Pink Knitting Kits

Tonight I wound up the pink yarn that I bought so I could make Las Cruces Knit Charm Operation Stay Warm 2014 knitting kits with the rest of the coral yarn that was donated to the project.  I was able to make seven more kits.  This brings the total number of kits to 71.  I finished knitting one kit yesterday and I'm working on weaving in the ends.  I will start knitting another kit tomorrow.  And I'll also start to call the retirement communities in town. 

Knitting Kits for Operation Stay Warm 2014

This past week my toddler outgrew his first pair of sneakers!  He's running and climbing and tackling little stairs.  So fast!

And this year I'm making knitting kits for Las Cruces Knit Charm again!  For Operation Stay Warm 2014, we are going to knit 5" by 5" afghan squares and sew them together to make afghans and lapghans for the Camp Hope tent city yarn bombing on October 19th.  If we get a lot of squares we can spell out messages within each blanket.  Like fair isle.  But with squares.

I bought someone's vintage acrylic destash on Ravelry.  

And I found a couple of vintage acrylic lots on ebay.  (Note: this fluffy frosted yarn is delicious to knit with!)

I wound the yarn up into mini cakes and sorted them by color.

And I made kits that include yarn and two free patterns for knitting 5" by 5" squares.  There is enough yarn in each kit to knit twelve or thirteen squares.  

The patterns I included are for mitered squares so you don't have to worry about gauge.  I'm almost finished knitting up my first kit.

I've given out over 30 kits so far and I have about that many left.  They are available locally in the Las Cruces, New Mexico area.

I'll be making more this week because I bought some more pink yarn to go with a donation of five skeins of coral acrylic.  I'm going to call the retirement communities in town to see if I can make presentations to their knitting groups to see if anyone would like to get involved in this project.

I'm so excited that we are going to have another big project this year!

Las Cruces Knit Charm

The next Las Cruces Knit Charm yarn bombing of the Camp Hope Tent City will be on October 19, 2014!  You can help by knitting or crocheting afghan squares, afghan panels, washcloths, and other items!  

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Last year I started organizing Las Cruces Knit Charm!  It is a charity knitting group that yarn bombs our local tent city here in Las Cruces with knitted and crocheted items.  

On Sunday, October 19, 2014 at 10:00 AM Las Cruces Knit Charm will yarn bomb the Camp Hope tent city in Las Cruces with knitted and crocheted afghans, lapghans, washcloths, and more!

Operation Stay Warm 2014 - Afghans! Join this project and knit or crochet afghan squares or panels. We will seam them together to create afghans and lapghans to keep Camp Hope residents warm this winter!

For afghan squares, knit or crochet squares in multiples of 5 inches. For afghan panels, please knit or crochet panels 10 inches wide by 45 inches long. Feel free to use any color and stitch pattern you like! Please leave a 6 inch tail at the beginning and end of each item and use only machine washable and dryable yarns. You can knit or crochet entire afghans and lapghans as well!

Operation Clean Fun 2014 - Washcloths! Join this project and knit or crochet washcloths for the residents of Camp Hope! Washcloths can be any shape, size, or color. Please include a new wrapped bar of soap with your washcloth donation so that each washcloth can come with a new bar of soap.

Camp Hope was yarn bombed with 190 washcloths, 44 scarves, 12 afghans, 6 hats, and 3 pairs of socks in 2013. Lets beat those numbers in 2014! All kinds of knitted and crocheted items will be accepted!

Items are due by September 15, 2014 so they can be assembled and tagged with a Las Cruces Knit Charm tag and animal charm.

If you live in Las Cruces you can drop your items off at Quillin Fiber Arts. Make sure you tell Kym or Dedri that the items are for Las Cruces Knit Charm because they collect for a number of projects.

If you don’t live in town you can mail your knitted items to: 
Las Cruces Knit Charm 
P.O. Box 1266 
Las Cruces, NM 88004

On October 20, 2013, eighteen Las Cruces Knit Charm volunteers yarn bombed Camp Hope with 255 items: 190 washcloths, 44 scarves, 12 afghans, 6 hats, and 3 pairs of socks! We also donated 200 bars if soap. Starbucks donated 100 cups of coffee and Albertsons donated 5 dozen donuts for Camp Hope residents to enjoy while we yarn bombed their camp.

Tent city residents and other homeless people who were on the area were super happy and thankful for all of the beautiful donations. They posted a story about the event on their blog: http://hopevillagelascruces.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/las-cruces-knit-charm-yarn-bombs-camp-hope/

We have more info on the Las Cruces Knit Charm facebook page too: http://www.facebook.com/LasCrucesKnitCharm.

And we're also on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/las-cruces-knit-charm.

And here are pictures from the 2013 yarn bombing!

This project was so much fun and made a difference in our community! Can't wait for this October!