The I Knit Tea Party for Haiti last Saturday was great fun and a huge success.

The plan for the tea party was simple, knitters brought along a cake which was then available for a suggested donation along with tea or coffee. I should have known, knitters being as generous as they are, that there wouldn’t have been just two or three cakes to choose from. People really went to town and I have never seen so much cake. There was pumpkin cake, cup cakes, chocolate beetroot cake, flapjacks, rum cake, brownies, fruit cake, yarn cake, you-name-it cake, all of it delicious.

Photo from I Knit London

As well as the huge variety of cake there were several other ways to take part and raise money. Before the tea party the lovely staff at I Knit asked yarn and book companies as well as local businesses for raffle prizes. They were so overwhelmed by people’s generosity that the prizes went further than the raffle. There was a game of pass the parcel with a small knitterly prize in each layer as well a prizes for the most popular cakes as voted for by the guests. As knitters chatted and sampled cake a fuzzy old teddy bear was passed around, the challenge was to guess his name for £1 a go.

Photo from I Knit London:  Ness and the Bear

There was also a wordsearch and a quiz which were also £1 a go with a prizes for the winners.

Knitters also used their own initiative and organised a lucky dip bin with people donating a skein of spare yarn. It was a lovely afternoon. I met lots of new knitters as well as old friends and spread the word about p/hop with samples knits and patterns.

I’d like to give a BIG THANK YOU everyone who came and took part, who donated a raffle prize, ate cake and of course I Knit London.

We raised £650 which is fantastic. MSF can provide four surgical kits and more with that which will certainly make a difference to the Haitian people’s recovery.

Most of the cake was eaten on the day however Ness brought the leftover cake into the MSF UK office. It was very much appreciated and didn’t last long!

If you’re feeling inspired to host your own tea party or event please do get in touch (P-HOP@london.msf.org). It really is brilliant that tea, cake and knitting really can make a difference!

I’ve recently come across a couple of knitting groups organising fundraisers for MSF and Haiti. This is a great idea. What’s better than meeting with like minded people to swap knitting tips and yarn and enjoy some tea and cake while raising money for a brilliant charity.

These sort of events are fairly easy to set up. If you already meet at a venue all you need to do is advertise your next meeting as a fundraiser (you may get some new members), organise some raffle prizes (it’s amazing how generous people are when you ask), ask people to make cakes and then suggest a minimum donation for tea and cake. You can print out some p/hop patterns for donations and spread the p/hop word amongst other knitters.

If you’re feeling inspired please get in touch (email P-HOP@london.msf.org) or contact the MSF fundraising team as we can send out a pack with posters and leaflets about MSF as long as we have enough notice.

I knit London are holding a tea party on Saturday 23rd January 2010 from 1pm onwards with raffle prizes, lucky dips, quizzes and cake. The I Knit shop details are here.

The London Stitch and Bitch group are having a special yarn swapping for donations meeting for Haiti on Monday 1st February from 6pm at the Stamford Arms, 62 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9LX

If you are having an event let me know and I’ll post the details here. If you’d like to write a review of a fundraising event for the blog we’d love to hear from you.

Pete, MSF UKs Web Editor, along with the rest of the MSF teams across the world, has been working his (non-hand-knitted) socks off since last week when the earthquake devastated Haiti so he hasn’t had much time for knitting his scarf (more on that later). However he has put together this interview he did with MSF surgeon Paul McMasters who is working at the Carrfour hospital in Haiti.

If you want a reminder of why we support Médecins Sans Frontières and the work they do to help people in need please listen to this.

Haitian doctor Adesca, Surgeon Paul McMaster and German nurse Anja Wolz, Carrefour.

Photo JulieRemy via MSF UK

The response to the Haitian Earthquake tragedy by the knitting community over the last few days has been heart-warmingly inspiring.

On the social knitworking site Ravelry.com, knitters, crocheters and other fibre fans leaped into action, asking where they could donate money and if they couldn’t afford a monetary donation thinking of alternative ways to raise money for Haitian relief efforts.

The Yarn Harlot, famous knitter, writer. blogger extraordinaire and founder of Knitters Without Borders/Tricoteuses Sans Frontières lit the “knit signal” and the word to help Haiti and raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) spread like wild fire throughout the knitting twitterverse and blogasphere.

The p/hop ravelry group has been busy with lots of yarn swaps for donations to MSF. Please take a look if you fancy some new yarn or books or if you need to downsize your stash. Someone is bound to want your unloved yarn in return for a donation to p/hop and MSF.

The Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Swap Group on Ravelry has hosted a very successful auction which some beautiful handmade items as well as yarn being auctioned to raise money for relief agencies, including MSF.

A rather notorious Ravelry group (ahem, LSG) have roused their members into donating and have kept a running total which is currently over US$ 32 000 for various aid agencies.

A specific Haitian Humanitarian Aid group has been set up which is consolidating ways of helping both in the short and long term.

Several designers are donating a percentage of their pattern sales to help Haiti.

I’ve been inundated with enquiries about p/hop and our number of twitter followers has doubled since last Wednesday. I’d like to give a big thank you to anyone who has helped spread the word about p/hop and MSF.

We’ve got lots of new patterns in the pipeline thanks to the generosity of some wonderful designers. It’s worth reiterating that 100% of p/hop donations go to MSF and no one profits from them. The only people who benefit from p/hop are the people MSF helps.

Photo from MSF UK. Starting to unload the boxes to set MSF’s inflatable hospital on site in a football field in Port-au-Prince. Monday, Jan 18th 2010. Photo by Julie Remy/MSF

The problems the Haitian people are facing right now will continue for some time so please keep spreading the word and doing what you can. Let’s not forget that MSF continues to help people suffering in less “newsworthy” places such as Eastern Congo so please remember we are here all year round.

As always, p/hop is not the product of a few individuals but a community. If you’ve helped out in any way you can allow yourself a glow of humanitarian happiness knowing you’ve helped lessen people’s suffering.

If you’d like to help or have any ideas or suggestions for p/hop please get in touch.

Thank you and happy knitting.

Clare

PS If I’ve missed out anything you’ve done to help Haiti please leave us a comment below telling us about what you’ve done.

We knit, we make beautiful tactile things, we enjoy it, but we also give that little bit extra with p/hop.

The atmosphere in the MSF UK office is busier today with a calm yet determined sense of purpose due to the earthquake last night in Haiti. You can keep up-to-date with MSF’s disaster response on the MSF UK website or via their twitter feed.

I’m sorting out new p/hop patterns which feels a little odd in the middle of all the serious work going on around me but I know it does make a difference.

So if you’re knitting while watching the news tonight you can know you’ve made a difference too as having money already in the MSF pot makes it easier to respond immediately to disasters.

Obviously MSF still need money so if you like our knitting patterns please download them and make your donation either through justgiving in British pounds or firstgiving in US dollars. Thank you very much.

… and a Happy New Hat pattern from p/hop.

Designer SarahLouise MacAdie has created this gorgeous earflap hat for p/hop, just the thing to keep you cozy throughout the cold winter months and combat that Christmas knitting fatigue with something for yourself.

For more details and the PDF of the pattern click here.

Don’t forget to make your p/hop donation once you have finished! It’s easy to donate here in pounds or here in US dollars.