kyla
Junior Member
Posts: 54
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Post by kyla on Apr 5, 2009 18:12:14 GMT
Hey ladies,
I was doing my routine search of good deals on yarn, and I came across a posting for a fundraiser at a local high school, Port credit. They are selling table spaces for $25, and I emailed them and said basically, ‘this is the project, this is the goal, can i have a table and a circle of chairs and bring in a couple pairs of needles and baskets of yarn, and get people to sit and knit a row or two then leave the square on the chair and the next person picks up where the first person left off’ (it’s Kerry’s idea, not mine, and its brilliant)
I said it would be educational as well as productive and would help us reach our 10 000 blanket goal.
I was half hoping they would say ‘no thanks, sorry,” becuase I am pretty shy and would have absoutely no idea how to make this happen.
but they said:
“Hi Kyla, I’m Kirsten.
You’re welcome to join us. And I think it fits perfectly - people with extra craft supplies and a need for support? A great match. I’ll set you up with a six foot round table and some chairs. Do you supply the tea? There’s a spot in the cafeteria with a little counter and some electrical access if you wanted to plug in a kettle.
Just go to the blog and fill out an application (I won’t charge you for your table so ignore that part) and send that to me, we’ll be all set. I send out a package with name tags, a poster and some fliers as well as an electronic version with some more information about the venue.
I could use some help getting the word out about the event. I got ten tables booked the first day or two but things have slowed down a bit. If you could put up a poster, hand out some fliers or email some crafty friends, that would help a lot.
I look forward to hearing from you, thanks for your response.
Kirsten”
Thing is I don’t have the first idea about what to do from this point! so I am putting this up here looking for anybody in the Toronto/Mississauga area (or beyond if you are willing) to help me put this together. It could be a really big success if we do it right, and a lot of new people would be included in the project.
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andrea
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by andrea on Apr 6, 2009 14:41:03 GMT
Hi kyla... when is the show? I'm not a knitter, I'm a crocheter, but would love to help out somehow.
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andrea
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by andrea on Apr 6, 2009 15:26:31 GMT
Me again... I Googled it - May 2, 9am to 3pm - and I'm in! I'm trying to recruit my mom and a friend as well. I could do up a sign explaining what it's for so passersby will understand. Also, what about taking donations that you can you put towards postage or wool? How many needles do you need? Just knitting needles or crochet hooks too? Michael's has a slew of coupons that are good for the next 2 weeks that will definitely come in handy if we need to buy some. I'm so excited!
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kyla
Junior Member
Posts: 54
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Post by kyla on Apr 6, 2009 21:18:05 GMT
okay here's the email that i sent out recently with more information. Okay its at Port Credit high school, on May 2nd, from 9 - 3. The majority of the info is explained in the emails but I will sum it up nicely for you. You both know what knit-a-square is by now, so I don't need to explain that part. This craft show fundraiser is something that the high school is putting on, I don't know what the fundraiser is for, but I can get a $25 table for free because I'm a charity event. (Seems silly to give away free tables, but that's their choice!) What I want to do for this craft show fundraiser is get a table and a circle of chairs, a couple of pairs of knitting needles and some crochet hooks and some baskets of various types of yarns. I will have the flyers and posters that KAS already has ready to download at the table to give people information, as well as I would like to be able to play this movie if it is possible to make that happen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP-Jv1_SkIU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.knit-a-square.com%2Fcharity-for-children.html&feature=player_embeddedI have over 40 squares now, so I am going to sew some of them together into a small blanket and spread it out on the table so that the people can see the end result. The bright colours will help to draw attention as well. I'm going to ask Sandy for some stories of the children who are being helped so that people feel connected to the project. What I'm asking people to do is sit at the table, have a cup of tea and a chat, and knit on a few rows to a square. When they choose to move on, they leave the partially knitted square on the chair and the next person picks it up and knits a few rows. This sounds slightly outrageous and personally i am not sure how well it will work out, but hopefully over the course of the day we can get some squares knitted, but more importantly some more people dedicated to knit squares when they go home. I can also probably wriggle my way into the newsletter or whatever it is that gets sent out from Port Credit high school to the community, saying "go check out this charity, knit squares and drop them off at this event," and see if that does anything either. This of course depends on whether or not there is a newsletter going out - I will check that one with Kirsten once I am more organized. the other thing I am going to do is make tiny squares in the colours of the South African flag and enbroider the AIDS awareness red ribbon onto them, and sell them for like $2 a piece, the money goes toward the ridiculous cost of actually shipping the squares down there. Now I have one girl who just jumped up and said "I'll help!" and another who said "I'll give you yarn!" and I am continually blown away by peoples willingness to help this project out of the blue. anyway I don't know anytihng about this girl other than she is in the area, and I've sent her an email that explains this plan as well. things off the top of my head I think we would need -flyers/posters (both of these are ready to go once downloaded, I just need to get them printed) -movie (need some form of projecting technology for this one, a large screen, and most likely the internet. this will be the most difficult one to sort out.) -yarn - whatever is available. I have the equalivent of quite a few herds of sheep right now that i could use towards this, I have still more people who are willing to donate, and if I went to local craft stores and batted my eyelashes and waved a flyer I'm sure I could get more) -baskets. c'mon, its Easter. Baskets are everywehre for really cheap right now. - needles/hooks Now I have two sets I could donate, possibly three if we get some thick chunky yarn that needs bigger needles. There's one girl who has said she will donate some as well. I'm looking to get at least five pairs, more would be great. I don't know enough about what hook sizes are needed, I'll look that up though, it's not a difficult thing to find out. -finished blanket - easy. - key chains - easier than he blanket. - kettle, tea, sugar, milk, honey, lemon. I already know that theres an outlet near by that we can use, and a few kettles wouldnt be difficult to find. Tea is cheap, we can have a couple of different kinds.
