Charity Spotlight - Operation Toasty Toes

Operation Toasty Toes makes handmade knitted and crocheted slippers, dickeys, headbands, helmets (a.k.a. ski masks), watch caps and wristlets (a.k.a. fingerless mitts). These items are mailed to the Armed Forces stationed overseas. You have to use their patterns only but it's a nice way to support the troops. Click the link to find a chapter near you.

Charity Spotlight - The Mother Bear Project

I'm posting today about The Mother Bear Project. This seems a worthwhile charity to crochet for but I will bring to your notice that they only accept there bear patterns and you have to pay for the pattern but they do crochet as well as knit so if you want to pay a few dollars for their bear pattern and make a difference it's a good cause.

The Mother Bear Project is dedicated to providing comfort and hope to children affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations, by giving them a gift of love in the form of a hand-knit or crocheted bear.

David Nifong

JournalNow did a very inspirational story about David Nifong called Blanketing the Babies. David has crocheted dozens of blankets and hats for charity. Not only is he an inspiration to all of us who participate in the fiber arts but he is a shout out to all those men out there that don't think real men crochet. He's done a wonderful thing to contribute to a worthy cause. Now go read his story.

Charity Spotlight - Newborns in Need

Newborns in Need is a Cristian charity that provides several services. Among those is providing afghans, blankets, hats and booties and many other basic essential baby items. Anyone looking to crochet charity items could do worse than check out their site, find a local chapter and get started if you feel you agree with what they are doing.

Contest - Naturally Baby

Want to win up to $300? Got a hook and know how to use it? Then today's post is so for you. Boogie on over to Caron Yarns Naturally Baby Contest. Not only do you get a chance to win but they will donate money to benefit Project Linus so even if you don't win you still are doing something great for a child that needs it. That makes you a winner in my book every time. This is also open to knitters so if your fiber art runs that bent feel free to take a look.

Project Linus is a national non-profit organization with a two-fold mission: First, to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer "blanketeers". Second, it is the Project Linus mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.

Charity Spotlight - Make A Cap

Another new feature here at TFB will be crocheting for charity. I want to spotlight some worthy causes especially now that we are coming closer to the season of giving. The only thing that makes the over commercialized holiday bearable for me is to remember the true meaning of the season. The birth of Jesus and the wise men coming with gifts, not a list of give me that needed to be checked twice. Of course you must all do what is right for yourselves but if you would like to make some gifts for charity I hope you will find at least one of the causes I will be posting over time a worthy one. That said I post my first crochet charity spotlight.

Save The Children is running a Make A Cap campaign. Now though it is called Knit One Save One, they also accept crocheted caps. I will quote here from their own site and you can take a look for yourself if you wish to participate.

By keeping a baby warm, your cap can save a life. Just download our Action Kit and you’ll get a variety of easy patterns for knitters or crocheters, as well as instructions for writing a letter to the new President.

Loopy Rwanda & Caron Yarns

Tonight's 26th Getting Loopy show featured Cari Clements talking about her job as design director of Caron Yarns. Cari also talked about her work with Rwanda Knits, and their Auctions [mark the dates: October 16-26, 2008]. There will some new yarns coming out and some discontinued. Which ones? I'm not going to tell you. You're just going to have to go listen, so there. ;-) Seriously this 45 minutes flies by. It's so interesting just to hear about how they came to pick Rwanda and what the women there have gone through. Amazing! Even if you're not a crocheter just go listen and then go look at the Auction items. Ever wonder where those samples go that you see pictured in pattern books and magazines? Well some of them are there straight from the designers own stash! 50% of the final auction price will also be tax deductible plus you are helping a great cause. What more can you want? No you can not have free yarn! ;-)

Hop on over and check out of the archive if you didn't get to hear it. Links and all the info can be found at Getting Loopy. [G.L. link in this posts header and also on the right sidebar]