What’s What Wednesdays

A few weeks ago, Amy retweeted a link to a story on the XRX company blog about a fundraiser.  One of their employees,  Sue Nelson, has been suffering for a few years with a particularly nasty cancer, and XRX had decided to help Sue by raffling off the original sample of the Great American Afghan.  All funds raised were to go to Sue’s medical costs. Last week, Benjamin Levisay, CEO of XRX, announced that $11,000 had been raised, and the winner of the afghan was Angela Tennant, of Florida. Upon being notified of her win, Angela told Benjamin that she didn’t want the prize – she wanted the afghan to ...

A knitting group from the UK, The Materialistics, known for “extreme knitting” – including a boat cozy – has unveiled their latest project: yarny versions of 50 great masterworks of art. The works are faithfully recreated with knitting, crochet, embroidery and some applique.  They were exhibited at the recent Stitch and Craft show in London, and will be touring around the UK. Absolutely stunning. An article on the Huffington Post, although starting badly (just rush past the bit where the author claims knitting is boring) discusses the National Women’s Hall of Fame, which is housed in ...

Knitters in Australia are knitting little sweaters for injured penguins. The Coventry Knitathon for Red Nose Day in the UK has raised over £6000 for Comic Relief. Although they failed in their objective to break the Guinness record for most knitters at the same time and the same place, a good time was had by all. A great slide show of the event here. Fundraising Update: Kay of Mason -Dixon Knitting reports that she has raised over $5000 for relief efforts in Japan with her Mitered Crosses blanket pattern. Wendy Johnson has raised over $2500 with her Japanese Garden shawl pattern. Janel Laidman has raised over $3000 ...

Knitting Fever, the US Distributor of Noro Yarns, has announced a donation matching program for funds donated to the American Red Cross for their relief efforts in Japan. Mail checks made out to the American Red Cross to Knitting Fever, and they will match the donation from their own funds (up to $50,000), and take care of delivering it all to the Red Cross. More information here, and a letter from Eisaku Noro here. The Noro company itself was not affected, as they are far away from the epicenter of the damage. Kay Gardiner of Maxon Dixon Knitting has released a new log cabin blanket design using Noro yarns, with all ...

Knithacker features a lovely photo-essay on the yarnbombing of the cherry tree at the childhood home of writer Joy Kogawa in Vancouver. The yarnbombing celebrates the declaration of the home as a historic site, and will be removed in time for the tree to blossom naturally in the spring. Our own Mandy was involved in this wonderful work. The New Police Chief of Langley, Whidbey Island, Washington State created quite a fuss in his second week on the job by investigating the activities of local yarnbombers, and removing a couple of street sign cozies. And in more yarn-bombing news, likely to make our police chief friend ...

A stunning and very meaningful yarnbomb – a flower-festooned fence – created to mark the 1 year anniversary of the February 27th, 2010, earthquake in Chile that left many dead, injured and homeless.  The yarnbomb was installed on the fence of one of the destroyed buildings.  More pictures and detail at the link – note that the text is in Spanish. A nice piece from CBS News’ “The Early Show” about a Mayo clinic study that proves that knitting can help your health – keeping older minds sharp, assistance with stress and pain management, and even strengthening the immune ...

The Textile Museum of Canada has announced their annual fundraiser, the BMO Financial Shadow Box silent auction. Over 150 textile artists are participating – each has contributed an original work of art, all within the same basic shadow box. The items are available for viewing now online and at the museum between February 23 and March 3rd.  The auction takes place at a gala event March 3rd at the museum. All proceeds go to support the museum’s exhibitions, collections, and education programs. The Fashion Museum of Antwerp has announced “Unravel“, a new exhibition about Knitwear in Fashion, ...

The Red Scarf project is organized by the Orphan Foundation of America. It gathers donations of hand-knitted red scarves to send to orphans who are away at college. The recipients are all current or former foster children enrolled in college who receive scholarships through the foundation. A group in Coventry UK will be gathering on March 17th in an attempt to break the Guinness World record for most simultaneous knitters. The record was previously set in 2009 at Sock Summit, with 937 knitters. The Coventry group is hoping for over 1000 participants, as part of a fundraiser for Comic Relief. Organizers of Sock Summit ...