A few ideas for charity knits

Our recent poppy making for the Royal British Legion was a fantastic success. If you’re in the mood for some more quick knits to sell for charity, here are some ideas to consider. Some are intended to be donated and sold on, while others raise money by charging for the pattern.

We’re also keen to share ideas of what to knit, so please add a comment at the end of this post letting us know about charity knits you’d like to see included. We’ll update the list with all your suggestions in a few week’s time and share them with everyone.

Age UK Big Knit

These are the tiny hats you’ll see adorning bottles of Innocent smoothies. Mini hat patterns suitable for all levels of knitting and crochet are downloadable from the AgeUK website: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/raise-money/get-knitting-for-the-big-knit/knitting-patterns.

Bliss premature babies charity

Bliss (www.bliss.org.uk) raises funds to support premature babies and their parents. Sign up for free to the Bliss Craft Club to view the patterns and get details of hospitals with premature baby units that would like to receive knitted items. 

Burundi Bears Knit For Bricks

Charity FacilitAid builds schools and supports education in Burundi in central Africa. Knitted bears are sold as part of the fundraising drive and is looking for more people to knit bears to sell. 

Knitted Pudsey Bears

The Pudsey Bear character has become synonyous with Children In Need. Buy a Pudsey Bear or Pudsey-emblazoned jumper pattern for £2.50 and the proceeds will go to Children In Need.

Louisa Harding hats for MacMillan
Donate to MacMillan through noted knitwear designer Louisa Harding’s fundraising page then download your choice of seven hats.

Knit a toy to amuse your cat or to raise money for the Cats Protection League

Mouse Toys for Cats Protection League
Whether you’ve got a cat that loves toys or you want to make something simple to knit to raise funds, these brightly-coloured mice are a great choice. The Cats Protection League is also after donated blankets to keep the cats it’s caring for warm.

Free Christmas knitting patterns bonanza

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas knitting season. If you fancy making decorations or presents, online yarn store Deramores has a line-up of more than 40 free knitting and crochet patterns you can download in return for your email address: http://www.deramores.com/free-christmas-patterns.

We particularly like the lost-looking snowman knitted in Cascade Yarn.

Snowman knitter – free Cascade knitting pattern on Deramores’ website

There are also dozens of free Christmas-related patterns on Barbara Breiter’s Knitting On The Net website. You can take your pick of the downloads as long as they’re for personal use or charity fundraising.

Women’s Weekly has some lovely Christmas decoration patterns too: http://www.womansweekly.com/knitting-crochet/free-christmas-knitting-patterns. We’ll be tackling the stars to adorn our tree.

If you’ve found some interesting Christmas decorations or Christmas knits you’d like to share, please post them in the comments below and we’ll update this post.

Knitted Stars knitting pattern courtesy of Women’s Weekly

Comfort Dolls knit along

Last month Brockley Knits held two knitting events where we encouraged anyone who wanted to to come and learn to knit. Since it’s much more fun to have a project to work on than to simply cast on and knit a few rows, we found a simple doll pattern that we could use as the basis of our knitting how-to. Once you know how to knit and to purl, you can simply change to a different colour yarn at the end of a row, and then sew the knitted fabric into a tube that you stuff. The doll is given shape using a drawstring of invisible thread or the same colour yarn to form the head. The arms and legs are made by sewing through both sides of the fabric to create definition. Eyes and a mouth can be added by sewing crosses and a line or yarn across the face.

We’d already tried the doll pattern, having first seen it in Let’s Knit magazine as a suggested ‘teach your kids to knit’ project. But the pattern wasn’t up on the Let’s Knit website and we couldn’t find the right back issue. Undeterred, we found nearly identical patterns online and discovered they had their origins in a charity project. The dolls in question are African Comfort Dolls and are given out to young kids orphaned by AIDS. As well as being a nice thing to receive and something you can clutch, the dolls have a practical purpose. They are sent to Africa along with HIV medicines. The dolls are used to cushion the medicine bottles and prevent them breaking.

African Comfort Dolls, as knitted by Claire at Brockley Knits

We thought this was a wonderful idea, so we decided that any dolls that knitters donated to us (having learned to knit for free) would be sent to a charity that sends out crates of medicine to Africa each year. They wait until they have raised enough money to send a consignment of medicines, and the dolls are packed into the crates along with them. Brockley Knits had fun using the African Comfort Dolls pattern to share knitting skills with people locally, and is continuing to knit these dolls so we’ve got a fair few to donate to this fantastic cause.

If you’d like to get involved, there’s a handy pattern here: http://www.squidoo.com/african-knit-dolls. If you need knitting instructions, please do come along to one of our weekly knitting meet-ups at Pat A Cakes cafe, Brockley Road SE4 on Tuesdays from 1pm to 3pm, or join us for a glass of wine (or a soft drink) and knit with us at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, 391 Brockley Road SE4, from 8pm on the 1st or 3rd Monday of the month.

You can drop off finished dolls at either venue, or just email brockleyknits@gmail.com and we can collect them locally.

Brockley Knits knit night schedule

Brockley Knits’ 2013 schedule currently looks like this:

Wednesdays from 11am at Pat A Cakes cafe, Brockley Road, opposite Crofton Park station

Fortnightly on Tuesdays from 8pm at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, 389 Brockley Road [near to Crofton Park station]

Both venues are on the 122, 171 and 177 bus routes; the P4 bus runs very close by too.