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andrea
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by andrea on Apr 7, 2009 18:08:43 GMT
kyla, I can definitely help out with the printing of the flyers and posters because I work at an advertising agency. I can also buy some needles/hooks and baskets.
So far I've used crochet hook sizes 5.0 mm (4-ply acrylic) and 5.5 mm (chunky) but I'm also a tight crocheter.
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kyla
Junior Member
Posts: 54
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Post by kyla on Apr 8, 2009 1:54:46 GMT
okay printing would be a huge help - I was going to print them at school, but I can't get them printed in colour off the schools printers. I would love to have them in colour because the logo works so much better with all its rainbow bright glory.
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andrea
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by andrea on Apr 8, 2009 13:43:31 GMT
I can also print them any size, up to 43.5" wide, and in glorious colour, as you said!
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kyla
Junior Member
Posts: 54
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Post by kyla on Apr 8, 2009 21:53:16 GMT
Would it cost you anything?
I can print some stuff at my university for free, so if thers something that doesn't need to be in colour but we need a lot of them, I can run them off at school easily.
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Post by Christine (Tina) on Apr 9, 2009 14:34:18 GMT
Hey Kyla what help do u still need? I live in Bolton so its not to far away. Let me know. Thanks Tina(christine)
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andrea
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by andrea on Apr 9, 2009 15:01:12 GMT
Nope, won't cost a thing. I'm going to Michael's on Saturday because they have a coupon for 30% off your entire regularly priced purchase. What sized baskets were you thinking of? One ball per basket?
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Post by Kate Lock on Apr 9, 2009 17:46:17 GMT
This sounds fantastic I would love to be here, but live in Europe - I will be there in spirit - happy knitting/hooking girls! Kate xxx
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kyla
Junior Member
Posts: 54
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Post by kyla on Apr 9, 2009 20:27:41 GMT
Andrea - I guess maybe three or four baskets? I was hoping to get this sort of effect www.sxc.hu/pic/m/u/uk/ukapala/748419_basket_of_yarn.jpgJust a pile of yarn in a basket that people can choose from, and a couple baskets spread out around the table so there is not only lots of choice, but people wont have to awkwardly reach over each other to get to the basket. Just something that makes it look inviting - I don't have any particular shape in mind, just pick up whatever you like the look of really. They can all match or they can all be different, it doesn't really matter in the end! Tina - If you want to help out on the day that wold be fantastic, I have about three or four people who say they will help but pretty much anybody is welcome to come. the printing is being taken care of, Kirsten is donating some free-trade teas and paper cups, I can bring a kettle, (except we will probably need more than one kettle come to think of it,) and really the only thing left is making sure that there are ample amounts of yarn in a variety of different colours/textures and weights, and enough needles and hooks to go around. I guess a tray with a sugar bowl, a honey pot and milk would be good as well for peoples tea - I hadn't thought of that.
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andrea
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by andrea on Apr 10, 2009 13:38:39 GMT
Awesome! I love it when a plan comes together. In addition to the baskets, I'll pick up some crochet hooks - maybe 2 each of 4.5 mm, 5.0 mm and 5.5 mm. I'm also pretty sure my grandmother has a kettle she's been wanting to unload on me and there might be one at work I can borrow. Kyla and Tina, I'm going to send you a message with my email address so we don't have to keep going back and forth on the message board.
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kyla
Junior Member
Posts: 54
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Post by kyla on Apr 10, 2009 15:37:16 GMT
If there's a message somewhere, I can't find it.
catanya88@hotmail.com just email me instead, it'll be easier.
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andrea
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by andrea on Apr 11, 2009 13:25:43 GMT
You can get your messages at the bottom of the screen in the "Info Center", in case you ever needed to know!
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