Fist sorting of the season

Last Sunday, the first large sorting of this season took place at Walker Place in South Minneapolis. It happened in a beautiful large room (as compared to a small basement room last year) where instead of being cool and wearing sweaters and coats we were on the wam side and layers of clothing came off repeatedly as we sorted. Who knew this could be such warm work!

The hats were flying across the table in many directions to reach their appropriate piles, as several of us were sorting. Kathy kept us well organized with instructions and took on the bulk of packing sorted items into large bags when the piles on the tables were getting top-heavy and starting to lean precariously. Soon all items were ready in their designated bags to be taken to specific locations in the days to come. Barb had her usual moment of slight panic when everything was sorted and packed and we officially hat NO more hats in our stash anymore (Oh no! And it’s only the start of November!!!).

from left to right: Barb, Joan, Peggy, Kathy

But no worries, we KNOW that there are more hats out there ready to come and that more will be on the needles or crochet hooks in the weeks to come. Winter has not yet started for real, and we believe there will be more incoming items to be sorted and distributed yet again very soon.

So if you have a few items ready and you were holding off on mailing or dropping them off for when you had a few more to add to them, you might decide to get them to one of the collections points soon and then continue your creative streak for the next shipment/drop-off. Distrubtions will continue strong into December and usually slow down a bit after New Year (but not stop until spring is around the corner).

P. S. We were pleasantly surprised by how many hats there were in man-colors and sizes. They are not always the most fun to make, but they sure are needed. Keep them coming!

Yes, we are still very active!

The question comes up periodically as to whether this group is still active. YES, WE ARE, very much so. Most of our members don't do much online, but at least 25 of us are VERY active and about 15 of us meet monthly, even over the summer. Twice a year, there is a day of charity knitting for this project at Steven Be’s yarn shop in Minneapolis. And we are present at some farmers markets and Bachman's in the fall. There is one volunteer who coordinates everything online, like here and on Ravelry. We also have two very very active in-person coordinators who manage the sorting and distribution. We don't know how many contributors we have, as many donate anonymously; probably at least 100 contributors). So many people are directly involved that if someone steps down, someone else is always there to continue their tasks. 

If you've collected items over the summer and would like to get them out now, feel free to send them soon so we can start organizing the first distributions in a couple of months or so (that'll be November!! hard to believe). As always, feel free to send year-round. 

Happy Knitting/Crocheting/Weaving/Felting, etc.

So many hats collected!

 1912 donated items have been distributed to over 30 agencies, schools, etc. 

Good work knitters!

Distributions will continue as hats come in. As most Minnesotans know all too well, we still have at least a couple of months of winter ahead of us. Keep knitting and sending/dropping off!