Stitching Hope Stitching Hope's, formerly called KnitInk, initial goal is to provide blankets for homeless and battered women's shelters and for children's hospitals. Eventually we would like to grow this project into teaching various sewing skills to the homeless and batteed women so they can clothe themselves, each other and supplement their income. we know that shelters are overcrowded and people are being turned away. We would like to help by at least being able to provide a blanket to warm themselves and have some cover. We need 5 inch by 5 inch knitted squares. Dark colors are better because they don't show dirt as easily. All yarns are fine - cotton, wool, acrylic, any kind of synthetic - wool is, but cotton smells better after the rain. Just use ordinary stitching. Crocheting is fine too so long as a non-open stitch, such as the afghan stitch is used. If you want items to be used for a specific state or a specific shelter, please that either on the box you send us or include a note that lets us know. You can help by: 1. Knitting or crocheting 5"x5" squares - any color, any yarn 2. Donating yarn 3. Donating knitting needles 4. Donating funds 5. Becoming a coordinator for your area - you would collect the squares from your local church or community groups, put them together and distribute to shelters 6. We can also take hats, mittens, scarves, completed blankets, quilts - anything really that has been made and can be used by a homeless or battered women's shelter or a children's hospital. Coordinators National - Heather Guillen heather@cybercsj.org PO Box 3374 Santa Clara, CA 95055 (all general donations can be sent here) NY Metro and Eastern Long Island - Alexandra Collier - Some difficulty has been reported with Alexandra's email address - in the meantime, questions can be sent to heather@cybercsj.org Eastern NC/Southern VA area - Wilda Gould and son Steve Gould sgould@inteliport.com Wausau Wisconsin - Jane Stotmeister babyjane@dwave.net Oregon - Anne Rose Pierce arp@teleport.com Other similar projects Sometimes people ask if there is a coordinator in their area or if there is already a similar project they can help. Mostly right now we have people from all over the country sending us yarn and some squares and the occassional completed item. However, we are happy to refer people to other projects that are like ours - the goal is to help, not to get the monopoly on yarn! Here are some other projects we are aware of - Illinois - Hats for the Homeless - http://www.angelfire.com/ct/barnart/ - They also have some branches in other states Warming Families - Warming the homeless "families" of the world, one warm item at a time! A volunteer project providing blankets and warm items (hats, mittens, etc.) to homeless and domestic violence shelters. Free patterns and family charity work information on the website http://www.warmingfamilies.org Patterns Sometimes people ask us what patterns are available and what other sites link to us. The following is a partial list. http://www.handjiveknits.com http://user.icq.net/!dcruey/DCMDesigns.html http://www.steffosborne.com http://www.woolworks.com Donation Locations The following is a partial listing 04-04 - Newest donation was to the Georgia Travis Center in San Jose California! Thanks for your support! Pakistan - We sent yarn, knitted squares, knitting needles, sewing needles, thread and bolts of fabric to the community whose homes had burned down. They were able to make dresses for the women and female children and blankets for everyone affected. They did this in the local church using the materials we were able to provide. Arizona - Snow Low Hospital/Reservation - blankets, clothes and towels have been donated California - Emergency Housing Consortium - we have donated completed blankets and sweaters as well as donated store-bought or used clothing California - O'Connor Hospital - preemie blankets were donated California - Santa Maria ARC Foundation - We have donated completed blankets as well as donated store-bought or used clothing California - Arcata Endeavor - we have donated completed blankets California - Crafting Love for Children - completed blankets were donated to their project to help neonatal units in Southern California California - Georgia Travis Center - blankets Georgia - Open Door Community Shelter - hats and towels have been donated Minnesota - People Serving People - blankets and hats have been donated New Jersey - Coopers Hospital - blankets have been donated to their neonatal unit through Crafting Love for Children North Carolina - ECHO Ministry - blankets have been donated North Carolina - Tabernacle of Faith Outreach Center - towels and hats have been donated North Carolina - Cafe Libertad- towels and hats have been donated Virginia/North Carolina border - Sadako Sasaki House - towels and hats have been donated Virginia - Catholic Worker House - towels and hats have been donated Words of Thanks - Usually we get donation receipts but one time we received a lovely note from the Arcata Endeavor on 2/21/02 Dear Heather - Thank you so much for the beautiful, handmade w/love afghans. We received them yesterday. We were able to give them to someone that we were finally able to house. She now has a room and a new blanket. She is out of her car. Immediate blessings are the best, and the blankets immediately blessed someone. Thanks - Carla at Arcata Endeavor.