Forum

Knit-a-Square has a new home !

Starting on Thursday 11th July, the contents of Knit-a-Square were gradually removed from Ronda & Peter Lowrie's home into our new offices!

We had hardly begun to settle-in when our first, most welcome, visitors arrived at the new premises that very day!  A lovely group of ladies they were, who travelled from the Vanderbijlpark branch of a company called IEMAS to drop off 2000 truly beautiful squares as their contribution in honour of Mandela Day.  Have a look at the magnificent donation from them – we were thrilled!

Here is Ronda's full Report if you missed it.

The irresistible and irrepressible children of

South Africa Appeal

On 29th June Sandy sent out the Critical Appeal for US$9,000 and within 48 hours KAS received $5,427 of which $4,500 came from a single donation in memory of the donor's recently depart partner. Since then we have received donations ranging from $300 to $2, and many members have doubled their regular monthly commitment!  By the end of the following week we were able to send Ronda R69,755 ($7,000) which will really help with setting up the new offices and on-going operational costs.

THE KASVAN CHALLENGE

between now and 16th September we would like everyone sending squares to record them on this discussion.  To fill the KasVan we need 9,250 squares

- let's help Ronda fill it!

We are so close to filling the KASvan.  

At the end of this week (8), which is also the half-way mark, the KASvan is 89.5% full !

We need less than 1,000 squares [972 to be exact] to completely pack the KASvan.  I know we will do it before September. Once the KASvan is full we can start adding roof racks and a trailer. The current total is 8,278 squares!

THE KNIT-A-SQUARE SHOP

Please go to the Knit-A-Square Shop today and purchase something special to support the day-to-day operations directly in South Africa.  We will be adding one or two short term items for which KAS will need support shortly!

You can also help with :

A month of Communications

KAS operational support is vital in co-coordinating all of our ‘on the ground’ volunteers in South Africa. We have volunteers to pick up and transport squares, others who unpack, sort and record the contents of the packages, a small army of people who sew the squares into blankets, and of course, there are those who drive around the country distributing those blankets to the kids.

WHAT'S GOING ON IN SOUTH AFRICA?

We have added a new discussion page on the Forum!

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM KAS DISTRIBUTIONS

Ronda and Wendy have been producing quite a catalogue of photographs from the recent distributions, rather than post them a few at a time, it was decided to create a discussion page where they could be displayed more speedily so that members might be able to spot their squares, garments or hats earlier!  

Here is one of the gorgeous children in a 

'before' and 'after' photo!

We will, where possible, be grouping the photographs into themes and create an archive.  It will build up as the distributions take place.  Already it has some beautiful pictures of the children in blankets and garments, along with the Zenzele ladies stitching blankets and of the settlement.

Jeffrey's Bay Recycling Project  

The children of Jeffrey's Bay Recycling Project have now collected over 200 tonnes of recyclable materials 15th July.  Many of the children chose to 'purchase' blankets made with squares created by the KAS Stitch Witch group and beautifully sewn together with the help of the ladies of the Sunshine Club!

DISTRIBUTIONS & BLANKETS

G.O.M.A  28th June 2013

Ronda and the Team took blankets packs and the ladies at Zenzele pounced and were soon sewing squares into blankets.  The days was such a success that they have requested more blanket packs so they can continue to work for their own community! Here is one of the beautiful stitching Ladies!

Vuselela Distribution 18th June 2013

KAS supplied square packs & G4S donated sports equipment

From left to right - Darrin Hedley (G4S), Sr Eunice and Sr Sato (Vuselela)

and Winston Juju (G4S)

Thinavhuyo 25th June 2013

This was a huge distribution and there are a huge number of photographs on the Forum.  To see more of these wonderful distribution photographs go to the new discussion post Photographs from KAS Distributions. There are photos of tops, go-overs, hexagon jackets, cuddly toys and hats - many forum members have spotted their work!

This young girl is receiving a lesson from a young teacher named Anna, using the Alphabet Cards designed by Andrea Palmatier and created by the Clear Lake Methodist Church in Houston, Texas USA.

A RE BONENG in ALEX on MANDELA DAY

18th July 2013

Here are some of the wonderful red & white hats that galvanized our members last Summer and Autumn!

Lorinda Jordaan and her team of stitchers have sewn together 200 blankets since September 2012! Lorinda has a 3.5 hour drive to Ronda's to collect all our squares and then return to Sabie, a small town on the Sabie River in Mpumulanga Province where the completed blankets are then distributed to an informal settlement area called Bushbuckridge, which is an extremely poor district.

The team have changed 200 children’s lives FOREVER!

 KAS Blanket No.200

To view Lorinda's work and other beautiful blankets please do visit The Knit-a-Square Blanket Album

Liesl-Anne Pienaar's team in Paarl, Western Cape South Africa

Paarl Girls' High School (Western Cape) actually beat their target of 150 blankets, it finally reached 175!

This is in Paarl, where the kids had an ultra-thin carpet on concrete, before the blankets arrived.

Blankets - more and more completed blankets have been added to The Blanket Album - you may even spot your squares!

