Thank you ....

09 November 2012
Dear Hookery in the Bookery,
A Big Thank You from St Mungo's
Thank you so much for showing your support for St Mungo's Woolly Hat Day by responding to our call to knit hats. We had an amazing response from knitters all over the UK (and a few from abroad!) making our Woolly Hat Day a huge success.
At the Woolly Hat Day bus in Broadgate Circle, Liverpool Street we sold an incredible 250 of your hats to the very appreciative general public in one day (luckily enough it was the first very cold day of winter!). We have also sold a number of hats on eBay alongside our celebrity hat auction and the hats continue to be sold on eBay up until Christmas - perfect as an additional stocking filler.
We will ensure that any hats left over are given to our outreach teams to offer to people who are sleeping rough.
The money that is raised through hat sales allows us to do so much more than just provide a roof. Our specialist healthcare, training and employment teams are dedicated to helping homeless people recover from their experiences and really turn their lives around for good. Last year our Skills and Employment team supported over 1,000 people to find work, training, further education or take part in a range of other activities. We also supported just under 2,000 people with their mental health and substance use problems.
Thank you so much for helping us bring hope to homeless men and women.
Best wishes
Alice
Alice Eastwood
Community and Events

Orange-aid

No, your eyes are not misleading you.  This blog does comes with a colour warning.

For those of you who are averse to orange, tangerine, or jaffa please log out now, all others may proceed to read and admire.

Many of you will have been following the progress of our orange 'charity' hats over the past few weeks.  I'm delighted to announce that a marvelous 10 hats have been knitted for the St Mungo woolly hat appeal.  They are all shades and sizes as you can see.

A hookery member has been persuaded to don her hats and do some modelling.  Just how many hats can you wear at once?

Queen Niqi knitted the highest number of hats (4) using a variety of methods and yarns - chunky, double strand DK, circular needles and two needles.  Well done.

No animals were hurt in the taking of this next photo.  The black cat 'wearing' the hat (kntted by Niqi) is about 6 inches tall so you can imagine the size of the mini hat, knitted on a circular needle no less!

 

Even the table had an orange arrangement - the best a sodden garden could provide.

If you are ever in London and see a bright orange hat it is most probably being worn by someone who has been living/sleeping on the streets and who has been given a hat by staff at St Mungo's and it will most probably have been knitted by women like us all over the country.

Hats all ready to be posted off.  We will miss them.

Now - what can we do with all of the left over orange wool?  Ideas on a postcard please. 

P.S.  The blog will return to a normal colour scheme next week.
Mags - I beat the midnight deadline  :-)

Deja vu ....

I believe that hookery twice in one week shows great enthusiasm and true dedication to our craft.

As you can see, the bobble hats are progressing well with or without extra assistance!  We pledged 6 but already have 10 to send off to St Mungo's next month.  Well done to all knitters of plain, chunky, aran or double stranded double knitting, with two needles or, last but not least, with a circular needle!  Picture required Niqi. After next week there is going to be sooo much 'orange' wool left on the shelves of local wool shops!  I'm sure the owners did wonder why, all of a sudden, orange was a popular colour.

 

  

The new recruits have been yarn shopping in Parlour Yarns.  Anne and Gillian have decided upon the crochet bag from our textbook and are being given intense tuition from an expert in our midst.

Sheila is finally happy enough with her project to allow us to photograph it and share it with the world.

 

And the ta-dah moment has finally arrived.  Gail has completed her afghan and proudly shows it off in situ.  Well done, it looks fabulous.

 

Gail's next project (which, without giving away too many details, is on a similar theme) is well under way but she stresses that it is on a much smaller scale.

Until next week then, when the bobble hats should all be finished and ready to be posted off to a collection warehouse in London. Bye

Absent friends

We were very small in number last night.  A few of our friends were missing - some for happy reasons and some for sad, but we missed them one and all.

As you can see the St Mungo charity bobble hat knit-in is progressing well.

Five hats have now been completed, although one is still minus its bobble, and Partricia has started another one with double strands of DK wool to make it nice and cosy.

Niqi and Heather have said that they could be persuaded to knit another one each ....  We will definitely exceed our pledged number of 6 hats.  Watch out over the next few weeks for the photo shoot of the hookery team wearing their creations :-)

Lottie has moved onto another project having completed last week's doll's outfit of dungarees, jumper and hat - photo will appear next week.  Lottie is showing an interest in re-learning crochet and trying her hand at the rosy posy tea cosy.

Shy Sheila is progresing well with her stitches and tension but resists attempts to photograph her work!  Countdown of 20 weeks until this baby blanket is required.

Lindsay was on a crochet go-slow last night but, along with Patricia, was designing (from scratch) a paw print square for a blanket.

Lindsay also brought along a craft book from the 70s.  Lindsay herself was not the owner of the book in the 70s.

We had great fun flicking through the pages looking at the styles and the colours and boy was it dated in some respects.  However, so many of the styles are back in fashion and Niqi has her eye on a beautiful winter wrap/jacket ....

The book has also prompted Sheila to think about taking up macrame again.  Our crochet group is certainly widening its yarn boundaries but that's OK - it's all about friendship and learning new skills.

Niqi who has almost completed her bag was instructing Heather how to professionally join the squares and after lots of tangled squares and strands of wool (thanks to Patricia who lent an extra pair of hands just at the right time) here is the finished first side.

Niqi's mum bought her our official course textbook for her birthday and Niqi has now completed a marvellous 6 projects from the book.  Niqi hopes to take the book and projects to show her mum on her next holiday.  Maybe her mum will place an order for a hat or scarf?

Niqi has mastered a most unusual technique of staying warm while crocheting - wear the scarf and then you always know when you have got the length just right.

See you next week at St Pat's.

Summer School One: Meeting Eight. The bobble hats are under way.

Niqi's bobble hat was progressing well last night but she managed to complete it (see comment in earlier post) before I could get this posted. Well done Niqi.
Heather casting on for her hat. (Well she was making coffee and tea for everyone else) and it was going well by the end of the evening.

Catherine continues to knit.
Lorna continues to crochet. Lovely pattern Lorna.

I chose chunky wool for my hat. It's a bit peachy in colour but I hope it will pass.

Hookery continues to grow in numbers. We welcomed our latest member Lotte last night. Lotte is knitting clothes for a doll which will go to charity.

Lynne continues her ripple blanket with just a brief pause while we all discussed what colour she should use next.

Mags, having completed one project is now concentrating on the sock(s) she is knitting.