Charity, Ravelry-Style and Crochet Guild-Style

I logged into Ravelry a couple of days ago and was greeted by the recent Ravelry update (This Week in Ravelry #8), which happened to feature/lead to several charity thingies… (thingies is a technical term).

Generous Ravelers

If you have a Ravelry membership (sorry, this won’t work if you can’t log in), then check out the Vintage Crochet for Charitable Giving article. For example, I’d like to note this paragraph:

In 1916, the Home Needlework Magazine frequently included articles with “small things to make” for church charity fairs. Popular items were crocheted, because – it was explained – “crochet is so popular.”

Yay, popular crochet! Crocheters are generous! Anyway, the article goes on to list a bunch of threads about what Ravelry members are doing for charity! Very nice.

Crochet Guild of America / Charity Section

While I was reading, I found the following link for people who crochet, which lists a whole bunch of crafting for charity projects from the Crochet Guild of America. There are 82 projects/charities on there right now, although their links could use a cleanup. Some examples are …

• Angels for Hope sent 68,871 butterflies, angels and smiley faces to people in need of hope (people who are injured or ill) in 2007.
• Needle Arts Mentoring Program of the Helping Hands group pairs adults and youth to encourage building bridges across generations through the needle arts of knitting and crochet.
• Project Hope Afghan is a group focusing on cancer patients at M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX (I think I picked this because I used to work across the street). It started in 1997 – don’t know if it’s ongoing, but hey, this sounds like the Share A Square project, eh?

Jennifer finishes first!

Thanks to all the Etsy for Animals people who stopped by yesterday!  They are a very friendly bunch, and I’ve had a lot of fun looking at their Etsy shops and seeing all the great things they do.  One member even introduced me to a new cat (exotic cats!) sanctuary, Cedarhill Sanctuary and told me that Etsy for Animals raises hundreds of dollars a month.  Wow!

Project Status!

I told you my mother-in-law’s making afghans for the Share A Square, too, right? So Jennifer’s now finished her first blanket (#85 in the gallery) and is starting on a second. I feel somehow behind. Better get cracking on that blanket a bit more, eh? Sloooow Miriam!

Funny thing is, almost all her squares are different than the ones I received. You know what that means? Just think of how many different squares Shelly received from how many people to make so many unique blankets! She says she’s received over 8000 squares, as far as I know, probably many more by now!

Crafting for Charity: Etsy for Animals

After I did last week’s on Etsy for Charity, one of the organizers dropped me a line and suggested some more possibilities for me. So cool!

Etsy For Animals: Artists helping Animals

Just what it sounds, this week’s charity feature is a group of Etsy sellers who donate to animal charities. EFA chooses a monthly charity to support. In February they focused on the Redwings Horse Sanctuary in the UK. In March they’re supporting the Visakha SPCA Cow Sanctuary.

How does it work?

Well, members donate items to the shop. 100% of the proceeds from the items in the shop benefit the monthly animal charity. Simple! Perhaps you’d be interested in 3 fantastic kissing cows cards? A lovely charm-and-button bracelet? The cutest dog in the cutest floral dog sweater ever? They’ve got it!!

But there’s more:

Many of the members of Etsy for Animals sell things in their own shops that benefit animals too – each one is different, and chooses their own benefits – including vegan and vegetarian folks, or just plain people who love animals. Nice leads to people who care, though.
Links to know:

• Etsy For Animals main website, including links to the monthly charity, the membership list and the list of charities they support.
• Etsy for Animals Shop – 100% to the animals!

Busy Woman:
Thought I’d also note that both Etsy for Animals and Etsy for Charity share a generous and apparently tireless organizer, Michele of the mvegan5 Etsy shop. 10% of her sales go to the Etsy for Animals charity of the month.