Here's to 2019

Well, not long now until 2019. 

2018 has been an unusual year in many ways. As some of you may know I have decided to stop making and selling my craft items. I have closed the Folksy store that I opend at the beginning of the year and have also removed the items that I had for sale from my FB page.

It was getting hard to find the time to promote things and add onto that the fact that FB is making it increasingly hard for people to be seen and many are having their post reach restricted; I decided that it just wasn't worth it anymore.

I donate proceeds from my any sales to the charities and good causes I support so I will now be donating items directly to them to use in fundraising events etc.

Shortly before Christmas I donated a bag full of handmade items to our local Oxfam shop here in Rothesay on Isle of Bute - lots of beady bling that hopefully found their way into some stockings at Christmas!!

Since October I have been concentrating on making the crochet wrist-warmers that I have been donating to homeless outreach centres around the UK. Glad to say that in the end 156 pairs went out before Christmas.

I'm having a wee break over the festive period - well, from making the wrist-warmers at least!! I'm doing some scarves at the moment. Three already made and another two on the go.

 Still got plenty of yarn to get through so will be re-starting with the wrist-warmers in the New Year. After all, homelessness doesn't end when Christmas does and January and February are often colder and wetter than December so I will continue to donate to as many outreach centres as I can.

You may remember that my hubby opened a Redbubble store earlier in the year and I put some of my work in there - mostly womb cancer awareness stuff and he agreed to donate proceeds from any sales (10% of sale price) to Womb Cancer Support UK which is the not for profit organisation I run. Well, I have decided to remove the items from his store and set up one of my own which you can find here 

Take care and hope that 2019 is a good year for you. 

Final wrist warmer update for 2018

Well, not long now until Christmas and I have reached my target of 150 pairs made and donated - actually I made 156 pairs of wrist warmers and 3 crochet hats and also donated 4 crochet cowl scarves that I made earlier in the year.

The last parcel goes in the post tomorrow and then I'm having a wee break until the New Year when I will start again making and donating to yet more homeless outreach centre.

Really pleased to have got them out across the whole of the UK - Oban, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Nottingham, Cardiff, Southend on Sea, Manchester and Wolverhampton.

Hoping to get them to even more places during 2019. 

Still got plenty of yarn to use so I'll be making lots more wrist warmers. 

 See you in 2019.

Another wrist warmer update

Well we are now almost into the 3rd week of December and the weather is due to get cold and snowy this weekend across parts of the UK.

Some of the homeless outreach centres I have donated to and now follow on social media are reporting that they have snow forecast for the weekend and they will all be out doing what they can to help people on the streets.

It's going to be a long hard winter for those on the streets but it's good to know that there are lots of kind hearted people who are willing to give up their time to help those less fortunate than themselves.

I did a total a couple of days ago and I have now made and donated 144 pairs of wrist warmers. 

Still making them though as I have more places to donate too. The lovely folks at Beanies Masato have given me details of some more outreach centres around the UK so I will make up some more packs to send out - hopefully before Christmas.

This pack went out yesterday to Manchester so should hopefully get there either tomorrow or Monday. 

Got another batch almost ready to go to St. Helens - hopefully that will go out in the post on Monday and that will then take me over 150 pairs which was my target for Christmas.

However, I won't be stopping now I've reached my target. I shall continue to make them over Christmas and will get more parcels in the post in the New Year.

Homelessness doesn't just happen at Christmas. It can happen to anyone at anytime of the year.

Until next time.

Wrist warmer update

Well, here we are in December and the weather is turning colder and wetter. 
I'm still crocheting away and the number of wrist warmers made and donated so far now stands at 114.

Have another pack of 12 pairs ready to post out and am also donating some to a local group here on the island - the ladies shinty club - who are collecting items to take over to Glasgow next weekend. Really pleased to be able to support a local initiative.

Been using a lot of red and green yarn this week so plenty of pairs of festive wrist warmers!!!

Still working my way through my stash of yarn. Trying to resist the temptation to buy some more but it's so hard to pass up bargains on Ebay!!!!

Hoping to reach 150 pairs before Christmas!!

Catch you soon for another update. 

Change of plan - again!

As many of you may know I make and sell my handmade items to help raise funds for the various charities and organisations that I support.

As well as the items I have listed on my buteartism page on FB (and the few on Rainbows over Bute I also have some listed in my Folksy shop.

After much thought I have decided that I shall no longer be making and selling items in 2019. Apart from the fact that I am busy making the wrist warmers for the homeless, sales are very, very slow. Things are not helped by FB constantly messing with things and people not seeing posts. It just seems a futile thing to be putting my very limited energies into at the moment.

So, the Folksy store is closing at the end of November and any items listed on the FB page will stay up until Christmas and will then be donated to various places instead.

The page will stay running as I am hoping to continue running the selling events occasionally next year which will feature a variety of sellers if there is enough interest.

I have donated a fair bit of my stash of handmade items recently so don;t really have much left anyway and I just have the time or the inclination to make more if its just going to be sitting around here.

I am enjoying making the crochet wrist warmers and donating them to various homeless outreach centres around the UK. This to me feels a much more worthwhile cause and I am getting a lot more satisfaction in doing this.

My health is not getting any better so I need to focus on what I can do and what I enjoy doing.

I am not in the slightest bit optimistic that 2019 will be any better than 2018, or indeed any year since 2010 when I had my treatment but who knows!!
Until next time.
xx

72 pairs and still going strong

Well, the wrist warmers are flying out of here at a rate of knots, I can tell you. 
So far 72 pairs have gone out, in packs of 12 across the UK. Oban, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Nottingham and another batch is going out tomorrow to another homeless outreach centre in Glasgow.

Have been busy this weekend and made another 7 pairs so will soon have another pack to send out but not sure yet where these will be going.
Have made a few enquiries and just waiting on people to get back to me with an address to send them to and then they will be off.

The weather is starting to get colder now and there is apparenty snow forecast this weeks in some parts of the UK.

I am looking to have made and posted out 12 packs before Christmas so I best get cracking.

See you soon for another update.

PS/ If you can spare a minute then please check out this website  who donate one of their fab and funky beanie hats to homeless outreach organisations for everyone that is bought. 
They would make great Xmas gifts so please pop over and have a look. 

Wrist Warmers in the post.

You may remember a couple of posts ago I mentioned about making the wrist warmers and donating them to homeless outreach centres.

Well I am pleased to say that the first parcel of 12 crocheted wrist warmers has just gone down to the Post Office (courtesy of my lovely husband)

They are on their way to Hope Kitchen in Oban, which is not far from me here on Isle of Bute. I mentioned in a previous post that I was hoping to add some other bits in with the wrist warmers like a pack of tissues, etc but I haven't been able to get into town to buy anything and as the temperature is set to drop dramatically this weekend, I wanted to get them posted out asap.

So hopefully they will arrive soon and be out to good use.

My stash of yarn is increasing not decreasing, thanks to a swap I did with a local lady for some embroidery threads that I no longer want - which means I have some lovely new yarn to make another batch of wrist warmers which will be going a bit further afield. These will be off to Birmingham to an organisation called Birmingham's Homeless Support Team It's my home town and I have a lot of affection for the place so am happy to support them.

So best get my trusted crochet hook out and start making some more.

See you later.