for the the Supportive Housing Program, a program which provides permanent housing for the Boston homeless. I brought over my blanket and squares to the other volunteers. I was awed and inspired to see how many people had made squares for this event.

The blankets and squares completed for this even are very important and will make an impact on the lives of others. But it is important to note that it is also important to support institutions like the Pine Street Inn financially. Those of us knitting talk about the event, and spread awareness about the resources for the homeless in Boston. Hopefully this may inspire you to make a donation to this fantastic shelter.

My finished blanket (bottom row on the left) joins dozens of others as volunteers work to stitch the thousands of squares into more. I was in awe over the volume of squares accumulated

November 07, 2010 was the fourth annual Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon.

I reached my goal of two complete afghans! They are different from each other, and I am very happy with the results. My stash of remnant yarn is almost completely depleted, but hopefully it will grow again by next year. I love using my old yarn for a great cause, but it saddens me to think that I would not be able to financially afford to contribute to this event if I had to purchase the yarn for these blankets. I will always have my spirit and the will to DO, so hopefully I will be able to scrap together enough yarn to make THREE next year.

I am so happy that I was able to participate in this event. I like to sew up the blankets myself because I love seeing a project through. Last year, I got three of my friends to learn how to knit so they could also contribute. A knit gift is so personal, and I hope that the spirit and warmth (to the heart) are appreciated by those who receive the blankets.

This year's Knit-a-thon took place at the State House, placing all of the finished blankets on the grand staircase:

This lens earned a purple star on 1/19/2011!