KAS WISH LIST 2012
SQUARES SQUARES SQUARES!
Squares as always are what we need the most.
To make our lives easier, please only leave a tail 50 cms long. We bundle the squares into 50's and they can get into a terrible mess with very long tails. We would appreciate it if these tails could be neatly butterflied and laid on top of the square and all other ends stitched in.
Send the squares flat with the tails neatly wound on top of the square. Folded squares or rolled squares with the tails bound take a long time to flatten and sort.
Neaten the ends. Some squares arrive with the end just snipped off and this may lead to a blanket unravelling.
Be creative - it is lovely to include one creative square in each blanket among the plain jane squares, so if your mood is creative do send us embroidered or other creative squares if you feel like it. They add yet another dimension to our beautiful blankets. And please send brightest colours, even luminous, where possible. However, all squares will be used no matter what the colour. We totally understand that using up old yarn is a common situation. Here is a link to the challenges to help with your creative sparkle, please join in! http://forum.knit-a-square.com/forum/categories/challenges-1/listFo...
Please include a note with your name, address, email address and a list of the contents of the package.
GARMENTS
Yarn - please use yarn (either wool, acrylic, bamboo or cotton) which is soft or softish to touch.
Square vests – please do not use the pattern from the website. The pattern will soon be removed and replaced with a Slip-Over pattern or a simple vest /tank top pattern, longer in body length.
Newborn items – sorry for the confusion in this regard. We most definitely DO want newborn items, but our current stock is unbalanced in favour of small items at the moment so before the coming winter it would help enormously helpful for us to receive items in the pre-school/creche (2-8 yr) age group bearing in mind that this is the age-group to which we have greatest access.
Slip-Overs - these garments should definitely be made in soft, yielding yarn as they are either warn directly against the skin or are stretched over other items for added warmth. They can be made thicker (with two strands of yarn) but perhaps then they should be knitted or crocheted on bigger needles. There are very specific instructions under the SLIP-OVER category on the forum.
Hats – at this point we need these items for children two years and older, again in line with our stock requirements going into winter. Please make sure that some of the hats are large enough to fit a two year old (proportionally a two year olds head is almost the size of an adult, so please keep that in mind when you are knitting/crocheting away!) – sizes medium and large preferred for the next few months.
Jerseys, cardigans, jumpers and baby clothes – again sorry for the confusion! Please keep sending these. We need them. Cardigans are perfectly acceptable in fact Ronda says “we love and adore these items”. As she explained, the very tiny sweaters as per the website pattern tend to have a high neckline which is not comfortable for very small babies. But “own” pattern items, specifically designed for infants are most welcome – plus bootees and mittens. We have a large collection of teeny beanies at this point.
KASCuddles
We love these! Please keep knitting them. Here is a link to the knit-a-long that we had last year: http://allfororphans.com/kascuddleknit-a-long/
Please send all of these items to OUR knit-a-square address, here is the link to our postal instructions page: http://www.knit-a-square.com/postal.html
DUTY
Please ensure that NO VALUE, NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE and FOR CHARITY ONLY is placed on your custom labels and parcels. We have to pay a small mandatory handling fee on any box, so if your squares will fit, please send them in a package rather than a box.
OTHER ITEMS
Plastic rain ponchos - these are the most desired of all the 'slip-ins'. We will use every rain poncho sent for the children in the informal shack settlements. The rain comes in deluges and everyone in a shack would be saturated during a rain storm. The ponchos will be used during summer and winter to stay dry inside and outside.
Stationery - pencils, erasers, sharpeners and ball point pens are most welcome.
Toys – the toys go down an absolute treat as you would have seen from the photos on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Knitasquare . Please keep sending them!
DONATIONS
As always KAS needs your donations, even just a small amount of money per month makes a big difference. Here is the link to our donations page. Every cent is used in South Africa to allow Ronda and our amazing volunteers to do the work that they are doing: http://www.knit-a-square.com/knit-a-square-donate.html
Two new projects:
The first one requires funds for Ronda to buy school shoes for Africa Ablaze. Africa Ablaze are currently running a rural school shoe appeal. We do not want shoes sent because they are too heavy, expensive and will definitely incur duty. However, funds donated to KAS can be used toward this appeal, so if you feel like giving some rural children school shoes, please donate here: http://www.knit-a-square.com/knit-a-square-donate.html
The other project we are working with is Aurora Schools project, which is to try and beat the Guinness Book of World Records largest hand-made blanket which is 2500 sq metres (MASSIVE) by Mandela Day THIS year! We have promised them knitting needles and double-knit, or other suitable yarns, to get them started in March. We are getting publicity through their effort and have also promised 250 - 400 blankets to fill in IF required on the day, and also we will help them lay out and cobble together (loosely) the 35-square blankets so that they may be UNcobbled afterwards and distributed. Therefore, knitting needles and yarn are greatly needed as well as plastic and steel wool-sewing needles! (Please send these items to the usual KAS address).
So there you are, the official 2012 wish list. Thank you all for your patience, and please remember, this is just a "wish list" a guideline for what makes our lives easier. It does not matter if you have not done these things, please still send the goods anyway they will all be used!