February
Tuesday 5th
Tuesday 19th

March
Tuesday 5th
Tuesday 19th

April
Tuesday 2nd
Tuesday 16th
Tuesday 30th

May
Tuesday 14th
Tuesday 28th

June
Tuesday 11th
Tuesday 25th

Come Knit With Us

Brockley Knits loves friendly, crafty people. We hang out at Pat A Cakes cafe, Brockley Road, on Wednesdays from 11am, where you’ll find us chatting over cake, tea and our knitting, sewing and crochet projects. 

We also meet up every second Tuesday at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, 389 Brockley Road. We’re there from 8pm onwards. If you can’t see us, we’re probably in the cosy lounge area at the back. Come and join us. 

We’re more than happy to show you the basics of how to knit. We’ve usually got yarn and needles with us for this very purpose. We also have patterns and books and magazines you’re welcome to browse or borrow. 

To find out more, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or email us at brockleyknits@gmail.com

New Year knitting

Happy New Year to you!

We are looking forward to another year of creative knitting – and sharing our love of all things woolly with you.

Brockley Knits meetings fortnightly on Tuesday evenings and our first such knit night will be on Tuesday 8th January. You’ll find us at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar from 8pm until 10pm (sometimes later).

Come and join us. We’re a friendly bunch and are always pleased to meet anyone else who likes to knit, crochet, sew, embroider or is keen to learn.

Brockley Knits Christmas Social details

We’re delighted to be able to invite you to our pre-Christmas get-together on Tuesday 4th December.

We’ll be decorating the venue, Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, 389 Brockley Road, SE4, with some of the bunting and paperchains we’ve already made and will be encouraging everyone who comes along to help us make some more. We’ll be there from the slightly earlier time of 7.30pm, but feel free to stop by at any point in the evening. There will even be cake!

We’ve got plenty of yarn, but if can bring your own needles (4mm and 6mm are ideal if you’re using yarn from our stash), that would help a lot.

As with our popular open knit night during the Brockley Max festival, we’ve extended the invitation to our friends in the local knitting acommunity – it’s free and open to all, so even if you’ve never been before, you’re very welcome. We’ll even teach you to knit.

We also look forward to welcoming fellow knitters from The Broca, Huxbear Community Hall, Honor Oak Knit Night and Pins N Needles Roving Knitting Group. Sydenham Knits, New Cross Library knitters and Telegraph Hill Knitting Group, we’d love you to come along too!

For simplicity’s sake, we’ll mainly be making coloured paper chains (rather than bunting, as stated on the mailing list.

Paper chain pattern
Cast on 12-15 stitches (depending on the thickness of your yarn) and then knit in garter stitch or any stitch you like until the fabric is at least 12cm long. Knit a few rows as a long strip if you prefer. Cast off and sew ends together. To make a chain, loop one end of the next strip you knit through the first chain you made before sewing up.

Click here for some links to more festive decoration ideas (all free)

Festive knitting ideas

Knitted decorations are quick to make and last a whole lot longer than the paper ones you end up buying year after year. 

We’re knitting paperchains at the moment (some from unusual materials). They’re destined for display at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, where we hold our fortnightly Knit Nights. 

Paper chains are perfect stash-busters. Just cast on a few stitches and knit a couple of dozen rows in garter stitch or any other stitch you like, casting off when the fabric is long enough to make a loop. Sew the ends together and you’re done.

Choose a contrasting colour yarn for the next loop in the chain. When you come to sew this one up, loop it through the first chain. Repeat until you have as many chains as you need. 

Here are some links to other knitting Christmas decorations you might like to try: 

Knitted baubles

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/christmas-baubles-4

Knitted stocking (plus matching tree, candle, snowman and more) http://www.oddknit.com/patterns/decorations/tts/stocking.html

Knitted paper chains

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-paper-chains

Knitted garland/wreath

http://store.cocoknits.com/products/knitted-wreath.html

Knitted snowflake

http://www.knitshop.co.uk/knitshop-pattern/1972-free-pattern-let-it-snow-snowflake.html

 

Brockley Knits Christmas Knit Night

Brockley Knits is hosting a knit night on Tuesday 4th December welcoming knitters from around the Brockley and Crofton Park area. We’ll be at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, 389 Brockley Road, Crofton Park, from 7.30pm (see map below).

We’ll be at Mr Lawrence’s all evening, so come along whenever you like. We might have scoffed all the cakes by 9pm though!

There are half a dozen knitting groups in the area, so we’re hoping to meet some like-minded souls.

We’ll be knitting Christmas decorations like these paper chains to make our favourite knitting hang-out look festive. Of course, you’re also welcome to take your creations home.

So if you already knit, or would like to learn, come along and join us.

Welcome to Brockley Knits

Brockley Knits is a small and friendly knitting group that meets fortnightly in Crofton Park, London SE4.

The group has been running since about 2008 at various local venues. Since 2010, we’ve made Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, 389 Brockley Road, our regular haunt. We can be found chatting and knitting over a glass of wine or (ginger) beer from 8pm every second Tuesday.

This year we added a weekly daytime knitting group. Conveniently, this meets in the Pat-A-Cakes cafe opposite Mr Lawrence and Crofton Park train station. Come and join us on Wednesdays from around 11am.

To join our mailing list email us at brockleyknits@gmail.com