SPECIAL OPENING DAY PHOTOGRAPH

  A letter from Selma saying that the squares, beanies and a vest had been sent in honour of her daughter Cassidy,

who died in a tragic car accident 8 months ago.

Naturally Ronda has written a note of thanks - we hope that people find comfort in helping others when they, themselves are reeling with the pain.

To see more open day photographs please go to Sorted in Africa

Over the years Ronda has received lots of wonderful letters from school children who want to help.  We'll share them gradually that came from the 3M class, Ambleside, Tasmania Island (Australia) :

Nixon Street Primary - Tasmania Island, Australia

KAS MONTHLY CHALLENGES

The July Challenge  

A Celebration of Africa and the life of Nelson Mandela

                                                                          The Long Walk to Freedom

Once again, our Gitta has stepped up and offered to create an album for this Challenge.  You can find it at July 2013 Challenge 

Plus Laurie has created us a Pinterest page - don't miss it!

What KAS SA is doing on Mandela Day - 18th July !

Lindi and Wandi will be representing KAS at a distribution to be held at the Emdeni Children’s Home in Soweto. We will be visiting the Fundani Nathi School in the impoverished Alexandra informal settlement. On Mandela Day, we hope to be able to motivate Meggy with our "Christmas in July" themed contributions and bring some fun and laughter to Fundani Nathi. 

KAS ARE NOW OFFICIALLY REGISTERED AS PARTICIPANTS IN INTERNATIONAL MANDELA DAY EVENTS

also

Click here to visit the Nelson Mandela Day website

Here are some of the wonderful squares so far : 

The Challenge for August Challenge will be lead by

Bev Jeffery (Australia) and the focus will be

Stripes / Zig-Zags / Textured Squares!

Here is the list for the rest of the year for those of you who like to snap up bargain yarns in preparation!  The list can be accessed on the Forum - Challenge Themes for 2013

SQUARE LISTS - TALLY - ITEM COUNT 

The Square List for June is ready for viewing. 

Received in June : Squares 21,273 (620 blankets);

Tops 505 and Beanies 881

For further details go to the discussion page Square Lists - Tally - Item Count for previous months.

Please don't forget to include your email address so that you receive an acknowledgement once the parcel has been opened!  The files that Erica created for the Package Inventory to make parcel opening day easier for the team in South Africa, and for keeping track of all the items received, are in the lower left hand corner of the discussion. These files can be downloaded.

AUGUST PATTERN OF THE MONTH

by Linda Maltby

The KASCuddle by Helen Flagg (knit)

and Anne Powell (crochet)

 These are very simple garments to make and are much needed.

Be as creative as you wish.

It is recommend that the KASCuddle be made with soft “baby friendly” yarn in a close weave such as garter stitch or single crochet with few gaps for

maximum warmth.

                                    Knitted KasCuddle Pattern                     Crochet KasCuddle Pattern

SQUARE HEART OF THE MONTH AWARD

Edited this month by Linda Maltby

The July Square Heart Award

has gone to Andrea Palmatier (Canada)

Andrea has been an active member since 2009.

With her talent and skill with a crochet hook, Andrea has created many beautiful squares and garments for the children

of South Africa.

 Andrea’s Love and Hope patterns are available in the KASPattern Book

KAS FACEBOOK PAGE

We received an additional 139 Likes on the Facebook page during July so far taking our total to 5,945!  We are nearing the 6,000 milestone, let's hope we reach it by the end of August! We also copy the messages etc received on Facebook to the Forum for anyone who is not a member of FB.

CURRENT or PAST CONTRIBUTIONS

Maudie Bryan of Wool Girl Book fame - Tasmania Island - Australia

Photographed these vibrant and beautifully crafted Zanny Sweaters were produce to fit 3+ years of age and gifted by Marie. They were knitted by the Catholic Women's League for Africa, and Maudie has very kindly covered the cost. of postage 

Father's Day Sunday 16th June - was chosen for the

Celebration of the Men

who support KAS and its Members

Celebration of the Men who Support KAS discussion on the Forum.  It makes interesting reading and a testament to these considerate men, who so often, are very much in the background of KAS, but make a substantial difference to the organisation and its members!  We will keep the discussion open until the end of the year so members who haven't had a chance to add their own thanks, can do so.

Joan Yeardley narrates how she got husband John

to produce these lovely squares

John my husband was talked into making squares when we met Pam J and Elaine at Wonder Wool Wales and they tried to persuade him to do some knitting, he refused, but mentioned that he would like to do weaving  So I sent away for a loom, he looked at it for a couple of weeks then he had a go on a wet afternoon and since then I can't get him off the thing and the only problem is he is quicker than I am with my knitting!

We first became interested in the children on a visit to South Africa in 2003 and we were taken on a visit to a nursery, which John thought he would be seeing lots of plants and flowers - wrong! It was a children’s nursery, the kids were looked after while there mothers were taught to sew and knit - this was a charity which we support - we never forgot the experience. Therefore, when we were introduced to Knit-a-Square it was something we had to do. Now we both love making a difference.

Linda's 12 days of Christmas!  (from Facebook, posted by Mary Anne)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Some of the beautiful children our members have been working for.