Just a thought – we are promised SUCH a cold winter here, if people want to pop just one undervest (singlet ?) and one pair of sox in each parcel they would be very welcome indeed.
I have about 6 vests in stock, but of course they sit here waiting for sufficient numbers to gather before I can distribute them.
The sox are flying out – they are extremely popular !
Again, sizes 3 – 10 yrs in all items are the most useful just now.
Just a little reminder for the kind people who purchase them please to remove any price tags or plastic clips - as Customs regards these a saleable products, and, therefore subject to Duty!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sue Gillman on
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Yes Anne it does mean children can't go to school apparently ! I sometimes think about our little creche kids when they get to school age. I thnk that UNICEF and similar organisations work on that.
In the meantime I guess we will keep them warm and well and hopefully they can get to school.
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Permalink Reply by Kalai McDonald on
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HI Anne
Ronda will a portion of any left over money to Africa Ablaze, so if we get more donations then normal, that money will be spent on shoes for the project. Hope that makes sense! So yes, it's our paypal account that the money will go into. There may be a comment space when you donate and if so, please write that it's for Africa Ablaze there.
Thank you!
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Permalink Reply by Bev Jeffery on
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Hi Kalai
I have bought some 100% wool on sale and was planning on knitting some squares for the 'hills' children. If they were to get done in a timely fashion and sent to arrive before Mandela Day, would they be included in blankets to be sewn together for the Aurora Schools blanket?? Sorry to be a pain, its just that even on sale wool is more expensive and I would not like to send them if they did not benefit those children for whom they were intended. Thanks. xx
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Permalink Reply by Wendy Hardy on
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Hi Bev. Please knit your squares and send them, they will definitely go to the children you request they go to. The idea with Curro is that the school children and their families and communities knit furiously and generate the 70 000 squares they need - a massive challenge as we well know! We will only assist with blankets if they need any to meet their goal, but we will get them all back to distribute for KAS and more. We will also be helping Curro with the distribution of the blankets they make through this challenge. Great fun!
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Permalink Reply by Anne Powell on
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Wendy thanks for clearing up some of our questions.
Now here's another one....... Is there any way we can assist by donating funds for the purchase of yarn instead of mailing it?? The cost of postage puts the actual cost of the yarn over the moon, whereas if we sent the $$ we would spend on Yarn and postage, a whole lot more could be obtained right there in South Africa. I realize that's not quite as much of a "hands-on" approach as choosing and sending yarn... but it would be a lot cheaper and faster (July is not that far off)
If you can think of a way this might work, could you post something here?? I can't quite figure out how we could do it except through Paypal and we would want to keep that donation separate from our regular monthly contribution $$
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Anne, this one I cannot easily answer for you. I would have to speak to Sandy about how this can be done, but will pop her a mail and let you know asap. Thanks for the enthusiasm!
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Wendy, Thanks so much for clearing this up...my main concern was, when we usually send squares to SA we are asked to keep the wool ones separate from the acrylic and I just wanted to be sure that that would still be the case during this challenge.Thanks for the swift reply...I can now get started...time is awasting. lol
I hear you with the postage costs, Ann...I sent a small bag of yarn 'left-overs' in my parcel this week...and although it is a little costly at least the little yarn balls don't look at me beseechingly every time I open my cupboards....because I no longer wish to knit with them.
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Bev I know I am not Kalai but I thought it might help for you to be updated.Acrylic is just as welcome as wool. There was a time when they kept them separate for people with open fire heating and cooking. I guess that might be true of the hill children, but now they mix wool and acrylic in the blankets. I have had to switch to acrylic becasue of the cost and I think others find the same. A mixture in the blankets keeps them more fire safe anyway I guess.
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Permalink Reply by Cathy Smith on
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Thank you Sue for this information! I have 3 skeins of wool blend I've been saving aside to work on. I hope they do give the wool to the Hill children. It would be safer and warmer I would think! ♥Cathy
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Hi Sue
Thanks so much for this. I usually do only send acrylic, but just recently came across some super cheap/reduced 100% wool that works out about $3-$4/100g, so I thought I would do these just for the hill children as I thought they could only have pure wool. With the big challenge coming up I thought maybe they might be using ALL squares sent to them and didn't want the wool ones to get 'lost' amongst acrylic ones and therefore become 'lost' to the hill children. Thanks for clearing that up for me....really appreciate it. :) xx
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Hi Bev
We no longer distribute to the hills kids because it is just too dangerous. Having done the original donation, we then began distributing to creches as it is safer and more accessible for Rondi and the volunteers.
If you wish to have your squares kept separate from the Aurora Project please leave a not for Ronda and the volunteers in your package. However, Wendy is reporting back soon as to her recent positive meeting with Aurora, so we're waiting to hear what she says.
Hope that helps Bev x x x
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Hi Kalai
Thanks for the info...does this mean that you no longer specifically require 100% wool items anymore?
Only asking 'cos when I go back to the city next week I was going to try to get some more wool on sale, thinking that it was needed....I have tons of acrylic already. Thanks. :)
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